rules

Rules are societal sticks to make us all live like a herd. We are told what to do or not. What to wear, who to marry, and what not. It’s like we are born, and then our life and decisions are dictated by others.

We are a generation taught how to live risk-averse. The template of life is set : birth -> study -> job -> marriage -> loan(car, home) -> copulate -> die

What is the thrill of such a life when your inner self is locked? You are dancing to the tunes of others. How is it different than living in a prison?

Most innovation and societal changes happened when a few decided to go against the odds.

In short: breaking the rules. Now it is on you to decide what you are living for society/slavery/self.

force

Can you force someone into an agreement with you? Is this sustainable? How long will it last? Can you keep an employee dangling over salary or make a relationship work under a false premise?

We are all humans, and we have our little soul. We think, most importantly lose our sleep over this in time.

In the last few months, I have witnessed a few relationships breaking because one side had enough of the other. There was no more love, trust, or belief left.

Engineers from various startups quit in a bunch while founders trying to stop them in the name of increasing equity. Most of these employees have lost trust in their founders, and anything forceful is not working.

We all have our breaking point. Treat relationships well and dare not be an asshole.

control

Are you in your control: your thoughts and actions? Are you aware of your shortcomings? What builds you in this life journey is: how much of life you own. It is easy to get distracted, flow in emotions, and get tormented. There could be many externalities contributing to it.

The world and society we are living in punish us for taking a different journey. It labels us as a misfit. The air of ignorance and scare prevails throughout our life. We will find more people around telling us what we should not do than letting us take the journey.

It depends on you as an individual defining yourself. It is about knowing whether you are in your control or the world around you is controlling you.

Few

I was going through Elon Musk Wikipedia page earlier this evening. It lists all his achievements as an entrepreneur. One person running companies with moonshot bets requires silver balls. It is like running or walking on fire. I am not saying he is a saint or that all ideas originated from his brain. My respect for him is for choosing the path and running fearlessly.

We all have our life and journey in limited allocated span of life. Some want to lead an ordinary life defined by society, religion, parents, or self. Very few go against all odds, kicking the status quo and doing all unthinkable.

I don’t know where and what will happen to all the initiatives of Elon Musk, but his going-against-all-odds attitude and choosing the path less taken gets all my respect for him.

Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, Tesla, Edison, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi took a different path. We all see where the world has progressed to. They could have lived an ordinary life of earning, breeding, and dying in peace like the rest.

Our world is changed for good by only a few. The rest of us have just lived. Which side are you on? What sacrifices are you going to make?

Change

We talk about change, prosperity, happiness, and making a better world. Many organizations spend millions on marketing. Celebrity figures spend numerous hours as charlatans all over the place.

Change is not just about changing social media mugshots or joining a cause online. It is beyond all of this. It has to start within us.

How are we going to change the world when broken deep inside? How are we acting as a puppeteer when we are suffering?

To change the world around us, we have to change ourselves first. We have to believe in magic. It requires loving ourselves more than the rest of the world.

disconnect

Some-days, I want to disconnect from the world: like disappearing inside a cave with no external world around. The closest to this has been swimming for numerous hours in the sea or running at my pace. Reading and writing are other resorts. But then it takes you to the world you are consuming.

What I mean by disconnect is doing nothing, just sitting with your thoughts, watching the world around you, observing day and night, and listening to birds chirping. It’s like Vipassana.

The hyper-connected world has made us go nuts. We are constantly consuming news and music or plugged to phone chat. We are not giving our brains enough time to think, dream and become creative. It’s like turning zombies, and I am one of them.

Can we disconnect ourselves, stop living like zombies, and start observing the world within us? Can we supercharge our creativity?

trust

Trust is a universal currency. It’s a pillar that holds any tsunami or turbulence in our life or work. We have to be confident in ourselves and our decisions before trusting others.

Trust gets you a big win. Be it business, friends, or relationships. One has to be in a company where both sides are equally involved and mature enough. Due to our insecurity or ego, we get into conflict. It results in losing trust.

Once we lose trust, mending it becomes a challenge. There will always be a sense of doubt and uncertainty. We will lose our peace of mind and justify our actions to each other.

enlightenment

What is enlightenment? 

  • A good night’s sleep
  • An absolute authority as a dictator
  • Being the wealthiest person on the planet
  • Living life on our terms
  • A companion who understands and is trustworthy enough to be there in the thick and thins of life
  • No visa to travel anywhere
  • Getting a healthy death and living disease free
  • Living life without regrets
  • Touching a million lives and making a better world

I got some answers after calling dozen other friends last week and making them utter what they see as enlightenment.  

I don’t know what enlightenment is, to be honest. 

It can be very subjective and differs from person to person in their state of current mind. 

alcohol

I remember getting introduced to alcohol in my early 20s. It was beer.
My love for beer grew to the extreme, and at one point, I was in Brussels hopping microbreweries and learning the art and craft of beer making.
I wanted to start my beer shop. We had less than half a dozen microbreweries across the country.

No week was without 5-6 liters of beer. At one FOSS event, we even announced our beer event, had a website, and had a bunch of volunteers. I made lots of friends, and beer was our love. I was not aware of or cared about health as such. I was lean and thin. I needed lots of fat and muscle. I think beer loaded me with carbs.

Something happened to me on my 30th birthday, and I went cold turkey.
I think it was my ego and quest to build my startup. I had started reading, and most books talked about the side effects of alcohol. It took some time to rebuild myself. I had a gym instructor who helped me and long runs. I was taking control of food. It was a different version of me, and I loved it.

Last six months, I got back to drinking wine and fenny(in Goa). My reason was to clear my creative block. While it did help. I ended up completing 20 short stories and half a dozen poems. But at the same time am feeling weak mentally. It has thrown me back into the past: journey, conversation, and everything. It’s past, and I never wanted to revisit it. I had made peace with it.

I think I will be alright in a few weeks. But my advice to most youngsters would be to avoid alcohol. It fucks with the brain and brings pain afterward. Early life is about building and cementing life, career, and relationship and figuring out all your wants.

Happiness

Happiness is new corporate trash positioned like a carrot to employees by human resources. Giving food coupons or movie tickets is not happiness. Neither are weekly alcohol galas post-work.

Happiness is mental well-being. That can happen with good company culture. An environment with zero toxicity. A place where employees could question senior authority. That will happen if the culture supports radical openness, transparency, and accountability.

People working with you should be in the organizational cause, be motivated to wake up, work and be part of a rocket ship.

The funding winter has opened floodgates full of thinking for employers and employees. People asked to leave, and companies are getting shut down. What happens to happiness now? All the corporate BS sold in PR, media, and social media is getting a reality check.