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warikoo Wanderings

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16 WONDERFUL QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

We are unfortunately raised in a world where answers are more important than questions.
Where the questions are "set" by someone else, and our job is to answer.
Where our answers are graded, evaluated, corrected, and then ranked.
And any "wrong" answer can fail us.

It is no wonder then, that so many of us grow up over-indexed on finding the right answers.
We love finding answers!
And in the process, lose what will get us to those answers.

The questions!

Here are some such questions:

1. "What are we optimizing for?"

What is the one thing that we want to fix/change/improve, by our actions?
Just one thing.
Not two. Not three.
One thing.

Give me that one metric and I know what you want.
Give me more than one, and I know you think you know what you want!

2. "What is this telling me?"
When things don't work out, it is easy to crib, complain, find excuses, or find faults.
Consider asking this question instead.
And suddenly, the shift in frame of reference, opens doors of realization.

3. "What else could this mean?"
We are so quick to conclude things in our head.
We are so quick to blame, to assume, to judge that we blind ourselves to the possibility of what else could this mean!
Is there something I could be missing?

4. "What is the most important thing for me in life, right now?"
Here is the thing about humans.
If we do not know what is the one thing we want from life right now, the next best thing we want is EVERYTHING.
And that is a disaster.
Because you are never going to get everything.
And worse, the one thing that you truly wanted, will remain under-served.

5. "Why am I feeling this way?"
It is crazy that we actually try to stop feeling what we feel.
We tell ourselves not to be angry, not to be jealous, not to suspect, not to be scared.
But we rarely stop to ask this question.
This lack of genuine curiosity is the reason you will never be able to deal with your emotions.

6. "Who would I be without this thought?"
For all the times that we hate ourselves, blame ourselves, doubt ourselves, this question is a powerful way to imagine us without these feelings, without these thoughts.
How would you behave, how would you operate, without these thoughts?
And what does it take to get there?

7. "Do I need to, have to, or want to?"
Going to the depth of the reason behind our actions tells us so much about our own selves.
Do we operate out of obligation (have to), lack of choice (need to) or desire (want to)?

8. "Would I regret not doing this 10 years from now?"
Humans are hardwired for short-term thinking.
And that inhibits our ability to think in decades and compare it with today.
If only we asked this question more often, we would see a lot less regret in old people. Our own selves.

9. "Is this MY definition of success? Or someone else's?"
The world begins defining your success from Day 1.
Grades, careers, jobs, marriage, money, looks, accent - everything!
And we rarely stop to ask, are we living our life on our terms, or someone's else's definition of life?

10. "What is my privilege?"
Everyday we sit on opportunities that people right outside our house will not get to see for even a second of their life.
And they work harder than us, perhaps are even smarter than us.
Not all success is hard work. Not all failure is laziness.

11. "What's the worst thing that can happen?"
And am I ready to face that worst thing?
Emotionally, socially, financially, psychologically, physically?
If yes, go for it!
If there is any iota of doubt, don't.

12. "Why not?"
The goal of life is not to find the most comfortable chair for yourself and sit on it forever.
The goal of life is to sit on as many chairs as you can.
Redefine who you are. All the time. Because there is no you.
You are just a concept in your head.

13. "What am I grateful for?"
There is so much to be grateful for.
Heck, the fact that we are alive reading this, is enough to be grateful for.
But we take our lives for granted.
We assume we have unlimited time and all that we have is because we worked hard for it.
Both are lies.

14. "Is this urgent? Or is this important?"
We spend our lives attending to the urgent, because it shouts at us the loudest.
While the important things patiently wait, unattended, hoping for it's turn to come.
It takes courage to reverse this order.

15. "How come this hasn't happened already?"
As an entrepreneur, we come to believe that our idea will work because WE are working on the idea.
We rarely go out seeking the answer to this question with the humility and curiosity of a child.

16. "What do they know that I do not know?"
The world has an insane amount of detail.
And there are 2 ways to know those details. Ask. Or discover them yourself.
It is so much easier to ask.

Which one is your favorite?

“Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.” ​
― Shannon L. Alder
​(Share as a tweet)​

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BOOK I AM READING THIS WEEK

I am still reading WILL by Will Smith. The book gets better and better. I love his life's story and still remain in awe of how wonderfully written the book is.

I have also been told that the audiobook is awesome, given it is narrated by Will Smith himself. I am not big into audiobooks, but I will surely give it a try.

My book DO EPIC SHIT has touched sales of 120,000+ and I would love for you to join the family :)
​You can buy a copy of DO EPIC SHIT here.​

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QUOTES TO SHARE

You can’t force a relationship on someone.
​​(Share on Twitter)​​

If our body sits still, it decays.
If our mind sits still, it grows.
​​(Share on Twitter)​​​​

We all love more money.
We just don't know why!
​​(Share on Twitter)​​​​​​

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RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION

Last week I asked you:

What time do you generally have dinner?

1. Before 6pm
2. Between 6-8pm
3. Between 8-10pm
4. Between 10-12pm
5. After midnight

Here are the responses:

Clearly, most people have their dinner between 8-10pm, across age bands.
As people grow older, the dinner timings move to slightly earlier time slots (which is understandable).
Who are these people having dinner after midnight? That's not dinner. That's breakfast :))

My response:
​Growing up, we used to have dinner at 9pm, coinciding with prime time television, where the entire family used to sit and watch TV, while eating food :)
Today, we have our dinner between 6:30-7pm.

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PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Cat facemask made by Uzma (our 5yr old daughter) :))

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

How much money, if you had right now, would be enough for you to never work for money?

1. Less than 1Cr ($150K)
2. Between 1-7.5Cr (between $150K-$1Mn)
3. Between 7.5-15Cr (between $1-2Mn)
4. Between 15Cr-75Cr (between $2-10mn)
5. Above 75Cr (above $10Mn)

​​Click here to let me know your answer (anonymously)​​​​​

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CONTENT I SHARED THIS WEEK

Podcast:​
Title of episode: Ending relationships
​Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, Gaana or YouTube.

YouTube:​
Title of video: Money talks with Tanmay Bhat
​You can watch it here.​

Instagram:​
3 must-haves in every relationship
​You can watch it here.​

Twitter:​
Title of thread: Not sure how and where to invest your money?
​You can read it here.​

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You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.
​​​(Garmiyon mein har roz pahadon ki vacation planning ki kasam)

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