MONTHLY MULLING💡
Some life skills that are not taught in school, the work culture at Gumroad, and Window-openers vs. Door-knockers
Hi👋,
Tapan here.
Monthly Mulling is a newsletter sending the best ideas from the web to your inbox for free. High signal. Low noise.
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Happy Monday y’all!
Do all of you have your goals and systems finalized for 2021? I created a sheet to help you quickly build a system based on your goals. My goals for 2021 are:
Big Goal:
🏃🏼♂️Get fit and into a more sustainable healthy eating pattern. Failed in the first-week but working towards it.
Other Goals:
📚 Continue my reading habit (check out the Reading Challenge, if you haven’t already). We also have a GoodReads group for everyone who wants to start/continue reading in 2021.
🧘🏼♂️Continue meditating.
😇 Give back to the creators and charities (thanks Siddha😊). In 2020, I realized content-creation is really difficult. So this year, I am giving back to creators and charities, I have subscribed to or believe in. 1% every month. It’s not a lot but it’s something.
✍🏼 Write every day. I really enjoy writing and want to hone my skills. Grow this newsletter (help by sharing?🙏🏼) and my blog.
What are your goals for the year? Tell me about them on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or just reply to this email!
🎓SOME LIFE SKILLS THAT WE ARE NOT TAUGHT IN SCHOOL (Article - 10 mins)
New post! You can read the full post by clicking the button below.
Elon Musk said, colleges are for fun but not for learning. I have been thinking about this for some time and some of the most important life skills are never taught in school. If they are taught, they are not taught correctly.
Yes, our schools do teach us how the Pythagoras theorem works and that the Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell which are pretty key things to learn in life but hear me out, we are not actually ‘taught’ the fundamental life skills that are required to navigate our day-to-day life. Skills that we use daily.
The current education system is broken (not talking about the student debt, that’s a separate rant). But the current schooling system is for the masses. Anything that is for the masses will just make you average. If you’re taught standard courses that do not amplify your own abilities, you will fall behind 💯
So let’s discuss some of these life skills that we are not taught and see if we can learn something new today. I am talking about skills like reading, writing, note-taking, organizing, and understanding.
For each, I have shared habits that I have picked up or read about and how can you implement them.
💭MULLING
🚪Window-openers vs. Door-knockers by Ali Abdaal (Newsletter - 2 mins)
Window-openers - When making decisions about what to do with their time, they want to be able to look through a window. If they can see the outcome they want through the glass, they open the window and step through.
Door-knockers - the ones who take these different opportunities. There might not be an immediate, guaranteed short-term return, but they’ll go for it anyway and use it as a learning opportunity.
The problem is that for most good things in life, the path to success isn’t so clear. The best outcomes are often hidden behind doors.
Are you a window-opener or a door-knocker? We talked about this in a recent episode in CBM as well.
😮 Work Culture in Gumroad by Sahil Lavingia (Article - 10 mins)
Sahil is the founder of Gumroad which is also backed by Naval. It lets creators sell their products online (check out my store). The interface is super simple and easy to use. He recently posted an essay talking about the work culture at Gumroad.
No deadlines
No stand-ups or meetings
Same pay across the globe irrespective of your location
No full-time employees
This was shocking to me. I never thought a company could function like this. But Gumroad is, it’s growing 85% year-over-year.
Sahil says for internet companies this should be the norm. Gumroad puts freedom over growth. Sustainability over speed. Life over work.
Most employees login whenever they want, work 10-15 hours a week on their job, implement from the queue of requirements, and pursue their lives outside of work. Gumroad is not a job for them, it’s a side-project.
Gumroad’s HR page says this, “Escape your 9-to-5 job. Take off your suit and tie. End your commute. Get paid for your craft.”
This made me think, is my job worth it? Is pursuing a career-growth of manager, director, and partner really worth it? And will I be happier taking a 25-35% pay cut but be able to pursue my life? Food for thought.
📚TREAT YO’ SHELVES
Check out my 2021 Reading Challenge page (read 30-pages per day). You can join us on Goodreads, we have a group for the challenge!
READING CHALLENGE
I am currently falling behind in the challenge and playing catch-up. I am currently reading 4 books.
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (Physical book): Stoic philosophy and why ego is your ultimate enemy
How to take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens (Kindle): Book on how to take smart notes using the Zettelkasten technique.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Audible): It talks about Earth and nearly everything about the history of Earth.
Sapiens: A Graphic History by Yuval Noah Harari (Physical book): My favorite book in a graphic novel format.
🎙PODCAST
😎 WHAT THE HAT!?
🎄 WTH!? Christmas Special: We discuss 2020 and the podcast!
🏃🏼♂️ S2E9 - Kripa Jalan discusses starting Burgers to Beasts to create awareness on holistic health & her personal fitness journey
🎙S2E10 - Daksh Shah talks about sales, marketing, and hosting Dollar Gujarati
🎧 APPLE | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | GOOGLE PODCAST | ANCHOR | CASTBOX | STITCHER | JIOSAAVN | WEBSITE
💰COLD BREW MONEY
💲 How to build a passive portfolio - Atit and I share our personal passive investing techniques
😇 Year-end reflection and our systems - Atit and I talk about 2020 and mental models, systems, and goals we achieved.
🤑 YouTube and personal investing with Yudi J - Yudi is a YouTuber/vlogger and he talks about his channel, monetization, and passive investing in the US.
🎧 APPLE | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | GOOGLE PODCAST | ANCHOR | CASTBOX | JIOSAAVN
That’s it, folks. Thank you for reading.
Aavjo.
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