koolhead17
As a founder, you have the authority to run the ship as its captain. All other sailors and crew members are at your disposal. The ship has to sail, land, and operate. The crew may change for various reasons, but you must ensure that the engine is always running, the crew is performing at its peak, and every part of the system is working as intended.
The only constant is the ship’s voyage and the well-defined instructions set by the captain. Everything else is ephemeral.
There is no harm in being passionate and opinionated during interactions. But you do need to apply the virtue of listening. It cannot be an extempore. Our life is small. A few are surrounding us who care for us.
To grow in life or profession, we require understanding all sides of the world. It requires being genuine and interested in finding a solution.
People talk about change without realizing that it has to come from within. This is the problem of our generation “constantly seeking change”. The FOMO era has driven everyone into YOLO. People leave loved ones, cities, and jobs simply because they crave change.
We see others only through limited frames aka their social media feeds. The joy of watching loved ones grow old, seeing cities evolve, or staying connected with the same circle of friends has become “uncool.”
We are sold dreams. We chase change without an ounce of self-reflection, forgetting that real change comes from within, not from money, social status, or new places.
With age, the pain and longing hit us. We begin to realize how many changes we embraced because of others, not because of ourselves.
As we age, we become wiser. It is because of our experiences and the bullshit detector that develops along the way. Our likes and dislikes become an extension of our mind. In short, we seek more peace.
One thing most people forget in their early years is their karma. In Hinduism, it is deeply rooted. Our forefathers were strong believers in it. Even with limited resources, they lived well and with less guilt.
The modern world and consumerism have brought many advancements to our lives. But what we have forgotten—or left behind—are our old roots. We have given up on karma. As a result, even with all the wealth, many die of incurable diseases, while many others die alone, eating off gold plates.
As a founder of a startup, you have ventured into an uncharted territory with a 99% chance of failure. With a co-founder, team, luck, a cash reserve, and finding an early PMF, you can circumvent it. The journey is unknown, and you have to be positive, sailing against all odds.
As the company grows, your pizza team increases to many dozen. As a result, many new mind joins the firm with their own unique incentives. As a founder, it is crucial to be prepared in advance and establish a clear process. You cannot operate a 6-member and a 20-member team in the same style of operation.
There will always be a few team members in your organisation who will have a delusion of being the smartest in the company. The delusion will shape into an ego and start appearing in their everyday communication. You need to show them the reality, get the best out of them, or, if nothing works, make them leave.
In short, your responsibility is to ensure the organization runs without any altercation.
It is easy to complicate life with all the negativity from oneself. Our life is our thoughts. Our necessities are limited, but we create a mammoth out of comparing ourselves to the world.
On one side, we want a life like others without putting in all our hard work. On the other hand, we have complaints with everything in life.
The analogy of the glass half empty and half full is something most people don’t get.
The best part about potatoes is that they can be mixed with any vegetable. That’s what makes them unique.
If we look around ourselves, we’ll notice that successful people share a similar trait: they are open-minded. They don’t shy away from mingling with anyone. They welcome criticism, embrace feedback, and remain adaptable. In many ways, they are the “potatoes” among us humans—building long-lasting relationships and leading healthy, successful lives.
The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus’s Paradox, is a paradox and common thought experiment about whether an object is the same object after having all of its original components replaced over time, typically one after the other.
After building taghash for 8.5 years, this is the constant feeling. As a founder of the company, leading from the front, I am here running the ship. It is bringing new faces, and old faces are leaving; many others are rejoining. As a cycle of life. With time, it made me realise that we all have our own journey in life. We are all here to serve some purpose.
The problem with our lives is that we are busy. We are constantly on the go and connected to the world. We are not living in our thoughts but chasing the trends of social media.
We no longer hold our own faith or beliefs—they are seeded into us from the outside. What is hot, what is trending, is what we end up running after. Common sense has all but disappeared.
We are entering a digital zombie era, where real relationships have taken a back seat. Life is measured by the money we earn, the houses we own, and the followers on our social media accounts.
There was a time when we would take long walks, swim in the ocean, or pick mangoes. Those simple acts helped us reflect and connect with ourselves. That “me time” is dying. Today, we are like headless chickens—hyper-connected, throwing opinions at everything, or fighting with cats and dogs behind keyboards.
There is a different kind of confusion one experiences when they have no permanent address. Although I spent my life up to class 10th in Bihar, where my parents still reside, I still don’t know where I will eventually settle or where I can truly say I’m from.
I am always grateful to my mother for pushing me to Delhi for higher studies and making me spend a significant part of my life there. Yet, I still feel I’m from everywhere. Many of my friends and acquaintances get confused when I tell them that I’ve lived in their city or country—10-odd cities and 3 countries so far.
When you’re not with your parents, it feels miserable. There is no one to put up with your tantrums; you have to be on your own. You either become self-dependent or lose a sense of attachment. It’s a double-edged sword. I remember during COVID, I felt like I was dying all alone in an apartment in Bangalore. The next morning, Krishna came, even though he was sick. But the chest and body pain was unbearable.
Another incident happened in Dubai while chopping vegetables. I cut my finger, and the blood just wouldn’t stop. A friend remotely guided me to a pharmacy and helped me get medicines. But that one hour of horror was painfully long and made me question what I was doing outside India.
Living alone in different cities and countries has its advantages too. No one judges you—you can mingle freely and see different sides of the world. There’s no one to tell you what’s right or wrong.
Till my early 30s, it was fun, but then boredom set in, and now it feels more like solitude—a way of just being with myself. But the bottom line is: I’ve stayed with myself through the good years.
I feel life is much harder for the younger generation because of social media and the constant urge to look good and stay relevant. Add to that the job hunt and the uncertainty of changing markets. Digital detox and meditation can be helpful. We’re all looking busy, we’re all connected—but we’re still alone, with minds that are crowded.