The insurmountable mountain top in picture, few steep climbs and heavy breaths later. May be we should do this tomorrow, we did start late as the hotel owner said. There is a mid way cafe, we can chill there and go down and tomorrow get a fresh start.Is it this or we are already giving up or the Inner procrastinator banks on the fact we have tomorrow to do this.Listen to the frail sound, Keep going.

Be the hero, you seek

How far to the top? “You will reach by evening.”, it was only 10.30a.m. 🤨“Some said 5–6 , some said by 4–5” .Then some one says 2–3 and some one finally said “1.30, you guys are making quick time.”The small note of encouragement put a spring to our feet. Suddenly, the air felt colder, the good kind and the mood uplifted. The jolly tune started humming in the head.

Different people have different opinions, find yours

One step at a time, take immediate action not overwhelmed by large goals.The mountain on the whole looks daunting. But when you think I will take 10 steps and see. And then you take 10 steps. When the 10 steps will tough, you say let’s take one step and see. And we literally did this, as we reached top steep parts of trek we took 2 steps and stopped, then other two steps. But we kept going.

Big Goals, small actions 

Stop, take a deep breath and look back. Soak in where you are, plan again where you want to go. Look at the last once unsurmountable point on the mountain, now seems like a distant victory. Then look around, soak in where you have reached and then look at the next unsurmountable peak and remind yourself, you will conquer it.

Don’t be blinded by your goals 

Mind wants to protect you, it will try to run in opposite direction. To save you from the physical and the mental pain of giving up. It will prefer, I could have but never tried . But, if you block it and keep going. New paths will open up. New belief system will develop.When you reach the peak, you will be surprised. I did it. You will reflect, I had my moments of doubt but I did it. This is far beyond my physical capacity, this was my initial thought. I was wrong. The good kind of wrong, the kind which puts a wry smile on your face.

You can do more than the limit you set for yourself 

The insurmountable mountain top in picture, few steep climbs and heavy breath later. May be we should do this tomorrow, we did start late as the hotel owner said. There is a mid way cafe, we can…

Life Lessons from a Mountain Trek

It might sound counterintuitive. When you want to move ahead in life, hit them goals. Buy that dream house, car or that new phone. Everyone is in such a rush to reach to a place where we feel accomplished, loved, cared, satisfied. Only to realise it is start of another peak.Let the realisation creep in, we are not telling ourselves to stop. It is a sign to slow down. Put car on the side line, press the parking light, check the left and the rights, check the google map, ask a passing stranger.“Are we headed in the right direction?”

Slow down To go faster

If you are go to reply to everything that needs to be done. Be it exercise, family or friends time, community time or even sleep is “ I am busy”. My friend we are suffering from the same thing, disease called “I am busy”It makes us feel engaged, no time to think, wonder, question because we have better things to do. That is being busy. Give yourself the freedom to have some quality rest. Take the walk in the park. Read that book with a cup of coffee and morning sun. Unless you are Putin and working to end the war, you can take the break .

A pandemic called: “I am busy”

Research shows we have recessing attention span. Don’t even need to quote it. Check your temptation to do something else while reading this small post. Did you switched tabs? Did you check the phone which have no notifications? Did you opened mail box to see any new mails or on Whatsapp.When you stand in a line and open your phone just to be engaged for that small pause. Did some life changing opportunity just walked past because you missed to check your phone? Ever ?Those millions notifications are better left unheard. Learn to sit idle. Learn to be idle.

Hello Attention span, bye

Sometimes you need to take a step back to make the jump

It might sound counterintuitive. When you want to move ahead in life, hit them goals. Buy that dream house, car or that new phone. When you seek that elusive tag in the organisation which helps you…

Un-offical Guide to go faster :   “Slow down”

Here is the snippet from Mr. Feynman's interviewWeiner: (Referring to Feynman’s journals) And so this represents the record of the day-to-day work.Feynman: I actually did the work on the paper.Weiner: That s right. It wasn’t a record of what you had done but it is the work.Feynman: It’s the doing it — it’s the scrap paper. Weiner: Well, the work was done in your head but the record of it is still here.Feynman: No, it’s not a record, not really, it’s working. You have to work on paper and this is the paper. OK?

Writing is Thinking?

Brain is really good at removing content it feel is not required. And how it knows it is required. Repetition, remember spaced repetition. Following the forgetting curve we can solidify knowledge. But knowledge is more than that, we are pattern seekers. We build patterns, repeat it until we know the underlying pattern and brain becomes effective in executing the pattern. Compare the day you started learning to drive to post your learning curve. If you play any musical instrument go back to day one and today.

Information Vs knowledge

Remember old movies had guns with only chamber to fire the bullet, Someone who was working on ships came back and thought merging the steering wheels and guns, And voila Colt revolver. Cars where made before Ford, but Ford came in and brought assembly line with him. Phone were made before hand, touch based devices where there but iPhone came in and replace the dial pad with screen. What came in play in all of these one domains or fields knowledge was taken and applied to other. “Interleaving”.

Interleaving Of Ideas 

How to take smart notes — Book revolves around Niklas Luhmann who wrote enormous amount of papers humanely impossible and how he did it.His method was simple, writing notes or knowledge chunks. Traditionally we structure knowledge in folders -> Biology -> Stomach -> Gut -> BacteriaBut his method was writing a note on just bacteria a very small note and float it as a independent knowledge node on th graph.

Zettlekesten 

Two things have happened here. First storage of knowledge in chunks. Breaking down of a big concept in smallest concept form. Second is building an interconnected graphs and exposure of the concept in multiple fields. When you sit back and go through the notes. Stages of a Note <ul><li>Fleeting notes : Quick jot of the content </li><li>Literature notes : Detailed, from where we picked and why and what are the thoughts. </li><li>Permanent notes — Moving here and making the required trails, what are your thoughts </li> </ul>

Knowledge Graph

Some people are blessed. They can remember stuff any day, “ Hey who was that character in that anime?” “GojousSan” Oh ,yes. When was the due date for this ? 10 days back fook. Meanwhile me, “What is…

Un-offical Guide on “How to Build a Second Brain?”

Friction is another strong deterrent, it is one of the strongest forces in the universe. Make it easy for you to pick a book. Take the book with you in your bag, get a book on phone. Keep books next to you. Keep the book on bed table. It should be always accessible.

Friction

Like we take insta-scrolling breaks on mobile, take read a page break. When commuting flip through few pages. Waiting in a line, read a few pages. It can be a Game “Whack a page”

Procastina

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

Take sports, you will probably spend an hour playing 🏸 but run away from gym because you and your mind enjoy the activity of playing not working. Read what you like. Take inspiration from your youtube history or series or movies you like. Science fiction, fiction, fantasy, productivity, history, biographies etc.

What To Read

Life is too short to read a bad book.

Lot of people I interact with keep telling me how they want to read but cannot do it. Lot of them rate time as one of the biggest factors. Others point out to the effort in reading, a lot of them…

Stashed ideas

Un-official guide on “How to start reading today?”

Some one liners I collected from books, blogs, videos, conversation, observation and more..

Quick notes I have been taking on life

What we feed the body? <ol><li>Less Processed is better.</li><li>Seasonal takes the cake.</li><li>Diversify food on your plate like your assets. More color better it is.</li><li>Sugar is the enemy. I know the blueberry cheesecake. Have it. Don’t become a slave to it.</li><li>Salt? Anything in excess is bad.</li><li>Water. Stay hydrated.</li></ol>

What you eat?

It is your superpower. Sleeping helps consolidate what you have learned. Helps in forming long-term memory. The body needs its to share of rest. Healing. Protect it at all costs.<ol><li>Get a routine, stick to it.</li><li>Seriously, early to bed and early to rise takes the cake.</li><li>Darkroom helps.</li><li>Dim screen light at night.</li><li>Stay away from your phone when going to sleep.</li><li>Separate working and sleeping area.</li><li>Invest in a good pillow and mattress. You are going to sleep a lot in your life.</li><li>No tea, coffee, or nicotine late at night.</li></ol>

Sleep a little more

This is almost equivalent to cheating. So much knowledge distilled in a consumable form for you.<ol><li>Again, diversify like your portfolio. Read fiction, classical fiction, mystery, business, psychology, startup, self-help, rocket science, research papers, history.</li><li>Make a routine.</li><li>Make it easy. Read one page daily.</li></ol>

Health is the real wealth

<ol><li>Stop being too busy.</li><li>Ask the correct questions. Why you don’t have time for ‘X’? I like going to the movies but I don’t have time for them. </li><li>Take a walk. Walking solves problems.</li><li>Take thinking breaks.</li></ol>

Stillness is the key

<ol><li>Practice. No escape there.</li><li>Writing brings order to your thoughts.</li><li>Write your fears, likes, thoughts.</li><li>Write about what you are learning. Teaching is the best form of learning.</li></ol>

Write them a song

Just some notes from various books, blogs, videos, tweets, etc. I have been reading. I do not follow all of them. I do not endorse them. But, they surely have made an impact on my life. It is your…

Grow

Some Notes I have been Collecting

The goal in itself should be big enough to scare you but not of a scale that scares the shit out of you. The one where you feel maybe not today but just maybe with bit of effort and guidance I can make it through.Best time to exercise is morning, this way you will never miss. Mornings you have very low probability of running into a situation where you ned to miss on exercise. If you are in good health you can achieve more, be it studies or work or life in general. Evening exercise has its benefits too. After a stress-full day it can really help to blow off steam.

Rise from the slump

Earlier this year I started with a goal that I would write a minimum of 12 posts and 4 youtube videos. I managed to get in 6 articles pretty fast, even a video was in, on youtube Then came the slump…

Rising from the slump

How can we bring this knowledge in our practice of Pomodoro. Keep a diary or a page. Whenever something distracting pops up. Write it down and continue.When you write it down somewhere brain can let it go. End of the day our brain trusts the paper more than us. This is effective even without the pomodoro mode. Acknowledgment is the key.“I thought I’d solved a problem when really I was creating new ones by taking the path of least resistance.”― David Goggins, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/65082544">Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds </a>“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” — Parkinson’s law

Supercharge your Pomodoro, Animedoro, MangaDoro, GamingDoro, SeriesDoro 👀

For the uninitiated, go take the stairs to the top. There are no shortcuts. Read more in the previous article. We will digging into small changes which can add rocket 🚀 fuel to our Pomodoro…

My published ideas

Learning how to learn is a quintessential skill.

Most important skill to have

How to Learn Better, score more on that tough paper and crack difficult exams - YouTube

Start investing today. We can differ on where to invest and how much to invest. But, no one can deny the fact that early you start better it is.“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese ProverbWealth is not made by making millions, you need to grow it. Like a tree, you keep watering it to be ready to give you fruits which you can pluck. How about planting more plants. Good to expand into more passive income streams. Stock market, real estate rental, your own published content, training others skill courses.Live below your means. No don’t sleep on a bunk bed. Don’t cut the heat supply. But spend money wisely. Starbucks coffee is not going to make you richer. Sure, once in a while splurge but be wary of little expenses which are not needed. Little holes can sink the ship.

Let's talk about Money

Disclaimer: First of all, I am not a certified individual on matters of investing or in general anything. Please do your own research or hire a wealth manager. Start investing today. We can differ on…

Let’s talk about Money 💵

If you had an urge, a surge in mood, a longing to pen down your thoughts and you shied away. Let’s see what we can change in the mindset to cross the barrier. First of all it is is not easy to write, at least for me. Heck it is difficult to start anything new. The amount of resistance is immense. Let’s hack together at some of them.Start small: Lets’ just write down a few sentences. Lets’ cap it to 3 sentences. Remember those mini assignments “Write 5 lines on cow”.Book a slot for writing. Start your calendar app and book a recurring slot for writing. This would be a dedicated window for writing. Bring it in your routine.<ul><li>Writing phase: Dump your thoughts don’t enter into the edit mode. Just keep writing. When you stop for editing you break the thought flow. Modern day editors are also not helpful with distracting red lines and auto correct suggestions. No wonder lot of artists are seen with typewriters or pen and paper to write in the movies.</li><li>Editing phase: Edit like you have not written it. Go over the documents mercilessly, removing what is not required. Remember all the good tools you learned while reading. Bring them here.</li></ul>

How to start writing

I got lucky last year, not the best year to get lucky. But, I got myself two books on writing. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft…

Life Lessons from a Mountain Trek

Un-offical Guide to go faster : “Slow down”

Un-offical Guide on “How to Build a Second Brain?”

Un-official guide on “How to start reading today?”

Some Notes I have been Collecting

Sunny Aditya