newsletter-versary... 🎉🎉

Don’t worry about the end, just start.

Time is of the essence.

Hello everyone. Another Sunday, another newsletter.

It has been a year of this newsletter. 🎉🎉🎉 I’ve not been this proud of something I did for a long time. I don’t celebrate many things, but I’d have to celebrate this one.

Starting this newsletter was not difficult. I was only scared of not continuing. And that was the only thing that stopped me from starting earlier. The truth is the desire to create a newsletter wasn’t even mine. It was out of mimetic desire. I wanted it because other people I knew had one.

**side note: mimetic desire isn’t necessarily evil. And it takes some self-awareness to know the difference between what you genuinely want and what you want because of others. Mimetic desire is also another way of saying peer pressure. It just has a nice ring to it.

There is a way of looking at people who are in similar shoes.

ABZ Model¹

A is where you are

B is your next step

Z is where you want to be

What is the one thing you can do now that will move you towards Z? That is your next step. Do it then worry about the next step and keep going. You’d one day reach Z or come closer to it.

So, here is how I think of it.

Don’t worry about the end, just start. When you start, don’t worry about the end, just take the next step. Keep doing that. And when you stop don’t worry at all, be glad you started. If you want to start again, go through the loop again.

This journey has been fulfilling, and I derive pleasure from writing to you every week. Sometimes there is no mojo to write, but what ought to be done must be done.

I feel like I am graduating today.

another side note:** I found so much happiness this morning watching the graduation of MSx class of 2021, Stanford Graduate School of Business. This has been a pattern I’ve observed. Over months, I find myself happy when I watch or read about people doing things that make them happy. I’ve gone scrolling through Twitter feeling thrilled when I see tweets of people that just beat cancer. When people graduate from school or people, get their dream jobs. It makes me so happy.

To you, my esteemed readers, you’ve stuck with me through this period. I see your kind comment and replies. I am grateful. I do hope you’ve found this newsletter beneficial.

What next?

I genuinely don’t know. Given that I will be writing a lot this year, I am thinking of changing the format of this newsletter into curation. I haven’t fully decided yet. I am also planning to move from substack someday. I intend to have this newsletter attached to my website. Till then, let’s keep this running.

If you have any suggestions that will improve this newsletter, please feel free to run them by me either through Twitter or by replying privately to the mail.

end note: It is important to approach things with a beginner’s mindset, for we know very little- of ourselves, others and the results of interactions of different forces acting on us.

We should have the courage to start over. It is not easy, but if that is necessary, then it should be done.

Have a great week. 💫

1. I take no credit for this. I can’t remember the source ATM.