Chemistry or maths? I hated the chemistry class in school. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't find anything interesting in it. But I had to get good marks. So, I worked. Worked hard to get through chemistry. Maths was different. I loved doing maths. Teaching it to others. Learning
With anxiety. Being productive while going through an anxiety spiral is akin to running a race with a broken toe, only more challenging. An anxiety spiral can take us into a fight, flight (or fawn) mode where all we can think of is how we can get out of danger, whether or
Body or mind? Both our body and our mind act as powerful compasses. Most people, most of the time, listen to the mind. They think about what they need to do or what they want and how they can get it. The mind is extremely good at the how, the logistics, the way
In the ditch. The first thing to do when you realize you're in a ditch is to stop digging. Only then, you can start to figure out how to get out of it. It might require you to do something different from what got you there. You can't think
A conversation on possibility. Sharing this conversation I hosted earlier this week with Seth Godin where we talked about possibility: We are organising a 4-week sprint in Purple Space to work together to engage with possibility. Join us here. And here's the wonderful book that's helping us create the
Anxiety isn't fear. In the movie Inside Out 2, the character of fear is kind of smitten by the character of anxiety. It got me wondering how they are related. Aren't fear and anxiety the same thing? Not until I started reading Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck did I get to
Adjusting the scope. Some days, we have the courage and the creative energy to see how things will evolve over time and how we can bring the change we seek to the world. On other days, it's about managing what's in front of us and getting through to the
Yearning. Not what do you want or what do you need. But, as Martha Beck asks, What do you yearn for? And once you have an answer, how can you create the conditions for that to happen?
The beauty in sadness. Sadness is one of those emotions we are wary of feeling, especially with other people around. It's something the culture tells us not to feel. But sadness in itself is a beautiful emotion. It helps us process grief. The grief could be immense like the loss of a
Pushing through tired. This is what the hustle culture teaches us. Push through the tired. Mind over matter. But "move fast and break things" mostly breaks things fast. Including the ones who do it. Instead, we can listen to the tired. We can breathe and rest. When we care for our
Compass interference. "What would others think? What would they say?" "How would we get it done? What challenges might come in the way?" "Do we have the bandwidth to do this? What else is there?" These seem like constructive questions, questions that might help us make
Reducing ambiguity. That's the hard part. Making assertions, choosing. It might work. It might not. But you have to start somewhere. You have to pick something or someone. It's tempting to want someone else to do this for you, human or AI. But, emotional labour cannot be outsourced.
Without the mess. "Tell me what to do and I will do it." That rarely works. Especially for the things that matter. Projects are messy. Taking an idea, converting it into something meaningful, getting it out the door, everything is messy. There are no instructions. There is no procedure. The only
Speed without direction. It's natural to get off-track. Bad health, social complications, emotional heaviness, or any expected or unexpected situation can take us off our track. The thing with being off track is that we don't remember how we got there. And have no clue how to get
Anywhere and anytime. If you can workout anywhere and anytime, you are unlikely to workout anywhere or anytime. Having a space and time for things makes it likely that they'll happen, especially things that make our lives better. This is why "work from home" doesn't really work.
The gift of books. Martha Beck worked for 5 years to write, "Beyond Anxiety" in addition to the 30+ year career that enabled her to write it. She is going above and beyond to teach us to live a full-life beyond anxiety by holding our hand through the journey. Seth Godin
The illusion of control. The desire to control outcomes creates anxiety. Especially outcomes we have little agency over. This doesn't change the outcomes, doesn't affect their likelihood, but it does make the time we spend during the entire process quite miserable. The alternate is to trust. To trust ourselves and
Being busy. Maintaining the status quo is a busy job. It's a cul-de-sac, a dead end. No matter what you do and how much you do, it's never done. Changing the status quo, on the other hand, is different. It requires intention and courage. It'
Calm as a superpower. There are for sure going to be things that would ruffle your feathers. People behaving in ways that won't make sense. The rub of the green not going your way. Bureaucratic hassles, people driving wrong, things just not going right and whatnot. That's a given. What&
Fill your cup. There is no dearth of things to consume in the world, especially on the internet. There are posts, reels, Netflix documentaries, YouTube videos and what not. You can spend hours, if not days, watching stuff and you won't even scratch the surface. The challenge, though, is that most
Forward motion. Forward motion requires intention. To take a step in the right direction, no matter how small it is. A lot of distractions stand in the way. Most technology businesses are designed to do that. To make a profit from our time, energy and attention. Forward motion can become a habit.
Games without agency. Once you roll the dice, you have little agency over what the outcome's gonna be. However, you can get stuck, vying for a particular outcome, especially when you can't do much to affect it. That's a trap. And it takes your attention away from
Rushing the recovery. If your MacBook stops working and it would take 14 days to repair it, would you rush them and be happy with one that works only 80% of the time? Same with your car. You wouldn't want to rush its service and end up driving something that'
Go or no-go? Is the decision in front of you a go or no-go decision? Do you have a choice? If yes, decide without worrying about the how and when. Figure out if you can choose to not go ahead. Only once it's a go, work on the the logistics,
Misaligned strategy. You are dependent on or engaging with systems that don't lead to where you seek to go. They create the illusion that you are in-charge and you are buying into the illusion. You are playing games you are not aware of or have little agency over. The
