BLOG OF MAYANK JAIN
How To Be Bored
Epic boredom triggered most of my attempts to finish this article. Today, it happened when I threw away my phone in disgust after mindless Instagram scrolling.
Earlier, I read three books on my kindle for five minutes each. Then switched to a paperback, which I gave up after 10 minutes.
I wasn’t having fun. Skipping from one thing to another is not enjoyable. So why was I doing it?
Simple answer - I was bored.
Complicated answer -
I wanted to change the current moment to a more desirable state
The desirable state itself is an abstract that I was not sure about
It means it is stemming from the discomfort of the present. And we have conflicting ideas about how to change that situation.
If you’re like me, you want to be productive yet also to have fun. Learn a language and also watch a movie. You want adventure but also peace and quiet. A little contentment won’t hurt either.
Ultimately, it comes down to a single thing summed up perfectly in this quote by Blaise Pascal:
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
How do we solve this?
Slow everything down
The Idea
Take the mundane everyday activities - brushing teeth, folding laundry, washing hands, etc. Instead of rushing through them to get them over with, slow down. Do them for their own sake. Remind yourself that life is every second that passes. It’s not happening in future, it is in every moment.
How It Works
The default modus operandi during such actions is auto-pilot. Our muscle memory gets the job done. So the mind wanders. Uncontrolled, it takes us to memories or hypotheticals - good or bad. What if we turn off the auto-pilot for a bit?
The cheap dopamine that we get from our screens has hampered the capacity of our minds to find creativity and joy in the ordinary. If finding joy seems ambitious, simply being able to get through a day without a constant need for excitement is a big win.
My Experience
The other day, I was rushing down the stairs. Halfway through, I had this realisation that I didn’t need to be anywhere. So I slowed down and brought my focus to the present. It was like coming out after living inside my own head for a long time. It sounds silly, but it was liberating.
“Do the dishes to do the dishes” - Thich Nhat Hanh
Staring into the distance time
The Idea
Give yourself an unbound slot of time to just sit and stare into the distance.
How It Works
If you’ve been practising slowing down the mundane, then now is the chance to give free reigns to your mind. Follow where it goes. Then gently manoeuver it in the direction you want - towards things that you value.
Great things happen when you let your mind wander in a controlled fashion. You go deeper, into the first principles of things. It gives you a chance to focus on the important things in life - whatever that may be for you in that moment.
The best advice you’ll follow is when it comes from within. And this time gives you some empty headspace to listen to that voice.
My Experience
I use this technique to come up with new articles. I sit in silence, look into the distance and observe my life at that time. That time could be that month, or week, or that particular day. And new ideas emerge from that. Sometimes, it is just about that instant; this post came from analysing the discomfort of the moment.
Staring into the distance helps me improve the relationship of my mind and self. It gives me the feeling of more control over my own mind rather than the other way around.
Day of meditation
The Idea
By meditation, I don’t mean sitting on a cushion, closing your eyes and focusing on your breath. Although if you can do that, it's great. I mean making the whole day as an exercise in meditation. Look beyond the obvious in things.
How It Works
Take an example of the vegetable you are preparing for a meal. Unless it’s from your kitchen garden, its journey from a seed to your kitchen has been extraordinary. It was nourished by a big ball of fire millions of kilometres away. It was germinated by a tiny bee. And it took an advanced human-built infrastructure to get it to you unharmed.
Take a minute to appreciate this minor miracle. You might find more gratitude for the simple things in life.
My Experience
You can try this technique right now. Slow down and imagine the writer penning down these words. At which point must I have stopped to brood. Or which words were perceptibly difficult to write down. Look beyond the screen and into the mind of the author.
I do this with music. While listening to a song, I would try to decipher the different beats. And then imagine in what sequence the composer must have arranged it.
Two More Techniques
Find Your Centre
Find one thing that centres you. Breathing deeply, music, gratitude - whatever it may be. For me, it’s reading a few Zenhabits articles. It always calms me down.
Romanticise The Present Moment
Let’s say you are peeling an orange in the kitchen. Imagine reading your biography and that moment described by a talented writer.
"... was standing there in the kitchen after a day of work. He stood there peeling an orange skin listening to music. This was a ritual to him. The act of peeling was like taking off a layer of burden after returning home...."
I love this technique. It attaches romance to every moment of my existence. Living life becomes a performance - in a good way. You become the star of the show. Indulge in the moment, and I daresay, you’ll feel larger than life itself.
More about this technique in Romantic’s Guide to Finding Focus.
How to do weekends
On Recovery And Relaxation
Without the meaning found in the structure of weekdays, a weekend becomes difficult for me. On a Saturday afternoon, unrest of not knowing what to do starts brewing.
A weekend
Free time on the weekend -> potential for boredom -> mind at unease.
And since a weekend relaxation powers our battery for the week ahead, it becomes critical to recovering well.
We recover the best when we stay in the present moment - unattached from past regrets or future worries. The central idea of the aforementioned techniques is to help you do that. I hope they come in handy.
I would love to hear what you think about this.
Be bored better. Have a great weekend.
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Further Reading:
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Photos by: Jaël Vallée, Abhay Singh and Juan Rumimpunu on Unsplash
The Curious Case of Receding Interest
On why we lose interest in the things we love. And what to do about it.
Picture this diary entry:
Day -90: "Man, this song is so great. It would be so cool to play this in front of thousands of people."
D -70: "Slash is my God. He looks brilliant on stage. What a trip it would be!"
D -50: " {Insert friend’s name} plays so great. It would be so cool to do this on a moonlit night around a campfire at the beach.
D -20: "Okay, I've decided. I want to play guitar in band."
D -5: "Guitar class enrolled. The best guitar bought. Let's do this."
D 1: "Hmmm. This is hard man. My fingers hurt too much."
D 3: "This is soooo slow. I can't play a song yet."
D 5: "Fuck it. I am sleeping in today."
D 6: "Oh, I can't go today again man. Have to go to that party."
D 7: "What, it's 6 again? Fuck it, I'll go tomorrow. I need to finish this TV show tonight."
D 8: “Oh look - cat videos!”
D 9: "Wowa! These guys have gotten so better than me at this. We started at the same time. I guess I don't have it in me."
D 10: ....................................................................................
Insert something else instead of learning guitar - running, painting, writing, photography, designing, dancing - whatever it is that is your passion. Can you see this happening to you?
I call this The Curious Case of Receding Interest. You pick a thing you think you like and want to become better at. Over a course of time, you find it tougher to maintain the level of enthusiasm with which you started it. You invest less time. After an accumulated lack of effort, you give up and move on to the next shiny thing.
Most of us are susceptible to an attack of this syndrome. I learnt this the hard way while writing this post. Two months have passed since I started working on it. Here's what happened:
Sitting 1: A light bulb switched on shining light on this idea in my head. I scribbled down the thoughts and the basic structure. This gave me instant gratification of creating something. And, instead of finishing the post, I moved onto something else.
Sitting 2: The drudgery began. Now that I had the idea written down, it was a lot less fun to do the hard work of completion. So after writing a little, I opened Facebook and whiled away my time.
Sitting 3: I had some free time on my hands. But, I decided to clean up the house a little bit. And then wrote during whatever little time I had.
Sitting 4: Wrote some. It was becoming and arduous task to finish this. So, I opened a few football videos and watched those.
Sitting 5: I got frustrated with my indiscipline. Thus, I sat down with a pledge to not get up before finishing this. I made decent progress but still couldn't make it into a finished product.
Sitting 6: Today, after 2 months since the beginning of the post, I sit again hoping to finish this.
Can we find a cause and solution to this problem? Let’s investigate. The irony of being the victim as well as the healer isn’t lost on me. But, let’s give it a shot.
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
1. It gets tough - Most things, when looked at from the outside, are simple. Only after getting into the nuances do you realize that growing beyond an amateur level needs a lot of hard work and dedication.
2. Novelty wears off - I like doing a lot of things to experience them. But once I learn the basics, the novelty wears off. Once the curiosity is satiated, I move on.
Read: Two Weeks Sprint - The Technique I use to learn a new skill efficiently
3. Is less fun than you imagined - Browsing Instagram pictures of travel photographers, it is easy to assume that their lives are fun (not saying they are not). But, glamorizing the lifestyle at the cost of forgetting the realities of the job is suicidal. You don't know how many hours they spend in the editing room or how many shots do they painfully discard to find that single right one.
4. Has steep learning curve, high OFF* and not enough time - Complexity increases exponentially. You'll find that there’s a lot you don't know that you don't know.
*(OFF - Optimal Fun Frequency) Reference: How to Have More Fun at Fun
5. You find a new, shinier toy and expect it to provide you all the fun - Growth, engagement and DIMs** are present when we extend ourselves beyond the ordinary. For example, say you have a new toy car. You can play with it by running it on a flat surface. Or, you can immerse deeper by making race tracks using pillows, books, hard surfaces (something I used to do).
**(DIMs - Deep Immersion Moments) Reference: How to Have More Fun at Fun
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT?
- Prepare yourself with the knowledge of how tough a certain thing is going to be. This is not to deter you from doing that activity but to give you a fair perspective of what you are getting into. I read about the personal experiences of people who have lived the life I want to live. During my struggles with practicing my craft, I found comfort in knowing that others have faced similar challenges before me.
- Take one small step at a time. Writing this post was hard for me. So, all I did was to take one paragraph at a time and make it the best I could. Learn one chord, run for 5 minutes, paint one element of the picture, take the first step, however small it may be.
- Observe the feeling which causes the interruption in your practice - whether it is procrastination, difficulty level, laziness or attraction towards a new thing. Observe the feeling, and then sit with it for some time. Notice where your mind is taking you. Do you want to go there? Do you really want to open a new tab and check Facebook? Give yourself a few seconds to deliberate what you want to do. Often you’ll find that with a few moments of thought you can overcome that barrier to creation. But if you can’t and your mind is still seeking distraction, ignore it*** and do your task anyway.
***Reference: The One Skill to Stick to your Resolutions
Receding interest is a big barrier to experiencing deep emotions that come with the mastery of a craft. I hope this post helps you in constantly choosing the tough but useful over the easy, and momentarily satisfying. Thanks for reading.
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How to Have More Fun at Fun
When was the last time you felt truly alive? That moment when your chest filled up with breaths of your soul woken afresh after a deep slumber. Your eyes lit up and cheeks swelled with overwhelming emotion. You felt an inexplicable sensation that you knew was something special. Extreme happiness comes close to what it was but that’s just one dimension of it. Excitement. Thrill. Energy. You felt like God.
I have a term for such moments - DIMs or Deep Immersion Moments.
I theorize that you find yourself in such moments when you are deeply immersed in any activity. In that instant, your mind, body and soul dance together to the same tune, focused on doing the task at hand. There is nothing else but that moment.
Sometimes we find DIMs in our hobbies. Painting. Running. Playing a sport. Riding a bike. Meditating. Exercising. Listening to music. Reading a book. Listening to music while reading a book. Internet Surfing. Checking Facebook. Smoking weed. Or perhaps something else.
How did you decide which one to partake in? Was it a spur of the moment decision? Perhaps someone great in that field inspired you. Or you thought it would be ‘fun’ because you saw someone else having fun at it. Was it a conscious decision? Or you just went with the flow?
This brings us to the next question.
Why should I care what I do for fun?
Look, you have limited time on this earth. And it has a nasty habit of flying by when you are not paying attention. You have just 3500 odd weekends, half of which you’ve already spent. And as the wise saying of our generation goes - YOLO!
I am assuming that you are not a masochist and want to spend most of your life being happy and content. And if you could feel absolute exhilaration in some of these moments, it wouldn’t be so bad, right?
You want more of those sexy DIMs.
Thus, it logically concludes that to live a better life, we need to position ourselves in situations where the density of DIMs is the highest. This means that you want to choose the fun activity which gives you the most DIMs.
How do I find these super-sexy rainbow-farting sons-of-a-unicorn DIMs?
Let's start with this curve.
DIM-Frequency Curve
- On the X-axis is the frequency of your fun activities. (More frequent as you go to the right)
- On the Y-axis is the number of DIMs (Increasing as you go up)
- The section marked Happy Place is the maxima of your DIMs. Or, in other words – this is the area that will light up your fire.
- How often you should do something to find the Happy Place is the Optimal Fun Frequency or OFF.
What you want is to consistently find the Happy Place.
Happy Place = max DIM = Fully lit fire
Understanding the curve
Why do DIMs decrease if activity is done very frequently?
Fun is a way for us to relax, unwind and recharge to be able to perform at our peak at our work. Thus, fun is a secondary activity which supports our primary function of doing meaningful work (from which most of us derive contentment and purpose). Without the primary function, there is no fun. When fun takes centre-stage in your life, it stops being fun. Excess of pleasure becomes work itself.
Example: For me, watching too many movies means I feel guilty after a binge. So instead of enjoying the movies, I just go through the motions of just watching something. Overall a less happy place.
Like drinking out every day. It gets repetitive after a time and one day you find yourself puking on the curb outside the pub, passed out and wondering how it ever came to this.
We all need a break from taking a break sometimes.
Excess pleasure comes with guilt (of not doing work), exhaustion and less complete involvement in an activity – which means lesser DIMs.
Why does it taper off if done very rarely?
To relish something, it requires for you to be good at it. Your intellect (as is its habit) desires constant improvement in your execution of it.
By doing things very sparingly, you devoid yourself a chance to progress because of a lack of momentum. Our minds and bodies have a recall of our past experiences whether good or bad. This recall comes with a due date. Once you are past this date, you can no longer recollect this knowledge and will have to start from scratch. Call it rustiness if you like.
Thus, to constantly find the Happy Place, we need to find the OFF. Here's an example of my snooker habits to illustrate this better.
Example: For my snooker game, less than once per month and I am bound to forget the mistakes I made, the positions I found myself in. I would not necessarily forget the game, but the nuances of the gameplay discovered only in more frequent competitive playing. 1/week < 1/ OFFSnooker < 1/month
Choosing your fun activity
Let’s recall what we know so far.
- We want more DIMs
- DIM maxima is the Happy Place where we want to stay most of the time.
- The frequency at which Happy Place appears is OFF
Given the above, how do you choose what you do for fun? To answer this question, you have to answer another one - How much free time do you have?
This is needed for a very simple reason. OFF of some activities is low, for some it is high. If you have little free time, choosing an activity with high OFF is a bad idea. Let's take some examples.
The OFF of learning a guitar is high. You have to invest a lot of time and energy to reach a level where you can enjoy the instrument. Free time of say 2 hours a week would not suffice. You need a lot more hours to find DIMs in guitar playing.
On the other hand, with the same amount of time, choosing to watch a movie would be a good idea. It has a low OFF and could be achieved in whatever little time you have.
But, more often than not, you would have more than 2 hours a week of free time. So you could choose multiple activities with different OFFs. For example, you can learn guitar (high OFF) and watch a movie. Or, you could learn coding (high OFF) and play Pictionary with friends (low OFF).
This time is not just for execution, but, for study and research too. This is because intellectual growth cannot just be by purely practical methods. So, if you enjoy whiskey, you would be well served by reading about how it is made, what is the difference between the many blends and so on. Or for movie buffs, learning about the cast, the movie trivia, comparing the movie with the director's other works and so on. If its rolling a joint, perhaps watch a YouTube video of learning new ways to roll. This study enriches your experience of the activity the next time you do it.
THREE OTHER FACTORS
1. Randomness
If this calculated approach to fun seems a little stuck-up, add in a healthy dose of Randomness. It is generally good for a fun activity since it adds an element of uncertainty and spontaneity, both of which are good for our Happy Place.
Having said this, ensure that randomness is a deliberate addition. For example, a randomly made trip with friends would be fun only if you are enthusiastic about it. And not when you have been dragged along to participate in it because of pushy friends or social obligations. So tread this line with caution. And always keep tweaking your ratio of randomness/planned based on the free time that you have.
Randomness is a factor but only if it is a deliberate choice in your idea of fun.
2. Passion
This post has ignored passion so far. The thing about it is that if you are extremely passionate about something, even if it is tough, you can find a lot of DIMs in the suffering and the struggle. Thus passion overpowers everything - to an extent. For example, at an age of 50, passion alone won't help you make an exceptional football player. However it might give you those DIMs.
3. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
Often, saying no to things feels like you are missing out on fun. The FOMO kicks in. Although, we know that some of those things are social obligations that we have full control to say No to.
Avoid these social obligations like you avoid your clingy ex. The reason is simple - because of your reluctance in participating in such activities, you would never be able to find the DIMs. At the back of your mind, there will always be the thought that you could have spent this doing something else. You will not be in the moment. It will result in sub-optimal experiences. You will have to make this choice often because frankly, there just isn't enough time to do everything you want to do and still be able to find the happy place. That's just the nature of time - limited and passing.
For example, I have a friend who is exceptionally good at a certain sport. But, he doesn't play with us (his friends), because he knows it would be a less than awesome experience for him (we are donkeys at the game, present little challenge for him). Or personally, I have a huge list of things I want to do, but I know that if I pursue them all, I'll end up being mediocre in most of them.
Conclusion
You can ignore this made-up science and still have fun. But, that will not be optimized to allow you to stay in your Happy Place for long periods of time. For that, you need to go deeper into any activity to unfold layers of intensity. As you go deeper, your Happy Place may even be happier and you might discover pleasures which were unknown earlier and attain a nirvana like state.
Participate in everything, learn new stuff, do new things everyday by all means. After all novelty is the elixir of the mind. But, don’t make every one of those your regular fun activities without investing time to grow in them. The crux is to learn deeply about your hobbies. All this to avoid sub-optimal experiences and live a more meaningful life.
Hope this post helps you. If it does, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Or email me at mj {at} mayankja.in.
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The Problem of Plenty
In the last two years, we've produced more information than that was produced in the entire history of mankind before that. This is incredible. While it is an absolutely amazing thing that more people are creating and sharing their work than ever before, it also poses a problem of what to consume and what to focus on. There are thousands of ways to spend your time with. New videos on YouTube everyday, more movies released every week, and millions of blog posts like this one, released regularly. What you follow and what you do with the things that you involve yourself in, thus becomes critical to the quality of life you lead and the satisfaction you derive from it.
Recently, I started noticing my consumption habits which I take the liberty to presume is common with a lot of folks around. Even before we finish reading an article, we are thinking of ways to share it. Before a song ends, the mind starts wondering which one to listen to next. Or the video you clicked on and the witty comment you are going to make on it. Or the picture you just took, and your brain starts processing all the possible tagline you'll post it with. All this sharing and consuming leaves little scope for actually incorporating the lessons you've learnt from it.
And it is not just with sharing things online. Even if it just consuming for personal use, life seems to become a checklist. That movie your friends said you have to watch. Or this incredibly funny video someone shared on Facebook that you have to see. But, hold on. What if, you do not click on that? Would it be too extreme a step? Would you be missing out on something important? Maybe, but probably not. Perhaps, you can live without watching another funny video, another movie trailer.
We click multiple pictures during our travels but never see them again. How about clicking only a few? Pictures are definitely a good way to record memories but how about skipping just this one particular sunset? A picture will remind you of the good times you spent somewhere. But, what if you don't have a memory of it in the first place since you spent that time clicking pictures.
One of the things that are at play here are our fear of missing out. This in itself is the biggest reason for our passive consumption. We all want to feel like we belong somewhere, and thus we involve ourselves in things that everyone else is talking about. But, it is for us to realise that whatver is happening is right there with you in that particular moment.
Realise that you are never going to finish even a tiny bit of all the articles you want to read or all the movies you have saved in your hard drive. So, isn't it wiser to make the experience of whatever you already have a little better? How about growing deeper rather than wider. This of course doesn't mean you should restrict your experiences. But, whatever you are doing in that moment, immerse yourself in it completely.
In my life, for instance, right now I have about 25 posts which are in draft. Before, publishing this, I couldn't decide on which one to finish. But, unless I finish one, I can't move on to another one. I recently purchased a Kindle, and I found my reading habit go down instead of increasing as I had presumed it will. The thing is, that even though I had multiple options, I couldn't decide on which one to finish now. Thus, I now have more than 10 unread books in various stages of completion. I couldn't derive pleasure from my reading as much as I used to earlier.
The simplest way is to start with one and finish it if it interests you. Instead of running after the next shiny thing, finish off the one at hand now. Create simple rules like an hour of leisure browsing. Take time to sink in what you've consumed. Let it digest much like food. Form your opinions around it. See how you can use it to make your own life better. If not, just notice how you feel after reading it. Are you more energised, happier or perhaps just a little entertained. If so, take stock of it. The thing is when you don't so this, chances are you are going to move from one to another post and eventually get tired of all the jumping around and switching of context. But, if you feel happy with this moving around, by all means.
Take 30 seconds - that's it - no more. Think about what just happened. Or after coming out of a meeting with someone, take a minute to record what you felt. Or don't even record it, just think it over. Of course if you are doing it for entertainment, that's fine and you can ignore this suggestion. But, make a deliberate difference between your entertainment habits and learning habits.
Pick a few things and pursue them. There would be distractions for sure but ignore them. Otherwise, you would be left after a year of all half done things and stuff you haven’t completed. We can never do it all - the number of things to indulge ourselves in are too many out there. Choose wisely. Even if you can't do that, immerse yourself in what you have at hand. Do things that matter - there is the very popular 80-20 rule. 80% of your life is shaped by just the 20% of things you do. So, it is better to choose that 20% wisely.
I am a compulsive consumer thus I have had to devise some strategies around my consumption patterns. One is I read much lesser when on the move. I just like looking outside instead. Some of the best things in the world have come out when the mind is wandering aimlessly. Or sometimes like it was for this post, I write most of it on the move. I started simplifying my reading habits and my decision making. Gradually, I am beginning to move into simplifying my wardrobe. The basic colors - whites/greys/blacks. And things which team up well with multiple items.
But, I am not very good at this myself. Even while finishing this article, I took a break for a few minutes to have dinner which then got extended to watching a movie (a pretty cool one by the way) and then a complete one day delay. Each of these small things add up and take away minutes/hours/days of your life. Your life then becomes a journal of what all you've finished doing and what else is pending. If you have a technique to sort this out, please add in your comments.
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How to cure boredom
And feel fulfilled while at it
Now that I find myself with a lot of free time at my disposal, there is a possibility that I might not know what do with it. This would cause boredom and thus unsatisfaction. Thus, I have devised a two-step plan for myself to help avoid this situation.
Step 1: Make a list of things that you would like to do. These could be things that you have always failed to find time for even though your heart longed for it. These are the things that you think would make you feel happy. They could be long term goals or short term activities. Make sure to write them down and even put it on a post-it where you can see them everyday. Put it on your bathroom mirror if need be. I’ve made this list in Evernote which I check regularly. This is what my list looks like:
1. Read a book
2. Write
3. Illustrate
4. Play guitar
5. Learn spanish/french on Duolingo
6. Take Illustration lessons on Skillshare
7. Coursera lessons on writing/art/philosophy etc.
8. Do pushups/exercise
9. Go outside, take a walk
10. Listen to music
11. Sleep
12. Work on ideas from the Evernote list
Step 2: Do those things.
This is it. There is no formula or an easy hack to cure boredom and feel more fulfilled. You just have to get down and do what you are supposed to do. It is easier said than done so here are a couple of things that help me.
1. Stop thinking about they Whys and the Why nots. For example, if you are planning to go for a run, stop thinking about how tired you are or how it is such a big pain to climb down the stairs. Just switch of your mind, lace up and go.
2. Imagine how you’d feel after you’ve accomplished the feat. I used this technique for writing this post. By imagining how nice and productive I’d feel after finishing this post, I was able to get down to it.
Another source of great inspiration for me which drives me forward in small and big things of life is Marcus Aurelius’ writings. They have helped me come to terms with some of the boring, mundane and sometimes harsh realities of life. He is one of the major Stoic philosophers. Stoicism is a philosophy which has affected me greatly and I strongly endorse it. Here are a few lines from his book to get you interested:
"In the morning when thou findest thyself unwilling to rise, consider with thyself presently, it is to go about a man’s work that I am stirred up. Am I then yet unwilling to go about that, for which I myself was born and brought forth into this world? Or was I made for this, to lay me down, and make much of myself in a warm bed? ‘O but this is pleasing.’ And was it then for this that thou wert born, that thou mightest enjoy pleasure? Was it not in very truth for this, that thou mightest always be busy and in action? Seest thou not how all things in the world besides, how every tree md plant, how sparrows and ants, spiders and bees: how all in their kind are intent as it were orderly to perform whatsoever (towards the preservation of this orderly universe) naturally doth become and belong unto thin? And wilt not thou do that, which belongs unto a man to do? Wilt not thou run to do that, which thy nature doth require? ‘But thou must have some rest.’ Yes, thou must. Nature hath of that also, as well as of eating and drinking, allowed thee a certain stint. But thou guest beyond thy stint, and beyond that which would suffice, and in matter of action, there thou comest short of that which thou mayest. It must needs be therefore, that thou dost not love thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst also love thy nature, and that which thy nature doth propose unto herself as her end. "
Hope these pointers work for you as well.
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2 Weeks Sprint
Notes on how to get started on something new
In internet domain, a lot of companies use 2 weeks sprints as a way of developing their product. These sprints are a list of things which need to get done in 2 weeks - thus becoming a TAG (time and amount goal). People put their head down and work on this with few distractions - atleast that’s the utopian ideologoy behind it. Although, I did not realise it and it took a friend to point this out, but I have been doing the same thing recently in my non-work life as well to good effect.
It started with reading. Some time back, I read more in a month than I did in the preceding year. And this was not passive online consumption jumping from one article to another but a more involved, active reading of a good book chosen after either a careful consideration or at an implusive whim. I carried a book wherever I went and read everywhere I could - while waiting to catch the metro, in the metro, on the rickshaw, in some spare moments at a friend’s place, in a cafe. This desire wasn’t forced upon by anyone but came from within and it felt great. This period of complete flow and being in the zone ended with me having read a bunch of great books, gaining new perspectives and learning a lot.
Side Note: If you want to read more, here’s a great article by Ryan Holiday. Also, sign up for his monthly book recommendation list, I’ve discovered a lot of gems there.
Then came a series of (still unpublished) articles which I have fondly compiled in the form of an ebook. I wrote on the lessons I learnt while running my first startup so that I can use those for my next venture. I used to work on it whenever I could. Scribbling down notes in a notebook while riding to work in the passenger seat of my friend’s car, at work whenever I could sneak out some time on Evernote, or at home, as soon as I returned back from office without caring to change my clothes or getting ready for dinner. This helped me finish off the first draft of my book in a relatively short amount of time.
Side Note: If you want to get started on writing - you can try out some of the softwares I use - Notebook/Evernote for note taking. Q10 for writing. Scrivener for giving structure.
Then came the designing bit. Since I can’t sketch or draw to save my life, I resorted to learning designing softwares to help me bring my thoughts to creation. I put in two weeks of focused designing ignoring almost everything else, learning online courses, soaking up as much as I could. I practised and produced two works which I am proud of.
Side Note: Here are some of the classes I took and found the most useful - 1, 2 and 3
It also happened with Cooking. 2 weeks, mom’s recipes and I transformed from someone who fretted about what to eat for dinner to being able to feed a party of 2 pretty well.
You catch the drift with where I am going with this.
These short of intervals of time with extreme focus helped me reach a level of which I could be proud of. And important thing is that none of it was very deliberate, it was just something that I felt I should be doing and went ahead with it. I had gotten into a flow.
The point I am trying to make is if you want to level up in a particular field, a short sprint can help you achieve that quickly. As I write this, I realise that there is a counterpoint to this where people say slow and steady wins the race which is actually quite true. But, I am talking about new tasks which require an initial thrust, the first few scary and unpredictable steps. These sprints will help you cross that first hurdle.
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A Primer On Minimalism
minimalism
/ˈmɪnɪməˌlɪz(ə)m/
noun
1. a movement in sculpture and painting which arose in the 1950s, characterized by the use of simple, massive forms.
2. an avant-garde movement in music characterized by the repetition of very short phrases which change gradually, producing a hypnotic effect.
3. deliberate lack of decoration or adornment in style or design.
Minimalism, as a philosophy has attracted me for quite some time. I have been a follower, reader and if my friends are to be believed, a vocal supporter of the minimal way of life. First started as a movement in art and music, it is now found in almost every aspect of life you can imagine.
Minimalism can have different connotations for different people. For me, it means hoarding less stuff and doing more with less. It also means removing clutter and waste from my life - things like stress, bad influences, poor connections. This leaves me with only the things that matter, which add value to my life.
If you are interested in exploring about this philosophy, here are a few points which might come in handy to get you started.
1.Buying less stuff - Let’s just get this out of the way. Minimalism by definition means making do with lesser stuff. It might sound cynical to say but we’ve been conditioned to consume. A visit to the mall yesterday reminded me of the lure of buying more stuff. I was impressed by all the shiny stuff on display around me and felt like buying things I didn’t need or the ones I already have. Now, there is not a problem with that per se. But, the problem arises when this ‘stuff’ doesn’t add value in your life and takes away valuable time, energy and money from things and experiences which actually matter, which brings me to my next point.
2. Spend on experiences, not things - There is a brilliant 5 minute clip of George Carlin where he talks about our hoarding culture. We spend our lives hoarding stuff and buying more of it wherever we go. We have to do that because we can’t carry our stuff everywhere we go. Whereas, your experiences travel with you wherever you go and help you grow as a person. Stuff fades away but the memories of great experiences linger on.
3. Removing excess baggage - Realise that you are a tiny part of something huge at play. The stress you carry, the worries that you have, the emotional baggage that bogs you down and your problems are of no consequence in the grand scheme of things - not only on the scale of universe but on the scale of your own life. Worry itself is wasteful but if it is actionable then it could be good - so choose your battles carefully. You only have so much energy, spend it on contemplating about the things that matter a lot to you.
4. Deeper rather than wider - There is way too much stuff in the world for us to consume. Too many books to read, so many movies to watch, many places to see and a lot to learn. My idea is that there is a bigger joy in immersing yourself completely in one single thing rather than superficially scanning tens of them. The world is designed with plenty for each to learn in her own path of choosing. The knowledge from one book is equal to what you get in 100 books together or from one each of them. It is a matter of how you perceive it. A moonlit evening can be romantic to the heart which is full of love or can feel lonely to a troubled mind. It is a matter of how you look at it.
5. Focus - This has become one of my favorite words recently. Focus on only the things that matter. Our tiny attention spans have a way of moving us about in different directions. Give more to one single activity, you are probably going to enjoy it more. Read less but deeply engage with it. Watch a movie and imagine yourself becoming the character. Project yourself how it would feel in the stadium while watching a match on the screen. Immerse yourself, become them.
6. Prioritize - We are all capable human beings who want to do a lot in our lives. I, for one know that I want to do multiple stuff - write, cook, click pictures, play guitar, learn Spanish and a host of other things. But, the structure of our lives doesn’t allow us to do so many things all at once. So, learning to prioritize helps. Saying ‘NO’ to things is as important, if not more, to choosing which ones to say ‘YES’ to. And if these priorities change over time, that’s fine.
Leading a minimal life has helped me reduce stress, become more fulfilled and be happier in general. I am not an accomplished minimal guy but am getting there. So, this post is to remind me how to get there as much as it is to inform you. I hope these steps help you get started on your path to minimalism if you like to. And, if you do, I hope it brings you as much happiness in your life as much as it has in mine.
Further Reading:
What is Minimalism by The Minimalists
Minimalists FAQs by Leo Babauta
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Simplifying decision making
Would it matter one year from now?
In times when you find yourself worried sick about something, ask yourself this question. Whatever you decide to do in a certain situation, would the choice matter so much one year from that moment?
Proving someone wrong at the cost of lost love, or all those extra hours in office at the cost of your health and relationships, or that party you regret not being a part of, or what you should wear on a particular evening- is it all really going to matter a year hence? Probably not.
You could come back and tell me that this theory trivialises everything. Maybe it does. But, what is wrong with that? From my experience, I’ve found this exercise very liberating.
Asking myself this question has helped me in simplifying my life and I hope it helps you too.
Further reading: Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff - Richard Carlson
Do you like what you read so far? You can subscribe to my mailing list to get updates on new posts. I am not sure how frequently I’ll send you an email but it will never be more often than once a week.
Appreciate your time. Thanks!
6 Productivity Hacks that work for me
1. Eat That Frog
Do the most difficult or the task you hate the most first. I guess this is against popular advice but this truly works. Your mind is the most fresh when you are starting out, and getting that one tough thing out of the way leaves you with much more motivation to carry forward with the other simpler ones. The frog analogy comes from the assumption, that people hate eating frogs.
2. Wear a cap
This is something that I have just discovered. There is no better work setting than putting on a low set cap, with your headphones over them. The idea is to restrict your field of view and focus on the task at hand. If only there was something which could tune out the multiple opened tabs #wishful thinking.
3. Ambient noise is good
Believe it or not, moderate ambient noise is proven to boost creativity. An environment like a coffee house is proven to increase your productivity. And this app called Coffitivity does just that.
4. When you are tired, push yourself to do one more thing
It’s the end of the day and you just want to wrap it up. Or it’s the middle of the week and you don’t feel particularly inspired to work and want to just leave. A simple hack is to push yourself to do just one more thing. More often than not, you will find yourself back in the zone. One more thing works magic for a few people, so why not you.
5. Just start doing, it is OK for the first draft to be crappy
The writers among you would probably agree with me on this one. The first drafts are always crappy - they don’t have to be grammatically correct. My first drafts usually are just random keywords joined together. The first drafts are more like an empty playground for your ideas, let them play around and mingle with each other.
6. Keep your goals to yourself
Derek Sivers has delivered a very solid TED talk on this. The idea is that when you tell someone what you want to do, say lose weight, more often than not they would congratulate you for taking it up. That is the validation and ego boost why you wanted to lose weight in the first place. So, your plans and resolutions are best kept to yourselves.