Notes

I've been thinking a lot about how do we feel good about living this life? How do we feel alive?

One of the common things that I've seen whenever I felt good, whenever I felt alive, and I felt like doing things, when I felt like not being in a rut, when I felt like that, I want to move ahead, I want to do something, I want to achieve something.

It's the feeling of movement that you're going somewhere. I would say it's the feeling of not being stagnant or being at one place.

Maybe it's just me, maybe it's my archetype that makes me predisposed to think that movement and achievement is something.

I'm not saying it in a more materialistic term that achievement is everything or achievement makes you feel good.

It's not that. It's the movement, the feeling of going somewhere. It's the idea that you're going in a direction that you want to go in. And it doesn't matter how big or small your steps are. It doesn't matter how smaller or bigger things that you're doing are.

It's that feeling of not being at one place, that displacement of your own cognition which makes you feel alive.

I'm still exploring this thought because this is the thing that I might be struggling a lot these days - that feeling of movement or maybe the feeling of direction but through the phases of feeling low and then feeling high again. One common pattern that I've found is this - the feeling of movement.

It could be as simple as writing a note, just like this one. This felt like movement to me.

Lately I've been sitting a lot with my thoughts. Been trying to write them out as well.

But one common pattern that I'm able to see that most of the thoughts that are there, they're about me. I should say they're about the idea of me. Mostly the memory of me.

And related to those memories. There are parts which goes to the future. There comes uncertainty then.

But with all these thoughts, the one common pattern is that none of it has any relation with the reality of things, but everything has to do with how you see yourself, and that's something very subjective to you.

The reason for that is how you see yourself has been accumulated, based on the memories that you have of yourself plus the emotions that you felt in those moments. Both the things have a very limited perspective, in a very tilted alignment with respect to the reality.

Whether you feel good about yourself or bad about yourself, that can be changed if you are able to change the emotions related to it and the memories related to it. And it also made me realise that we all need to work a lot on our mental health.

Just like we try to keep and take care of our bodies, we have to see what's going on in our head. How are we feeling? What are the constant thoughts in your head?

One of the best use cases of AI that I have seen so far is thinking of it as an execution force.

What do I mean by saying execution force? I mean something that can help you execute on the ideas that you have been holding in for years.

For myself and for a couple of my friends I've seen they've been executing ideas they have been holding within them not for years with the help of AI. So I think it removes the barrier to execution (as it used to be earlier).

Before, you needed a lot of baseline knowledge of various tools, programming languages, access to a lot of specific information, and in general a lot of logistical support to execute any simple idea or something that might have helped you even improve your life on a day-to-day basis.

And AI removes that kind of a barrier. So that's one of the best things that I've seen so far coming in from my own personal experience as well.

I've been executing various ideas that I have held for a longer time. Just like this website itself, I was able to put it together maybe within an hour or two, including the back-end, including the entire structure.

I've been holding this idea since I would say at least last six or seven years. I've spoken about it with a lot of my friends as well that I want to do something like this but I was stuck at the execution part of it. I had the idea, I knew what I wanted to create. Go out and try whatever you want to create. If not amazed, you might as well be little entertained.

From last week, I started reading this book by Ray Dalio, "The Changing World Order". While reading through it within the first chapter, there is a footnote that goes like:

"At this time, humanity is evolving its ways of thinking and increasing productivity in more dramatic ways than ever before, even more dramatically than the discovery and usage of the scientific method. We're doing this through the development of the artificial intelligence which is an alternative way of thinking via an alternative brain that can make discoveries and process them into instructions of what should be done.

Humanity is essentially creating an alternative species that has enormous capacity to see past patterns and process many different ideas very quickly, has little or no common sense, has trouble understanding the logic behind relationships, and doesn't have emotions. The species is simultaneously smart and stupid, helpful and dangerous. It offers great potential and needs to be well controlled. And not blindly followed."

Indeed, this is a point in time where things are changing, and things are changing pretty fast.

A lot of work that we used to think that only humans can do, now machines are able to do and think like humans or atleast are very close to them. We're still far away from saying they're as smart as us or as intelligent enough to think in abstracts and find abstract solutions of common and general problems.

That's why Ray also said there is little or no common sense, but one thing that they are good at is following instructions - if given clearly.

That gives us a thought. If what we do, how we earn money, how we find meaning in our lives is something which is very instructions-and-process driven, then I think machines are going to do it better than us.

Over the period of time and especially in the last few months. I have spent most of my time playing around with AI and its applications for my work and personal projects.

One thing that is very clear to me is the output that you get from AI is a direct reflection of the clarity of your thinking. If you know in your head what you want to create - you will get it that output.

But if you give it generic prompts to create stuff for you. It will give you generic output. Think of it as a very good execution partner but it won't know where to look or what to do and what not to do when stuck.

But one thing is sure AI is here to stay. It is like internet but like it was in 1990s.

What if I could take you on a journey. It will be just you and me. To land a far away from where you are now.

To me, That is what communication is like.

It’s taking the person you’re speaking or writing to and bringing them to your favourite place. You’ve been there so often it feels special, serene, and precious.

Maybe you’ve lived there for years; maybe you’ve only just discovered it. Either way, right now you’re the only person there and you want to share it with people who’ll appreciate it.

That's what communicating your thoughts feel like. You wish to transcend them to the land far away.

Maybe you’ve figured something out you want to share. Maybe it’s a brand new idea no one’s heard before.

It all depends on how you take them there. Did you travel there by feet - step by step or you just teleported them there with anywhere door.

Did you hold their hand to walk into the room or just pushed them off the cliff.

Not sure? Look at them - you will know. Are they there yet with you in your favourite place?

If they are, you won’t need many words; a single nod will do.

That's all the practice of communicating is. Travelling with the another person through your thoughts.

It is a Paradox. 

So often, everything that we would want is on another side of what we resist.

If you want to build muscles, you need to exercise and break those muscles down. If you afraid to speak in public, public speaking is last thing that you want to do. But that is exactly what you need, to become better at communicating. If you wish to build something, the only way is to build it and fail at it while building it.

There's that feeling of not wanting to do it. That feeling of dread before facing it. And yet, the very thing we escape is the path forward. It feels like an internal conflict. 

The paradox that peace comes not by avoiding struggle, but by facing it. If you're strong enough to fight, you rarely have to. Strength itself quiets the need to prove it.

In the end, whatever you're seeking in life, is on the other side of what you're avoiding. And if you stumble, think of Failure as rerouting signal - guiding you towards the better way.

What is money?

Food on your plate. Clothes on your body. Nice car to drive. A way to your dreams or the cost of your dreams. How you determine your worth or how your worth is determined by others.

From where I see it. It is very personal to each one of us. Thus, the way we define "money" for ourself, shapes our relationship with it. This will be the lens painting your every interaction.

This also has an impact on how we will think about earning money.

If you see it as limited and scarce, you will always be willing to give anything for it. Even the most precious resource of yours (your time). Their most precious resource – time itself – becomes a commodity they're willing to sacrifice endlessly in pursuit of what they perceive as limited.

On the other hand, when people see it as unlimited and abundant, they find ways to earn money using their skills and mind. Not through their time.

Personally for me, money is way to create and have more options. Also, an extension of how much value am I creating for the world. A measure not of worth, but of impact.

This perspective helps me make money choices for my future.

This reminded me of a saying that goes: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26, KJV).”

I would love to know how do you see it?

Do you also struggle with a low bank balance at the end of the month and zero savings?

and, you think more money will help you manage your money better?

It will not.

How do I know this?
I have been there with the same thought.

What is the solution?
Pay yourself first before you pay others. Do not make anyone else money before you make money for yourself.

Invest it as soon as it arrives in your bank account.

This sounds very simple and cliche. But in finance, simple works.

Worried? how will you manage your expenses with the remaining money?

I will ask - how were you managing it before you started earning your present salary?

When I started Investing, I could not buy any share priced more than Rs. 500. I thought it was too expensive. I was investing only a few thousands every month so I would have gotten only a 7-8 shares on the contrary I could get 100s of shares of Rs. 10 priced stock.

Many years later I understood where I was doing wrong. I was simply considering share price as a proxy signal of the intrinsic value of the share that I was buying.

In the hindsight, a few of the investments still worked and a few did not.

But, here is what I would differently :

Delinking the "share price" from the "value of the share" in my head. We all have been trained to look at the price of things and judge how valuable it is.

Instead, start looking for other measures of value.

Some of them could be:

1. Price - to - Earning Ratio - P/E Ratio - to check something is overpriced or not
2. Sales Growth Rate in last 5 years
3. Profitability of the business
4. Capacity Expansion i.e. If the company is building new plants and increasing their manufacturing capacity.
5. Free Cash Flows
6. Growth in Investments from FIIs and DIIs

Will be writing more on these later.

In the most simplest of words it means finding your place in the market.

You can understand the market as a collection of requirements and demands. Constant stream of ever changing requirements/ demands/ problems faced by the market in general. Why market - just another word for a group of people in economic sense. People with the willingness to buy.

Product - Any offering is a product.

As a an employee - You are the product with your existing skillset. Your employer or the industry is the market.

As a business - your product/ service is the product. Your customers/ people willing to buy are the market.

As a human looking for a relationship - you're the product with your emotional maturity and ability to connect. The kind of partner that you're looking for is the market.

And in each of these situations you will not be able to find the success that you're looking for - If you do not arrive at the product market fit.

It goes back again to your ability to Solve and Sell. And how well do you deliver on your promises to the market.

Market is always optimising to meet its demands.

I think one of the most important skills in life is looking at reality as it is.

It might seem very simple to read about it or hear about it, but I think this is one of the most difficult things to do because our mind tends to project a lot of things based on our own biases and how we have perceived things in the past. Our memories, our experiences have a role to play in how we see the world.

It helps us understand it from our perspective, but it definitely is not the best way - because the reality in itself is very unique and dynamic.

It works as per its own will, what I would say the laws of nature or the universe. Thinking it from that standpoint, it's like there is something which is happening in real but you see it totally otherwise or you don't see it at all because of your own blind spots.

Now when I think about it, how do you see the reality as it is? I think over the years, the two things that I have learned for myself that really, really help you do it would be:

1. Being calm in which Meditation (helps a lot)
2. Self-reflection and questioning

Because only then can you reflect upon the biases that you're holding against the reality of what it is really trying to show you. If you don't question - and you don't question yourself, it's next to impossible that you look at the reality as it is.

It will be very difficult to understand the cause-and-effect relationship amongst the things which are working in the nature.

This is all business is about. Solving Problems. Selling Solutions

How do you solve the problems?

1. By identifying the right problems.
2. Problems that affect large number of people.
3. Problems that are currently not solved or are not being solved correctly.
4. Use fundamental laws of logic and reason to solve the problem.

How do you sell?

1. Find people who has the problem that you have solution for.
2. Tell them about the solution and the right price for the solution.

That's it.

Whenever you are stuck.

Either you are not solving the problem or you're not able to sell the solution.

It is exactly what finding Product Market Fit is.

Truth is virtue which requires courage. Courage which you're not born with but something that you yield.

Speaking truth is like waging a war. It is a war. It is a testament of your own stand and fortress which you fight for. Thus, it is the act of courage. Knowing things will go wrong, if you speak the truth. And they will, but it is that act of courage that you show - because you value the truth more than risk of going wrong.

It is also not the act of foolishness that you keep on speaking truth. Not everything requires you to speak too. Wait. Wait for the right time - when the right action arises itself.

Truth is also not what you believe. It is what is true, no matter who is looking at it. Agnostic of the stand point.

But if you feel disconnected from yourself. Lost in understanding the world and universe. Go deep within yourself. Spend that time and feel that.

This is the core idea of being yourself and being yourself on the internet. Letting the right audience find you. You don't choose your niche or find it. That will be an external approach.

You create one. By being out there in open. Let people choose you and share your work with other like minded people. That sharing and collection of similar people creates a niche for you.

This is exactly finding your friends.

You don't have a money problem. You have a habit problem. A behavioural loop that you're stuck in.

Think of it as an automation loop. No matter how much money you earn, you end up at the same place. It's like you're destined to be broke by the month end.

If money was the problem, more money should have been the solution. It feels like having too many things to buy but not enough money.

But is it? Every pay check feels like water through your fingers.

May be the solution could be in figuring out - What is that you're seeking when you're buying everything that you buy?

Is it comfort? Is it habit? Is it status? Or is it just boredom. Did you really need it or was it sold to you without you even realising?

I bought things for all of the above reasons. I can confirm.

But you should always remember - your brain isn't hardwired - it's just wired. And what's wired can be rewired.

Might just need a little help.

I was reading Amazon's shareholder letters from their initial years (we're talking 1997). A company not just doubling or tripling, but growing 10x every single year!

And, in every letter, the one thing that was common was Amazon's commitment to "Customer Focus"- simple as that.

Reading these letters was like peeking into the mind of a CEO when they were nobody. When they were at 1% of what they are today. When there was buzz about everything "Internet" (sounds familiar? cough AI in 2025).

They were only talking about their business, growth and improvement. Their numbers spoke their truth.

Then came the 2000 dot-com crash.

Amazon's stock? Down by a crazy 80%!

But here's the plot twist -

While their stock took a massive hit, their sales? Still going up by 70%! What changed? Not the business - just the noise.

Here's when something important about the correlation between business and investing hit me.

It is the underlying business that matters. You have to understand it and believe in it, to really know what to buy. Because, that is what you're actually buying. A live running business. The numbers should make sense to you.

Quoting my favourite part from that year's shareholder letter:

"In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long term, it's a weighing machine.

Clearly there was a lot of voting going on in the boom year of '99—and much less weighing. We're a company that wants to be weighed, and over time, we will be—over the long term. In the meantime, we have our heads down working to build a heavier and heavier company."

You should be focusing on investing in companies building long term value for their customers. If not that, you're just buying share prices chasing some fluctuations.

And there I was, thinking "Man, I should've bought Amazon back then!" But, what could I have done - I was just 3 years old.

The best ideas are often the simplest ones. Not because they're easy to come up with—quite the opposite. Simplicity is the result of careful thought, ruthless editing, and deep understanding.

It's easy to make something complicated. It's hard to make it simple.

When you truly understand something, you can explain it simply. When you don't, you hide behind complexity.

Simplicity isn't about removing features or capabilities. It's about clarity of purpose. Every element should have a reason for being there.

I don't write to communicate what I already know. I write to discover what I think.

The act of putting words on a page forces you to clarify fuzzy thoughts. It reveals gaps in your logic, assumptions you hadn't examined, and connections you hadn't noticed.

This is why on-simplicity resonates so much—the process of simplifying your writing is the process of simplifying your thinking.

Writing isn't just a medium for sharing ideas. It's a tool for generating them.

Over the weekend I took up a project on myself. It was to track all of my expenses going out of my salary account since last financial year.

I tracked each and every transaction. Categorized them into various expense heads such as - Rent, Cabs, Food, Groceries, Shopping, Cash Withdrawals, and Credit Card Payments. Broadly covering expenditures on my lifestyle needs and superfluous wants.

With over 2000 transactions analyzed, I gained a clear picture of my spending habits.

However, this exercise isn't new to me; I've been doing it every 3 to 6 months for years. I recommend everyone I help with finances to do this as a very first exercise.

This helps you become aware of where your money is going. And this awareness seeps into better financial decisions, right spending habits, and eventually less overwhelming money thoughts.

Because if something can't be measured, it can't be managed.

This simple practice of tracking creates the foundation for all good financial habits. You can't optimize what you don't understand.