Liking

All animal species shows the tendency of liking. It is auto-programmed and changes with our experience.

Liking is not limited to a person or material. It plays a vital role in our decision-making process.

We like to hire people who match our criteria and the same goes for our investment.

Robert Cialdini in Influence writes about the trickery of salesperson. How they work hard in making you like them. Once you like them, you will end up buying from them.

The other area where liking plays its role is picking our life partner. We have our own created persona of that mythical creature (soulmate).

What is the reason for liking?
Liking is a mirror of our past experiences.

Bhagwad Gita talks about equanimity but can humans be equanimous?

What will happen to the bias and prejudice we have been carrying since the day we were born?

food and biology

Till class 10th, reading biology was all about cleaning exams. That notion of mine has changed over the past decade.

I have realized it is important to understand my body and its limitations. I am getting old every day. I particularly focused on understanding human microbiome and neurotransmitters. It made me realize the importance of food in our mental and physical well being. As a result, I am more aware of my consumption particularly meat, sugar, wheat, and milk.

The research on the positives of varied microbiota on humans and its effect on us is still underway. The impact of antibiotics in killing bacteria is already known.

The adverse effect of sugar is well proven. Many books and research papers talk about it. Sugar gets credit for the most modern-day disease.

We have evolved over the centuries. We are no more hunter-gatherer. We are growing our food and at times a surplus of it. We are eating more now. One can order and it food round the clock. The big giants are spending millions on making us more hungry by altering our taste buds.

Thanks to clever markets, kids know better than parents what to order while eating out.

Brain fsck

We are changing every day, so is everything around us. This change of pace is going to be a killer.

Email has replaced mails. Smartphones have displaced phones.

Eating meat was a delight for us decades back, now it is available for daily consumption.

Meeting friends, chit-chatting are things of past we have mobile for everything. Our future generation will forget many of the socializing practices.

We are at a tremendous pace in all regards. We are always connected. We are driving in the fast lane. From relationship to job offers, all it takes is sending few messages.

Our brain is evolving since the days of homo sapiens. The evolution of the brain is slower than the pace at which the modern world is changing. Our modern-day disease is a byproduct of it. The study of psychology, technology consumption, and nutrition intake compulsory in early education. It should get equal weight like learning English or regional language in school.

Purpose

Last evening my dear friend asked about the purpose of my life.
I told him the purpose is simple: lead a happy and healthy life.

Happiness is living my life in accordance with my nature.

A healthy life contains a set of good habits, friends and clear thoughts.

What do you think is the purpose of your living?

Unreasonable expectations

Every partnership comes with a lot of expectation. There is not much difference in finding a co-founder or a life partner. Both have the same set of expectations and trust.

A proper matchmaking and understanding the factors forging partnership is a must. It is still not guaranteed for success, but at least

I have first hand experienced it. I don’t see it as a failure but a learning process.

All we have in our life is the company of the people around us. They help us in shaping our success, thoughts, and course of life. So rushing in or forging a relationship is a recipe for a bust.

Culture

One thing which differentiates an organization is its culture. Founders need to lead it.

There is a famous saying: “Monkey see, monkey do.” If founders are dishonest with board or investors. Can they expect honesty from their employees?

A toxic culture fueled on masculinity or in-fighting with teammates will do more bad. Why will employees not fight or divided group formed if founders are fighting on CAP table?

A company can raise a lot of money. It can hire from top institutes. Irrespective of this, uncertainty exists.

A culture of honesty, empathy will be fostering the growth. Employees growth acts like a domino effect on the organization.

Opinions

Our brain is lazy. It takes shortcuts in decision-making states. That is when past experiences play its role.

We all have had our share of prejudice. Our hairstyle and beard make us a hippie. What we are wearing makes other decide we are modern or traditional.

All auto and taxi drivers are bad.
Apartment security guards are lazy.
Your made is stealing onions and potatoes.
He smokes, drinks so avoid him.
Don’t travel at night alone.
It’s Tuesday, avoid eating meat.

It is so easy to form an opinion. Most of our friends and family members are saying, this must be true.

We have surrendered our consciousness and questioning.

October readings

These are some books I read in October 2018.

1. Jesse: The Man Who Outran Hitler
The book is an autobiography of Jesse Owens. It talks about his struggles, success, and stardom. Jesse Owens was the first American black athlete to win multiple gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Germany.

2. Great Ceos Are Lazy: How Exceptional Ceos Do More in Less Time
In his book, Jim Schleckser writes about how laziness coupled with a focus makes a CEO successful.

3. Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price
Madhavan Ramanujam has been in the industry for long. In this book, he shares his wisdom on pricing products. He talks about various categories and strategies to follow in pricing software product. His piece of advice on pricing before a product is what summarizes the book.

4. A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Tren Griffin was part of VC industry. These days he works at Microsoft. The book summarizes learning from 25 investors in Venture Capital ecosystem. Convexity and not following the herd in picking startup was the core wisdom shared by most folks.

Note: Tren Griffin is donating all the earnings from this book to an NGO.

5. Software Project Survival Guide
Steve Mcconnell shares his wisdom on project management in this book. If you are a project manager and worried about product timelines and shipping features, this book is for you.

6. On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
Seneca was a stoic philosopher. He was an advisor to Nero, one of the cruelest emperor of Rome. In this book, he talks about the importance of using our valuable time. According to Seneca, our time is short. We should use our time more wisely. Time should get priority than money or other material wealth.

Avoid

I have read since childhood: The best defense is a good offense.

With age and experience, I have modified this: The best defense avoidance.

Some situations in life are best left and avoided.

Your friend is backbiting, fight or completely avoid him/her.

Your landlord is greedy, avoid getting mad at him. Change your house.

Your founder is lying to you, paying himself more while you are working for peanuts. What can you do, avoid and get another job?