Boring and repetitive. The quest for novelty can be a hindrance in the quest for consistency. We seek novelty for the tension that it creates. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out. But when we stop being consistent for the sake of novelty, we make the novelty even more
The buzz and the resistance. Yesterday, as part of the Creative’s Workshop at Akimbo, I listened to a conversation between Seth Godin and Gabe Anderson. They talked about the buzz you feel when you are committed to doing something. The buzz I felt just before I started typing this blog entry. That’s the
Don't think your way out of a rut… There’s a popular saying that goes like, “If you’re in a hole, stop digging”. Thinking is what gets us into a rut. The way out of it is never through thinking. Instead, action, despite all the resistance to it, despite you not feeling like it, despite your rational
Small losses... …are essential for big gains. The easiest way to avoid your creative work is to engage in other people’s urgencies. However, in order to do something meaningful, you would have to let go of many meaningless things. If all we do is to avoid the small losses, the big
The neutral gear. How do you get a car that’s going in the reverse direction to move forward? You put it in neutral first. Even to change the gear up, you need to go via neutral. It makes sense then to identify with our neutral state and learn how to get back
Finding our voice. There are two voices inside our head, the automatic one and the intentional one. The automatic one tends to take over the space most of the time. It makes us run on auto-pilot. But sometimes, when we become calm, when we act, we get a glimpse of the intentional
Addicted to the past? Are we working on making our future better or are we busy paying off the past’s debt? Ironically though, the best way to pay off the past’s debt is to work on the future. Elon musk, Jeff Bezos are definitely future oriented. They are working on things that
What are you measuring? Want to write more? Want to lose weight? Want to earn more? What are the metrics that lead to your goals? Are you measuring them? As Peter Drucker famously said, “What gets measured, gets managed.” If it’s all in your head, you are probably not being as effective as
Leading myself. When we talk of leadership, we invariably think of others as followers: I am leading, they are following. The most important leadership, though, is leading oneself. There is a follower in each of us. That part of our mind that needs direction. That part of our mind that wants someone
Mental labour. The one that we do in the mind. When we think about a task, or a decision or anything for that matter. This includes discussions and deliberations. That mental labour is useless. Nothing comes out of it. Instead, it’s the fingers (that type or paint) or the vocal chords
Time and Focus. Time behaves differently. I am not talking about Einstein’s relativity theory but my assertions on Resistance. When we are indulging in Resistance activities, time rushes like anything. We don’t even realise that we have spent 4 hours on YouTube or watched the entire season in one day. On
Working through ambiguity. We almost always have two options: choosing the ambiguous path or choosing the path of clarity. The path of clarity has clear actions and clear outcomes. You want a job, make a CV and apply on a job website. You want a date, make a profile on bumble. But the
Resistance is not the enemy. I am the enemy. I, who listens to the voice of Resistance. That is the enemy. I, who believe that I still have time to get the work done, so I can open another app and check that. I, who believes the thoughts of self-doubt that comes in my
The half-baked idea... …is just like the half-baked cake. You can’t eat it. You don’t want to throw it away. So you keep it. Just like it is. And the longer you keep it, the worse it becomes. The half-baked idea is kept in the refrigerator of our mind.
Irreversible forward motion. Seth Godin calls it “Turning the Ratchet”. It is the action that levels us up. Like the push-up. You can’t or won’t undo it. And it makes the second push-up much easier. The more forward motion we generate, the more we are likely to generate. Thinking
Making exceptions. In the War of Art, Steven Pressfield tells his friend Paul Rink that he finally finished his first novel. “Start the next one, tomorrow”, he replies. Creative pursuit is akin to Sisyphus’s struggle. First, to look at the boulder, then to go beside it, then to put the effort
The irony of rest. What does Sisyphus do when he has pushed the boulder up the mountain? He goes and gets a good night’s sleep. Hopefully. There’s a reason why the sky becomes dark in the night. It’s an indication from nature that you need to turn off and get the
Locking it in? I am not sure whether to do this or that. What do you think? Okay. Let me ask someone else also. What do you think? And so on it goes… Pick up any decision or action; add a bit of ambiguity and morality to it, and then you have this
Fear or confidence? The confidence that I will definitely right the blog today. Or the fear that I might miss today. Which one works? The first one makes me delay and procrastinate. The second one jolts me out of my slumber. The fear is real because you can’t repair the streak once
Are you predicting the future? Don’t. Career plan is a recipe for mediocrity. It means you are not going to do anything excellent. Instead, focus on what you can do this week. Not on what you’d be doing in 5 years. How can you possibly know that? Unless you are just not going
The list. Well, not the Schindler one. But yours. The brain, as marvellous as it is, has limited RAM. It’s not supposed to hold a list. Give it 3 items to hold onto, and it will generate an infinite loop using them. ABCBABCABCACBA… and so on. You get the idea. The
Where does the magic come from? A friend of mine recently started writing ‘dailies’ and shared with me. They are magical. They transport you to some other dimension. She says that she doesn’t know where it comes from. She is afraid it might not come tomorrow. What is the source of the magic? I have
Mental push-ups. Ignore the urges. The urge to leave your seat. The urge to check WhatsApp or Instagram or whatever. The urge to order from the food-ordering apps. The urge to call someone unnecessarily. The urge to not do your work. Every time you ignore an urge, add them to your
Something to hold on to. What is the difference between a job and a creative enterprise? In the job, you have to be in the office on Monday. There is no getting away from that. Whereas, for a creative enterprise, especially when we have not turned pro, we are either working 24×7 or we
The dichotomy of chasing multiple goals. In “Harry Potter and the deathly hallows”, there is a point where Harry has to take a decision. Should he continue his search for horcruxes, which is going nowhere actually; or should he change course and try to stop Voldemort from getting the hallows. Luckily for us, and the muggles,
