BLOG OF MAYANK JAIN
Two Cappuccinos, Some Cigarettes
"Two Cappuccinos, please."
I pulled a cigarette out of the box and lit it up. Ashish switched on his laptop.
"Bhai, this third question needs a lot of work," he said as he showed me his GMAT application for one of the many colleges he chose to apply.
"Yeah, let me have a look."
"This is such fuckery man. So many colleges, so many applications."
"You chose it."
"Yeah, bro. I have to get out of where I am."
"Hmm."
He lit up a cigarette. I tried to blow rings out of mine.
"Bro, I have to get into this college. I am running out of options."
I made a few edits to his application by fixing the grammar and adding words which can be worthy of representing the person sitting in front of me. His future dependent upon how an old man in a tweed jacket sitting in the familiar comfort of his office, with a shelf full of books, interprets these words.
"Here, look at this now. Does this seem better?"
"Nice. Can we change this line? It sounds a little casual."
"Nonchalant. That's the word you are looking for. Anyways, I'll edit it." I made a few more edits, carefully removing any remnants of the betrayal of my attitude about this whole application business.
Our coffees arrived just as we stubbed our cigarettes.
"Boss, you can place it here," said Ashish to the waiter as he shut down the laptop and placed it on the chair next to him.
We sat at the outdoor seating of a cafe on a bright weekday February morning. The winter weather is reluctantly taking its leave. The air has lost its chilly sting. The sun smiles a warm glow and is a lot more welcome than it would be in a couple of months. On the street opposite us, people in rickshaws, cars, bikes, on foot rush to get to their jobs.
"Man, I am so totally disillusioned by this whole thing," I remarked in a sudden outburst.
"By what thing?"
"This whole work thing. Getting up every morning, doing the same thing everyday."
"Yeah, I get you. But, gotta do it to feed this thing right here," pointed Ashish to his still not fat belly.
"I know. But, what I mean is why should it be so difficult and energy-sapping? Why should work have such negative connotations? There is something fundamentally wrong with the way we look at work and by we, I mean everyone."
I lit up another cigarette and sipped on the cappuccino. Ashish was already on his second cigarette but had not yet touch the cuppa.
"Dude, I just want to get out of India. Get a decent college abroad, find a good job and make a lot of money", said Ashish. He had probably day-dreamed about all these things while I was looking at people outside and ruminating on the deadly routine of everything around us.
"Why? Why do you want to make a lot of money?"
"I just want to chill man."
"THAT. Exactly that is the fundamental fallacy. Money doesn't buy you 'chill'."
"What does?"
"I don't know, yet."
Silence glided into our conversation as we smoked yet another cigarette. However cliched it is, there is a real joy in smoking a cigarette sitting in a cafe under the shade while the sun outside is shining bright and the breeze is cool enough to be nice but not as cold as to make you uncomfortable.
I peeked inside the glass wall separating us from the indoor area of the cafe. There is that couple which seems to be a part of every cafe as if they come free with your coffee - the one who hold hands, the guy keeps trying to make the girl smile and they seem completely over each other. A couple of girls who looked like they had skipped college talk animatedly. Outside, where we were, two big guys came and sat on the chairs next to us. They placed their cigarette boxes on the table-top and allowed their huge belly to take up the space between them and the table. They looked like men who beat people for a living.
"I have figured out the problem. Let's work backwards."
"OK", nodded Ashish.
"Look. My stress at work is a factor of how much pressure my client puts on me. Her stress is related to how much pressure her boss is applying on her, which, in turn is dependent upon the stress her boss's boss is under - so on and so forth. "
"Right."
"Eventually, it reaches to the top to the CEO who drives the whole chain of pressures and deadlines. Now, the fundamental reason for the stress and worries of so many people is what drives the CEO."
"Ahan."
"Are you listening or just nodding along?"
"Yeah man, I am listening. Go on."
"OK. So, if we figure out and fix the driving factor behind that CEO, we can potentially make lives of a lot of people easier. Take my client's company for example. The CEO is driven crazy by money - quarterly revenue numbers is his holy grail. But, does he really need to? I mean, he's already a billionaire or multi-millionaire at the least."
"Yeah, but maybe he enjoys money."
"Maybe. But, do you enjoy the money or the stuff and experiences you buy with it?"
"Hmm. True. But you do need that money to buy that stuff."
"Correct. But, what if you don't need that stuff?"
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it - all these companies selling us bags, clothes, watches etc. worth a fortune - what if we don't need all that stuff? Whom do we have to impress? So many industries have cropped up to feed on our desire to please someone else even at the disposal of our own sanity. Take advertising for example. If only we removed every form of advertising in the world, there'd be a lot less demand for stuff we don't need. Obviously, I am not thinking this through but you get my point, right?"
"Yeah, I do."
"There is something Will Smith may or may not have said but I am always reminded of it in such conversations - 'I wish everyone had fame and money and then they'll realise that it is not the answer.'"
I paused to take a puff of the whatever little was left of my cigarette.
"What if instead of focusing towards making more money, we could focus on making more people happy - yourself as well as the people you work with. Of course, happiness is a subjective term and has different meanings for different people. That's alright, make a company with people who have same definition of happiness as you. Instead of looking at quarterly revenue, let's look at how happy people are. No one wants to be poor so I am assuming, if everyone's happy, revenue will follow. I mean we work for a living, why kill ourselves working?"
"Amen to that."
"Anywho. Fuck! I am late for work."
"Bro, but we have to redo the fourth question also."
"Yeah, I'll see you in the evening."
You just read my first ever short story. If you liked/disliked what you read, please do add in your comments below. For a writer, apathy from his readers is worse than criticism. So, I'd love to know your thoughts.
Announcing Pre-Order of my First Book
Restart - Lessons from one startup for another
Let's get straight to business. This is an announcement for the pre-order of my first ever book 'Restart - Lessons from one startup for another'. Pre-order it here.
This is going to be an e-book so having a pre-order link doesn't really make much sense, except it does. Here is how:
Writing a book is a tough task, tougher than I had imagined. It is about perseverance as much as it is about writing well. The book is in draft right now and has been for more than 6 months. This post is my way of committing myself to a group of people so that I can finish what I started.
One of the biggest pleasures in this world is in conceiving something new. The start of a beautiful relationship. Starting up a new company. Moving to a new city. New resolutions and habits. But, the drudgery of taking it to completion through all the cycles of raising, rinsing and improving takes a toll on you. Often, we start on these enthusiastically only for it to die down later and then we move onto the next shiny thing that holds our fancy. What is left is a graveyard of projects with half-lived lives. And the ghosts of those unsatisfied lives loom on our future projects and affects them as well.
This is how I imagine musicians must feel when they can't finish up an album for years. With a big project, an idea can just inspire you to take an initial action. But the challenge lies in picking up the crumbs of your idea and putting it together in a coherent format for others to consume. Many dynamics come into play - the forces of the world and realities of life come into picture. You might change your jobs. You fall sick. You move to new cities. Maybe your collaborators aren't able to find time. Or your proofreader hasn't turned around to you. Or maybe, you just don't feel inspired.
Finishing a lengthy project is a big deal. Thus, I would consider it a huge achievement if I am able to complete writing this book. I tried doing it all alone but it has been delayed for a long time. Thus, I need your help. By announcing the pre-order, I am putting my resolution in a public domain. Seeing that people are buying the pre-order will hold me accountable and will help me finish the book in time.
This is infact a skill you can use in your daily habits as well. Find an accountability partner - just like you all are mine. Find people who will keep you on track of your goals and inform them of your progress.
Thus, the pre-order. It has a preview of the book with the first couple of chapters for free. You can choose to pay what you want for the book. This was a payment mode we had at Musicfellas and we were pleasantly surprised not just by the transactions but the generosity of people. Thus, I am happy to use it here as well.
If you think that this book will be useful to you, please consider sharing it. In this world of excess of information and the problem of plenty, the biggest satisfaction for a writer is seeing his work read by people who might find value in it.
Pre-Order 'Restart - Lessons from one startup for another'
Thank you for your time and for being a part of this book. For any questions, queries or feedback, email me at mj {at} mayankja.in. I'd love to hear from you. Thank You!
The Art of Showing Your Creativity - Advice by Austin Kleon
If you are a creative, take a few moments to consider the following points:
You believe your art should speak for itself
'Marketing' and 'promotion' discomfort you
You want your work to be discovered by more people
You want your art to get the recognition you think it deserves
You don't think you have a thick skin to deal with the trolls which come with sharing your work online
You want to add value to people's lives through your work
While sharing your art, you fear stepping on the wrong side of the fine line between adding value and spamming
As a writer, I associate myself to a lot of the above points. And so do a lot of other creatives. Painters, musicians, photographers, designers, filmmakers travellers, entrepreneurs and many other creatives are going through the same struggle of staying relevant, having their work seen by more people and at the same time maintaining the honesty and integrity in sharing your work.
Addressing these fears and issues, is a great book Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. This is a sort of manifesto of the current times for creatives to share their work the right way. Here are some of my notes from the book with some commentary. Hope you get around to reading the book and find it as useful and relevant as I did.
Note: Excerpts from the book are in italics
WHY SHOULD YOU SHARE
Once we start creating, our self-doubt tells us that your work is not good enough or maybe just not relevant to the people. But, more often than not, that's not the case. We grossly underestimate the usefulness of our own work.
“To someone, it may be better than you dare to think”
When you share ideas, sometimes conversations start around it. That is your contribution in this world. Give what you have, don't be a hoarder.
Scenius - Not all of us are geniuses. But, we grow with the help of the scene around us.
Find a scenius, pay attention to what others are sharing, and then start taking note of what they’re not sharing. Be on the lookout for voids that you can fill with your own efforts, no matter how bad they are at first.
She can share her sketches and works-in-progress, post pictures of her studio, or blog about her influences, inspiration, and tools - the thing she really cares about. By, doing this, she can really connect with the people who care about the same things as hers.
The biggest takeaway for me was the simple fact that what you find trivial might actually be very useful for someone else.
"You can't find your voice until you use it"
Sometimes, we wait for a while to find our own voice. But, how would we find it until we've used it in different scenarios? What niche of photography would you like until you start clicking different settings? Not everyone knows for sure as to which format of design they prefer until they try their hands at them.
Remember:
Work doesn't speak for itsef. Even the renaissance had to be found.
WHAT TO SHARE:
''What are you working on?' Stick to that question and you'll be good. Don't show your lunch or latte, show your work.
Before sharing anything, put it through the 'So What' Test. Would people care about what you are showing?
“Turn your flow into stock. Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content your produce that is as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time”
Sloan says the magic formula is to maintain your flow while working on your stock in the background.
Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do - sometimes even more than your own work.
Share your process - this is an obvious yet fantastic piece of advice. A lot of people want to know how you do what you do and it can be very helpful for them. If you are signed up to my mailing list, you would see a direct result of this in my emails. I have started sharing things that inspire me, books I read, music I find therapeutic. By doing this, I hope I can connect with people who might enjoy what I write in my posts. Remember, you don't have to ensure that everyone in the world appreciates your art. You need to find only a handful to form a tribe who supports you when you need help and celebrates your victories.
HOW TO SHARE:
Build Sharing into your routine.
Don't give in to the pressure to self-edit too much. Don't try to be hip or cool. Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too.
People like to hear good stories. Learn how to speak about your work in a manner which evokes emotion. Read books by good authors and notice how they weave stories.
“The cat sat on a mat is not a story. The cat sat on the dog’s mat is a story.”
On Structure:
A good story can be created in the following structure: Once upon a time, there was _______. Every day, ______--. One day, ______. Because of that, _____. Because of that, ______. Until finally, ____________
There's a way to tell open -ended stories, where we acknowledge that we're snack-dab in the middle of a story, and we don't know how it all ends.
The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. Share your reading lists. Point to helpful reference materials. Teach what you know. Share your trade secrets.
This is what I aim to achieve with this post.
Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff. You want hearts not eyeballs.
"Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide." If you spend your lfe avoiding vulnerabiliti, you and your work will never truly connect with other people. Learn to take a punch.
Don't quit your show.
You can't plan on anything; you can only go about your work, as Isak Dinesen wrote, "every day, without hope or despair." You can't count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.
How much of this would you be willing to use? I'd love to hear your opinions, suggestions and questions. Drop in an email or write in the comments below.
And as Kleon says, Credit is always due, so a hat tip to BrainPickings which has been a major source of inspiration for this post's format.
The One Skill to stick to your Resolutions
As I write this, I have multiple tabs opened up begging for my attention. My thoughts are jumping from one to another all directing me away from writing this post down.
"Maybe I should just read this article - it seems important."
"But, first I think I should put on some music, I'll be able to focus better then."
"I am thirsty, let me get some water."
"Let me just check Facebook feed for a bit."
"When's the Manchester United's match starting? I wonder if Di Maria is fit to play."
Distractions
This is my mind telling me not to do the important stuff and instead get caught up in distractions.There are multiple things at play here - I fear I might miss out on something 'cool' or 'interesting' if I don't read that article on the hot topic of the day. Most probably, it is the simple fact that writing is much more difficult than passive consumption of information. So, how do I deal with it? One skill:
Ignore your mind.
Allow me to elaborate.
With this new year, did you decide to join a gym or exercise more? May be you decided to eat healthier. Or perhaps, you want to read more. Or…............. Fill it in with whatever you decided to do this year. Although, I didn’t make any this year, I’ve made and broken enough resolutions to know how hard they are to keep.
As the year goes by, we start developing a lackadaisical attitude towards our resolutions, the frequency and intensity of our efforts fades away, and at the end of the year, we are left wondering how it ever came to this. What happened to all the plans we made? I feel, a lot of it has to do with our mind rationalising and giving us reasons to not do the things that matter.
You wake up in the morning, lying on your bed thinking of going for a run. But, isn’t it too cold outside? And you know, you have to reach office. You don’t feel that great anyways, there's always tomorrow.
This book you are reading is too boring, let's watch a youtube video instead.
You want to go out in the city on a photography trip, but it is too much of a pain. Getting off the bed, dressing up, traveling - let's just rest today instead.
So on and so forth.
Notice what is happening. This is you ‘thinking’ these things. Or more precisely, your ‘mind’ thinking these things for you. It is trying to rationalise why you should not do that hard thing and stick to the easier thing instead. This is what it always does. We are designed to reach towards the thing with the lowest barrier of entry.
Ignore it. Shut off this rationalisation. Tell your mind and yourself to hold off that thought for a later time and how grateful you would feel after completing this task. In fact stop thinking altogether. Just go do that thing instead.
Personally, I have found that this is by far the best skill that has worked for me. Every other skill (there were a lot I wanted to talk about), is good but haven’t found them to be useful personally.
To an extent, I have successfully implemented this in my writing habits. This post was written using the same skill. And am now trying to do the same with my running. I just get up, tie my shoes and go. No thinking involved. I push all the thoughts of hunger, tiredness, future engagements (including writing) to the back.
Preparation to practice this skill
Ensure that you have actively thought out the benefits of doing that particular task.
Envision yourself at that stage - a leaner body, a new job, more books read - imagine how you’d feel about it.
Make sure you know that this resolution of yours is good for you, so that at the time of doing it, you don’t argue with yourself against the benefits of doing it. I had made the decision of creating a running habit in full control and awareness. Having known its benefits, it became easier for me to follow through with it.
How to practice this skill
There are just two steps to practice this skill:
Notice when you skip an important task to do something less important. Take a note of how your mind convinced you.
Ignore that voice in your head. Shut it off completely.
Like every other skill, this requires practice as well. Sometimes, you will not be able to shut out your mind completely and it will overpower you and make you do things which don't really give you contentment. But, it is OK. It's alright to fail once in a while. Just remember to keep practicing till that resolution of yours becomes a habit and you can leave the crutches of this skill behind.
If this post helped you stay on track with your resolutions, I'd love to hear it. Add in your comments below.