Monthly Mulling - July 2020
This has been a weird month for me and my family. We tested positive for Coronavirus and were hospitalized end of June. We spent 7 days in the hospital and 10 days at home in quarantine. We all are safe, healthy, and doing well now. I wrote an account of the whole ordeal on my blog, you can read it here.
So here is a gentle reminder: wear your mask, maintain social distance, and sanitize your hands!
Onwards.
MULLING
Zanshin (Article) - Zanshin means “a mind with no remainder”. It refers to a state of relaxed alertness. There is a famous Japanese proverb that says, “After winning the battle, tighten your helmet.”
It can apply to everyday life. We tend to get complacent once we finish something. Zanshin is a reminder that the fight is still on.
25 Useful Thinking Tools (Article) - Scott Young is taking a different approach to looking at mental models. He is looking at 25 professions and how they solve a problem. Not the problem they are trying to solve but how do they solve a particular problem. There are some good models in there to add to your toolkit.
Gartner Life Cycle (Article) - Gartner Life Cycle refers to maturity, adoption, and application of specific technology. It’s an interesting graph where initially a new technology reaches high visibility only to crash, and then finally being widely understood. It has been criticized for lacking scientific evidence.
What I found interesting about the graph is its similarity to Dunning-Kruger effect which is a cognitive bias relating to people with low ability at a task overestimating their ability.
Creation/Recognition (Article) - Seth says, “Creation plus persistence can lead to recognition. But creation without recognition is still a worthwhile endeavor.” There is a lag - when a business/technology is created vs. when it is recognized.
In 2006, Yahoo offered $1 billion to buy Facebook when it was about to launch its Newsfeed feature. Was the failure on Facebook’s part to create value or Yahoo’s part in recognizing the value?
How Robinhood Convinced Millennials to Trade Their Way Through a Pandemic (Article) - The article looks at the success of Robinhood during the pandemic.
Jeff Bezos comparing the 2000 dotcom bubble to the early electric industry (Video) - TedTalk from the time when TedTalks were actually interesting, Jeff Bezos compares the 2000 dotcom rush to the early electric industry while attributing the fact that it was wrongly compared to the gold rush.
Why this font is everywhere (Video) - A Vox video about the font Cooper Black and how it is being used literally everywhere. Once you see the video, you will start observing this font everywhere you go from store-fronts to food wrappers.
This is Marketing by Seth Godin (Quote) - “Your work is not for everyone. It’s only for those who signed up for the journey”.
It’s an interesting quote. He explains that there are so many types of chips in the market and all of them are selling different flavors. These chips still sell their products because people have different tastes. The same is the case with anything you build. Find the market you’re trying to sell your product to and then focus on them!
America in real life - As non-resident reading news about the US, this seems quite possible for America in the coming years.
CONTENT UPDATE
Here is the content that I have released this month.
BLOG POSTS
I posted two articles this month.
1. Social Media Accountability - An article focusing on how you can use social media to hold you responsible for your goals. I modified the habit loop from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg to include social media accountability. It was something I had started recently but a conversation with Prerak Sheth on the podcast cemented the idea.
2. The Coronavirus Story - My honest account of our mindset and thought process when we found out that we were diagnosed with COVID-19. I wrote this article from a human behavior perspective - so give it a read. I delve into some key observations and things that we did wrong; so you don’t repeat them.
WHAT THE HAT!? (PODCAST)
We released 4 episodes this month. New episode every Saturday. Additionally, we reached 2200 listens for the podcast across all platforms!
Natasha Kanchan - talks about her journey from studying M.B.A in Wharton College to moving back to India to run a business.
Smit Shah - talks about the future of drones and his work with the Drone Federation of India to advocate a strong drone policy for the future.
Dhaval Shroff - talks about the future of self-driving cars and his experience of working at Tesla with Elon Musk. Quite a brilliant episode!
Professor Mayur Parulekar - talks about teaching as a profession and future of education with online courses imparting better and current information.
COLD BREW MONEY (PODCAST)
We started a new podcast! Atit and I are talking about money because your friends and family won’t. New episode every Monday! If you find finance interesting, you can subscribe to us on the streaming platform of your choice here.
TREAT YO' SHELVES!
It was not a good month for reading. I completed 1 book this month.
BOOKS READ THIS MONTH
This is Marketing by Seth Godin - Seth Godin is one of the most important figures in the world of marketing. And his book reflects that. Here are some of the important concepts.
Target the smallest viable market - Target a niche market for your business for quicker growth. You won’t turn the ocean purple if you put a drop of purple color in there.
1000 loyal fans - Building engagement and creating a list of 1000 loyal fans will go a long way than trying to find a new audience. Engage with your existing audience/people.
Build a solution - a lot of times we build something and then go find an audience. Instead, try finding solutions to existing problems when building your next product. Always ask, how can this help?
Use Network Effects - I am currently in the process of writing an article on this fascinating topic. But here is a tweet for thought.
CURRENTLY READING
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - it talks about the art of negotiation
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson - book detailing the basics of Astrophysics.
Note: If you have book recommendations, you can directly send them to me through my social accounts linked below. I also keep my GoodReads account up-to-date, if you want to take a look. Here is a list of my most recommended books of all time.
AND FINALLY,
Do you prefer knowing the read time of an article on the web before starting the article or you don’t care?
LinkedIn and Medium show the average reading time of a post, do you think it helps?
Personally, I don’t care. If I find the first few paragraphs of the article interesting, I continue reading.
I was planning to add this feature to my blog, so I wanted to get a pulse where everyone stands. Kindly let me know!
You can reply to this email or you can reach out to me via Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Until next month!
Best regards-
Tapan
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