Life in Bangalore

  Success is peace of mind - John Wooden Peace of mind is freedom from desires - Shane Parrish Freedom from desires is through Yoga -  Yoga is chittaVrttiNirodah (Yoga is restraint of chattering of mind) - Patanjali Restraint is through practice and detachment

  Mind the Gap Martin Crowe The gap between balls (bowled) That 30-second time span between  When the last ball became dead  And the next ball comes alive  Is arguably the most important period In batsman’s innings If we are to widen that out to life itself We can begin to find that our peace and creativity l ies in moments between thoughts and actions When we can sit still or stand still Even for 20 seconds When we can hold-off urges to judge or overthink We really open ourselves up to the Truth For truth is in the present - not past or future!

  Good Life Marcus Aurelius If you engage with task Not with expectations or evasions But satisfied If your current performance is in  Accord with the Nature And if what you say and express is  Spoken with Roman Honesty You’ll be living the ‘Good Life’

  Success is Peace of Mind John Wooden We have spent our time on the high seas; Let us retire in the harbour  -Seneca Peace you can claim for yourself without being disliked By anyone, without sense of loss, and without Any pangs of spirit - Seneca Reflect on how many hazards you have ventured for sake of money And how much toil you have undertaken for a title All that is added to successes  Will be added to your fears Retreat to silence - where external , internal events Do not disturb and  You are in Stillness, Solitude, and Silence!

  On Spoken Communication Seneca Letters from a Stoic Speech like Life should be composed Nothing that rushes headlong and is hurried is well-ordered Speech should have more power than sound Dont use jargon in Speech Speak with ease rather than speed Speech should be such that Terror be quieted Irritations soothed Illusions shaken-off Indulgences checked Greed rebuked

  On modern improvements , there is an illusion about them; there is not always a positive advance  pg.27 : Walden, Henry David Thoreau Citius, Altius , Fortius - Faster, Higher and Stronger!  this is not only the modern Olympics motto ! but also of the people 19th , 20th and 21st century as well! Faster - Hurry Up - or you shall miss out! Higher - Grow up - or you will be left out! Stronger - Heavy lift -  or move away! While Citius....is not always wrong Should we not focus on alternative as well - Slower - Slow down  Deeper - Think Deep Wiser -  Practice philosophy Why you may ask? Life is not Olympic sport -  Sport is where  game ends and players live on Sport is where you know winners and losers at the end of the game Sport is zero-sum : winner takes it all! Life is not like sport Life is an infinite game - players end and game carries on Life is where there are no clear winners and losers Life is not zero-sum : win-win is the way to tackle it   Citius, Altius , Fortius  - Faster

  What is the signal-to-noise ratio? In analog and digital communications, a signal-to-noise ratio, often written S/N or SNR, is  a measure of the strength of the desired signal relative to background noise (undesired signal) . Now it happens in life as well!  Noise is the sound of your ego says Tim Denning)  either that  or we rely on others opinion so much that, as Steve Jobs: “ Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.” - Noise drowns the signals from the soul - Nature - or God!  so tone it down !  Take a long walk alone without phone or any other electronic gadget! After say 15 minutes or so of walking , look out for the signals from the subconscious! No deliberate effort what-so-ever needed! Meditation is another way! Writing or Journaling is another way as well! Improve your Signal-Noise ratio ! 

Law of Entropy says that : when left alone in natural states, eventually everything goes into disorder . Do this experiment :  Say you have an office desk; Do not clean-up the table , intentionally for a week or two!  See how the clutter accumulates!  Everything requires attention to avoid decomposition!  -Keith J Cunningham  Left to itself, everything degenerates into chaos  That us the Entropy so you need to attend, watch and spend your energy to check if the system is working If not working, or signs of malfunction - you need to tinker your mind or machine - to set it right! 

 Hypothesis Testing: Decision Making Tool : https://www.statisticshowto.com/ Typically researchers belief works  like this : " If I do this , Then   that will happen" Example: " If I reward people, Then team will be motivated" " If I care for people, Then team will be engaged" Now remember this is just a belief or at best an opinion until proven by an experiment It is not a proven fact until experiment outcomes says so! Researchers earn their bread through submitting proofs ! So, What do they do - to prove or disprove the beliefs ? They put their beliefs through  Testing , specifically Hypothesis Testing It goes like this :  Step 1: Frame the belief or opinion you want to test , as an  If ... Then format  Examples :  " If  I reward people,  Then  team will be motivated" " If  I care for people,  Then  team will be engaged" Step 2 : Frame Null Hypothesis : Null   Hypothesis that nullifies your belief: Null Hypothesis (Ho) : No p

Mental Model : Inversion Thinking Charlie Munger "My job in the World War II was as an Meteorologist - drawing weather maps and predict weather What I was doing was ,to clear the pilots to take flights I reversed the problem If I were to kill a lot of pilots , what should I do? -It was to get the plane in Ice -It was to get plane in zones before they run out of fuels before they can safely land! (This inversion thinking) helped me to be a better meteorologist! " My Note: This is what airplane designers do as well! What would fail the part - how many ways it can fail and all you need to do then is to prevent the breaking! As Pete Kaufman Says: You should be able to look at the map from up above and down below and be able to interpret both ways! Inversion thinking model helps you with that!

 Jiddu Krishnamurti Book of Life pg.262 The immediate reaction is the Old Brain - and the Old Brain functions  in its own traditional accepted, reactionary animalistic sense;  When there is an abeyance of that When the reaction is suspended When there is an interval (between thoughts) then you will find that the New Brain acts!

 Source:  Justin Welsh  @thejustinwelsh Solopreneuership : Marketing & Business Model My Note: Learn to write good tweets ! Learn to write good articles! Learnt to develop products with Value! 

Source: Aditya Kondawar @aditya_kondawar There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the prize for the best corn grown. One year, a reporter interviewed him and discovered something interesting about the way he grew corn. The reporter discovered that the farmer shares his seeds with his neighbors. "Why does he share his best seeds with his neighbors if every year they compete with his own?" the reporter asked him. "Why, sir?" the farmer replied, "didn't you know? The wind picks up the pollen from the ripe corn and swirls it from one field to another. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will constantly degrade the quality of my corn. If I want to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." The same is true of our lives. Those who want to live good and meaningful lives must help enrich the lives of others, because the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches, and those who choose to b

Learn to Think Independently! -Sam Altman Thinking from first principles and try to generate new ideas - is fun and finding people to exchange with them  is a great way to get better at this The next step is to find easy ,fast ways to test these ideas in the real world! 

 Jiddu Krishnamurti Book of life pg.262 I hope you will listen, but not with the memory of what you already know- and this is very difficult to do- You listen to something and your mind immediately reacts with its knowledge its conditions , its opinions its past memories and you are impatient; you want to know what it is all about- what life is all about- the extra-ordinary complexity of life- you are not actually listening at all!

Book of Life Jiddu Krishnamurti pg. 262 You can only listen when the mind is quiet- When the mind does not react immediately- When there is an interval between- Your reaction and What is being said- Then in that interval - there is quietness- If there is a gap between what is said and your own reaction to what is said in the interval whether its prolonged or just for a few seconds in that interval If you observe -  there comes clarity It is the interval- that is the "New Brain" 

 Our Responsibility! Jiddu Krishnamurti : Book of Life : pg.263 To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is the most important in beginning with ourselves - is the Intention The intention must be to understand ourselves- and not to leave it to others- to transform themselves- or to bring a modified change through revolution- either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand this is our responsibility -Yours and Mine- because however small may be the world- we live in! If we can transform ourselves bring about a radically different point of view in our daily existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world-at-large, the extended relationship with others! 

  Empathy : We will truly understand their needs better than any other company Focus: In order to do good job of those things we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities! Impute: People do judge a book by its cover we may have the best product, highest quality  most useful software etc.,  If we represent them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived slipshod, If we present them in a creative professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities My Note: I need to bring in empathy, focus and impute in whatever I do

Back to the Basics (by Z Fellows – Twitter) I never get bored with basics – Kobe Bryant Kobe taught me a life changing less that morning- “Just because something is basic , It is not easy” In 2007, Kobe Bryant conducted a mini-camp with best high-school students around the USA In the camp, I went to Kobe and asked if I can witness his insanely great individual work out; Kobe was gracious to me and said : “Sure, Man. I am going for the work-out tomorrow at 4 a.m” I basically committed myself being there. So I set my alarm at 3 a,m and went to the gym by 3:30 AM; I can see that Gym light is already on ; Kobe is already there sweating out –  Individual workout before his 4 am workout with his trainer For next 45 minutes, I saw the best basketball player in the world- Doing the most basic foot moves And offensive moves; Kobe was practicing the stuff that is routinely taught to middle school age players by coaches; Kobe was doing them with surgical precis

 Beyond Time Book of Life Jiddu Krishnamurti - pg.241 The conditioned mind , surely, is incapable of finding not what lies beyond time that is , Sirs, the mind we know is conditioned by the past. The Past moving through the present to the future conditioning the mind- and this conditioned mind being in conflict , uncertain seeks something beyond the frontiers of time- That is what we are all doing - Is it not? But how can a mind that is the result of time ever find that which is timeless? My Note: Permanent - something that is beyond frontiers of time! 

 The Anchored mind! Book of Life Jiddu Krishnamurti - pg.236 As by a driven nail, the mind is held together by Idea; The mind is never free , pliable for it is always anchored ; it moves within the radius- narrow or wider- of its own center!  From its center, it does not wander- and when it does - it is lost in fear- not of unknown but of loss of the known- Unknown does not incite fear- but dependence on the known - does!  My note: This note from has interesting parallel in spiritual school of Saiva Siddhantha , as elucidated by Thirumoolar in Thirumathiram According to which,  there is this triad of Lord , Soul and Bondage Like Lord (Pati) , the Soul (Pasu)  and Bondage (Pasa) are Infinite The soul attached to the bonds cannot near the lord However if the Lord nears the Soul  The bondage cannot stand! Meaning: Anchored Human soul bound to bonds cannot attain eternity! 

 My mind is a storm - Elon Musk  Voice inside my head is an a**h**le - Dan Harris The house of your beliefs of your properties of your attachments and conforming ways of thinking is constantly being broken into- But the mind goes on seeking security so there is a constant conflict between what you want and  What life's process demands of you- This is what happening to everyone of us!  My note: Life is a process of Entropy - the disorder channelize your energy so much so  to overcome disorder to put some order!  but remember that Entropy finally finally wins!  Form is temporary- some forms last a few minutes some last a few eons but  all forms are subject to Entropy! 

Sam Zell Assessing Deals @Jayvas - Twitter You've got to be able to look at the deal and know what it hinges upon to know whether it works or not!  if you realize that the key component works then you use numbers to test it!  you've to be able to effectively assess the initial picture and see where the greatest risk is most likely to be! or you'll spend your life doing numbers to find out if a deal will work! My Note: Like the Door that opens , rests on the Hinge From complexity - try to get to the essence - the Hinge Solve not for Symptoms - but root causes! - the Hinge Don't keep fiddling without knowing what's happening!  And apply just enough force to open the door!  

  Human mind is a cause and effect machine Book of why  Judea Pearl Pg.2 As an Human I am always thinking  Cause and Effects Running experiments (Pseudo :-) )  To set up Hypothesis and  Seeking ,Clarifying and Counting my thoughts  And when data subscribe to my Hypothesis  I confirm to it (Confirmation Bias)  And refusing to believe when experiments Come otherwise !!! But if i address the above problem of mine Of not refusing to believe I can expand my “Arena” in the JoHori Window!  So the tool-set can be :  Use causal diagrams to identify Xs Develop Hypothesis testing Develop experiments to test Run Experiments  Record passfail Validate

  Mere opinions must be rejected and treated with distrust Epictetus Discourses - 2.11.13 Mere opinions should not be confused with facts How to distinguish both - you ask Through Inquiry All opinions are mere hypothesis Unless tested to prove To give the simplest analogy Say there is a rice bag  Person A lifts and says 10 Kg Person B does same and opines 12 kg Both are opinions to be rejected  So what do you do? Use the standard of judgment - the weighing scale To settle the matters! Similarly in life , you see someone acting ir thinking Differently than you would Leading to disagreement So this forces us to look at our own acts and thought That we had earlier taken for granted Its time to realize then that you own opinions Were dependant on choices and circumstances That is you should not take it as granted Until you look at your own thinking And seek more accurate basis for it Throught the acquisition of the - analogical weighing balance and ruler The yardstick for your thoughts!  T

  On giving advice: Seneca : letters from a stoic You are asking me for advice? May I ask you: “Have you advised yourself first?” I am not shameless to cure my fellowman  When I am ill myself! I am ill in the same hospital as you  Sharing the remedy with you Listen to me  as If I am talking to myself I am admitting to you my innermost thoughts  Perhaps you may complain that  I am sounding like a broken record Its my fault, For some remedy should merely be prescribed For others - it must be forced down his throat!