Design your own sign #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
And you don’t even need to know sign language.
Sign No More!
Till next week…signing off!
I saw a sign…and it opened up my eyes
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Category Archives: Monday Morning Wake Up Call
Swachh sach
Swachh loos, swachh mann, swachh bharat, swachh world #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
Dare to Care?
Care… More #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
At first glance this message (photo I took at an underground station in London) looks a bit funny, even ridiculous. But once you get past your cynic demon you’d probably agree it is really thoughtful. There are people out there genuinely looking out for you. One of the reasons why people who live in UK or even spend short periods of time become evangelists of the country.
They care… more.
Whether it be obvious instructions to look left/right at zebra crossings, ensuring children sit only at the back of the car or making one of the most complex underground networks so intuitive that it would be hard for even a blind person to lose his way.
They give meaning to a four letter word that often gets taken for granted.
The Truth About Lying
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in (sm)all matters, cannot be trusted in large ones either.” – Albert Einstein #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
In addition, I just think life is way better if we simply stick with the truth, always. There’s no guilt gnawing your insides. There’s no stress of having to remember what you said to keep your sequence of stories straight. There’s no fear of getting caught. After all, in time, the truth does have a funny way of sneaking out, she just can’t be caged.
But then, this is only my perspective. Nevertheless, a reminder. You don’t want your nose growing long now do you?
Fight Song
“There’s still a lot of fight left in me”
#MondayMorningWakeUpCall I might have only one match but I can make an explosion – Fight Song by Rachel Platten
Find me a person who hasn’t had to fight through life before (and very often after) fame and fortune kissed her and I shall find you a magic lamp that exists outside our imagination.
Rachel Platten is on her way to fame and fortune’s exclusive party. She got invited only after she wrote a song to remind her that no matter how little her music got celebrated or how much she got punched, she believed in herself and she would continue to make music even if it was just for her ears only.
Rachel Platten released her first independent album in 2003 and since then has spent the last 12 years scrapping for gigs, grinding out small tours and trying to figure out how to make a dent in the music industry.
In an interview she mentioned “I wrote ‘Fight Song’ at a real low moment of feeling like, ‘Should I quit? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was deluding myself.’ There weren’t a lot of signs to keep going. But something in me — this tiny little crazy voice — would not let me quit. That song was the apex of that moment where it was like, ‘You are not quitting. If nobody else believes in you, you have to believe in yourself.'”
So if the song’s helped her get out of bed even on dark and depressing days with gusto, then I’m guessing, for a manic or no-manic Monday, what better #MondayMorningWakeUpCall could there be to punch through the week with a Fight Song playing in our head.
Hint: The trick however methinks is to not fight. More musings on this puzzling paradox another Monday morning. Till then, thank you Rachel Platten for your Fight Song.
Good v Popular
Never judge a book by its movie #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
What’s your PQ quotient?
A couple of weeks ago Bahubali released, made (still making) tons of money @ the box office, and was (probably still is) a topic of conversation at cocktail parties and local trains alike.
One such conversation with a good friend who’s in the media business and with whom I often chat about our common pet peeve, movies, whenever we are catch up went like this –
Friend (in an eager tone): Did you watch Bahubali?
Me (in a neutral tone): Yup!
Friend (in a more eager tone if imaginable): Did you like it?
Me (in a more neutral tone if imaginable and not wanting to disappoint him from the joy of shared approval): Ummm…I wish the execution was better and…
Friend (in wide eyed astonishment): You didn’t like it!!! I LOVED it! I mean I just LOVED it!! How could you NOT love it?
Me (defensively): I mean it’s not that I…
Friend: Do you know how much money it’s making? I went to watch it on the 2nd week on a week night and it was housefull. It was housefull dude. Same movie a firang would’ve made and you would have been showering Oscar praises at him. I’m telling you, you guys have white skin syndrome.
Me (speechless and in my head): How did racism gate crash the conversation and more importantly, Bahubali MUST really be the son of the divine if he can command so much passion with no sense of fashion. Oops.
I didn’t mind the movie, though I did walk out 2/3 way through the movie (I happened to miss telling my friend this little detail) before the apparently really good battle scenes came on. What I tried to explain, which fell to deaf ears, was that there definitely is a distinct difference in the quality of execution in many scenes. Even if one suspends disbelief with regards storylines, the finishing, i.e. the output on the screen, needs to look believable. Maybe I shouldn’t compare it with LOTR, which people may argue is 10 times Bahubali’s budget, however I can’t help but see the glaring flaws if I were to measure it up with say a Gladiator made 15 years ago.
Add to that, the poor Hindi dubbing did more damage than good.
But I’m rambling. My point is I don’t have a problem with you loving the movie. But I do think it’s worthwhile trying to objectively appraise quality. Else the benchmarks we set ourselves might just be wanting.
Especially if we mistake popularity with high-quality. It’s possible for something to be popular yet fall short in quality. Gadar Ek Prem Katha & 50 Shades of Grey (book & movie), a lot many item songs, Chetan Bhagat novels, Saas Bahu serials, Newshour with Arnab, junk food as opposed to health food, action stars vis-à-vis better actors are some examples just to give you an idea of what I mean.
They may be more popular because of smart marketing or they strike a universal chord with many or simply may just be easier to access physically and intellectually.
Similarly there are enough instances of brilliant products, art, people going into oblivion. The G-spot obviously is when remarkable quality meets all-embracing popularity. Whether the twain meet or not, it may be worthwhile to acknowledge that popularity and quality are NO twins, monozygotic or dizygotic.
Only then will you be able to create something world class.
You are of course free to love a bad product/art or hate any good product/art. That’s your personal prerogative.
Destiny is not the enemy
Destiny is a myth. Write your own story. #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
Destiny is not the enemy!
How do you know your life is pre-destined? Or it’s not for that matter? In fact how does it even matter?
So why make destiny Your ‘blame it on her’ enemy, For any of your tragedy? Rather create your own symphony, And live life in harmony.
Wouldn’t you say?
Cry Knowledge, Cry Wolf
Knowledge is wolf in wisdom’s clothing #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
Beware the wolf who cries knowledge
Charles Spurgeon, an 18th century British Baptist Preacher explains my MondayMorningWakeUpCall beautifully. He says, “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great than a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom”
We laud people who can quote facts, figures and aphorisms. We applaud people who seem to know the GDP, foreign policy, capital and currency of countries we never knew existed. We glorify people whose vast knowledge lives can pledge.
Knowledge has become (probably has always been) a measure of a person’s intelligence. But if you truly deeply madly ponder over how knowledge about the world at large really helps you as an individual, you might not come up with a better answer than “to avoid being perceived as a dumb bimbette if I cannot converse on a topic.” At least I couldn’t come up with a better answer.
How else does it matter if you don’t know what the Vyapam scam is about, who won the IPL or woe betide, who’s the President of India other than being judged as the uncoolest of dinosaurs, the ignoramasaurus.
Case to point – before judging Alia Bhatt as an ignoramasaurus on her infamous response on Koffee with Karan (President of India is Prithviraj Chavan), it might be helpful to remind yourself that she probably earns more than you do, is more famous than you might ever be, and is making a living doing what she loves.
Even Sherlock Holmes, or at least Arthur C. Doyle shares the same view point (I would presume from a dialogue exchange between Holmes and Watson)
Sherlock Holmes: Look, it doesn’t matter to me who’s prime minister, or who’s sleeping with who…
Dr. Watson: [quietly] Or whether the Earth goes round the Sun.
Sherlock Holmes: Oh God that again. It’s not important.
Dr. Watson: Not important? It’s primary school stuff. How can you not know that?
I am not advocating ignorance. If any topic/subject impacts you directly in your personal or professional life, then yes it is worthwhile delving deeper in the subject to appear erudite. After all, if you’re working as a Digital marketing professional and you are clueless about ‘periscope’, then you know why you didn’t ace that job interview.
Nor am I discouraging satiating your curiosity across any inane minutiae even if it may kill you.
But I am advocating questioning the precious time you spend on filling your mind with worthless junk (news in my mind is the unhealthiest of them all). After all, if you see time like I do, as a diminishing commodity, then I would rather spend it on improving my ‘knowledge’ on my vocation and nonsense that may help lead a more productive and fulfilling life, rather than on life, the universe and everything (cos the answer anyway is 42)
In fact, long before Google was a verb, Einstein figured “I don’t need to know everything, I just need to know where to find it.”
The potty of gold
Why chase a phantasmal pot when you can be a zot #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
Sing even if you can’t sell your songs
Paint even if there’s no one to purchase your paintings
Love even if it is a love that is lost
Write even if no one reads your rhymes
Race even if you reap no rewards
Once you experience the joy of singing, painting, loving, writing, racing, doing just about anything simply for the love of it, you lose yourself in your labour. It is when you become one with your vocation and time ceases to exist.
And when you experience the magic of oneness, it’s unlikely that you will crave the phantasmal pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Which sometimes even turns out to be more like a potty of gold.
The rainbow itself becomes the reward.
Going from Zer0 to 0ne
The more we compete, the less we gain – Peter Thiel #MondayMorningWakeUpCall
Blue Apples – They not only keep the doctor away, you will also never have to brush a single day
Pop Quiz: What’s common between driving in traffic and driving a startup?
Answer: If you can pull yourself away from the crowd, your speed (and probability) of reaching the destination on time becomes (exponentially) higher. And what’s more, it comes sans the stress of a rat race.
The epiphany came to me when I was on my way to Pune last week, reading ‘Zer0 to 0ne’ by Peter Thiel (Paypal Co-founder) during the drive. In a particular section of the book Peter talks about the benefits of building a monopolistic company, which is, a company building so much value in its niche that it literally rules the market. This is in contrast to building a company in a crowded space amidst cut-throat competition by just re-packaging the same offerings, which is more likely to lead to everyone (or at least most) losing in the long run and sometimes even the short run.
Much like driving sans traffic vis-à-vis bumper traffic as I fathomed during my journey experience in my drive to Pune. For a change, I managed to leave well on time, at 7am, well ahead of the rush hour. I not only cut down my usual travel time by an hour (30%) by pulling myself away from the rush hour crowd, I also not once had stressed out during the journey to make time. Instead I soaked in the lush green scene en route and daydreamed about how to take Skillzot from 0 to 1.
To explain this simply, instead of fighting for apples from the same tree where half a dozen people are pulling each other’s hair and moustache to grab the most succulent apples, why not you plant an apple tree that gives blue apples, apples that will keep the doctor away, and, you can also promise your customer that she will never have to brush a single day.
Of course you could argue that making blue apples isn’t easy, maybe even impossible. But then again, is competing with blunt daggers any less difficult?
The idea here is that competing in a crowded market will at best lead to only incremental benefits. You can pull yourself exponentially ahead of a crowded market by creating new things that will make the future not just different, but better – to go from 0 to 1.
Arbit Musings 