I was asked yesterday, "You talk about daily progress. How do we know that we are progressing daily? That is something hard to measure".
I have a simple yardstick for daily progress
Do one thing everything that scares you.
The world tricks us into believing that life's goal is comfort.
Because everything around us is designed for our comfort.
Want food? Click
Want books? Click
Want content? Click
Want love? Swipe right
Everything available at the speed of thought.
Getting to a life of comfort may be progress.
But living a life FOR comfort isn't.
Instead, live your fears.
I love fear.
Because behind every fear is a person you want to be.
Fear is self imposed.
It doesn't exist.
We created it.
We can destroy it too.
It is an intangible.
Scared of public speaking?
Speak in public
Scared of approaching strangers?
Approach strangers
Scared of cold calling/emailing?
Cold call/email
Scared of working out?
Work out
Scared of facing your parents?
Face them
Scared of losing someone?
Love yourself
Daily progress isn't about becoming an expert in your field
It is developing the mindset that progress is a way of life.
It is like breathing.
I rarely stop to acknowledge it.
But I do it every second.
I would die without it.
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For the past 4 years, I have managed to read 40-45 books in a year.
After a lot of trial and error, I think I have arrived at a way of reading books that works for me.
It all starts with a routine.
1.
I read every morning, for 30-45 mins.
This is after 90 mins of waking up, once I am done with my meditation, my singing and my "sipping water like wine" routine (a story for another day)
I have read everyday for the longest time I know.
Almost at the same time everyday.
I always sugar coated my feedback, even when I felt strongly that they had done something wrong.
I felt I would come across as rude.
I felt they will feel bad about themselves.
People who wish to grow always seek feedback.
Diluting the feedback is disrespectful to them.
I always wanted to know how I could help them.
I always wanted to know what was wrong.
But I never shared how they could help me.
Even when asked, I never shared what was wrong at my end.
People want the joy of being able to help you, just as much as you seek that joy from them.
This right here, is almost all of consumer psychology summarized.
This picture is a real-life proof (take it for what it's worth) of the Prospect Theory - which was presented by Dan Kahneman and Amos Traversky in a seminal paper in 1979 bit.ly/2Gsq7i2
They (actually only Kahneman) went on win the Nobel prize in 2002.
A layman summary of the theory is
Pain from loss >> Pleasure from gain
It said
People are willing to take a sure shot than gamble on getting higher gains (another form of loss aversion) - which is shown in Poll 1
(60% took the sure shot Rs. 500)
August 2016.
It has been 3 months since LinkedIn had launched its video feature.
And I had been waiting for it to be activated on my profile.
A thread...
I have been blogging since 2005.
Almost daily.
Started with my experiences as an MBA student at @ISBedu, then a consulting job.
Until then it was like a public diary.
But it took a very mature turn when I turned an entrepreneur in 2009.
I was experiencing so much, on a daily basis.
Making mistakes left, right and center.
Course correcting.
My biases were being challenged.
And I was learning so, so much!
The blog began to reflect that.
And people began to read it.
A lot more people than used to.