A month ago, I signed up for a speed reading course. Reading faster has been a goal of mine for a long time now. But nothing I had tried before worked for me. I just couldn’t stick through any of the training programs I’d signed up for. —- One day, an Indian speaking broken English…
The secret benefit of a marathon
When I launched this blog in late February, my goal was to publish a post every single day. On the days I couldn’t write and publish a new post, I cross-posted content from my now-defunct medium blog. This way I maintained my daily streak for about 2 weeks. —- Then the first crack in my…
When the student is ready…
“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” – Abraham Lincoln —- When someone expects you to do something hard, how often do you feel driven to do it? Not out of fear of punishment, but because: They set high…
When not to quit
I made a decision to start writing regularly a couple of months ago. The first month was a breeze. High levels of motivation. The excitement of launching my own blog. It was hard not to write. The excitement dissipated after a few weeks, but I was largely able to retain the momentum. Then it got…
When the going gets tough…use a safety net
I binge-watched 6 episodes of a Netflix series on Sunday. Almost 5 hours of TV. It was good, while it lasted. Eyes glued. The excitement of watching a thriller. Rooting for the protagonist. Hoping the villain would suffer what he deserved. —– And then after it’s all over, the eerie silence starts. Those open problems…
Why write? And why write publicly?
A friend was curious why I blog. That made me think as well. Blogging is public writing. While writing your own personal journal every day is a great habit, I think blogging has additional benefits. Perhaps some of the following reasons will also resonate with you 🙂 Why write? Writing helps me clarify my thinking….
Stress is good
My writing tool of choice is called The Most Dangerous Writing App Here’s how it works: Let’s say you plan to write for 20min. Once you start writing, you can’t stop until your 20 minutes are done. If you pause for more than a few seconds, you lose everything you’ve written so far. Sounds stressful?…
Being dissatisfied: There’s a catch. And a solution!
I recently wrote about how being perennially dissatisfied can fuel us toward continuous improvement and growth. There is however a catch. The dissatisfaction could lead to disappointment rather than enthusiasm. I’ll address how to avoid that in this post. —- Some years ago, I watched an interview with the always-in-the-news Elon Musk. Here’s one part…
The gift of dissatisfaction
“Why are you never satisfied? We can’t be happy unless we’re satisfied.” That was a piece of advice from a friend, who meant well. —- “Stretch a bit more Vaidy…Put your elbows down…You can do this..” That was Shilpa, my Yoga teacher. We were practicing the hanumanasa (full split). My thighs were screaming in pain….
Don’t trust yourself – book a Focusmate session instead!
Have you ever gone to bed planning to do something important the next day like…getting up early/practicing Yoga/writing/reading/studying/practicing music/spending quality time with family.. And then spending the next day carefully avoiding that important thing? And then going to bed the next day, once again..planning to do that important thing the next day? I’ve lost count…