warikoo Wanderings

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My book "DO EPIC SHIT" is now pirated and available at local street vendors as well. Which means, it is doing well! Which means, if you buy original books you should consider buying a copy. Order your copy here​

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THE KEY THING ABOUT DECISION MAKING

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Let's say you have to make a choice in life.
Choose between 2 jobs. Or 3 colleges. Maybe even 2 potential partners, for a romantic relationship :)

There are mostly 2 challenges we face, in making such decisions.

Challenge 1: We already know what we want

The way most of us approach these decisions is to start with what we feel.
Emotions. Gut. Intuition.
That drives our first response.
We may not want to admit it, or say it out loud, but hand on heart we always know which is the choice that we would like to go for.

But the minute that happens, we have biased ourselves.
What will happen thereafter is that we will be naturally drawn towards any evidence that suggests that our choice is the right one.
We will speak to people - and they may say multiple things, but we will tend to hear only those that we wish to hear.
Scientists call this confirmation bias.

Challenge 2: We have no idea what we want

Hah! This is familiar, isn't it? If I could get $1 for every email I get that has the words "I am confused", I would be a millionaire :)
In such scenarios, it is our lack of awareness that is the hindrance.
Remember when you took up science/commerce/humanities in Class 11, with little idea of why you are doing that? That's what I am talking about.

How do we handle these 2 challenges?
By moving towards data!

Now, before you shout out loud "I am not a numbers person" - bear with me.
What I am proposing is not some complex math.
I am proposing giving numbers to your emotions, as crazy as it sounds.

Let's do this together.

Say, you have to choose between 2 job offers you have.
You are either facing challenge 1 (I want to go for Job #1, but I am not sure), or challenge 2 (I have no way to decide).
Here is what I would do:

1. I would list down ALL the things that I would look for in my dream job.
   Brand, money, work culture, location, job profile, whatever else!
2. I would then (and this is the hard part), assign weightages to each of these considerations.
3. And finally, (this is going to take time), I will score each of my choices on a scale of 5, for each of these considerations.

All of this on an excel sheet, please :)

So the sheet will look something like this.

Why does this work?

1. We may not know which option to choose, but we always know what are the factors while deciding. They are just fuzzy in our head.
2. This process forces us to move from that fuzziness to numbers. How important is job profile as compared to money. Are they all equal, and if not, then how are they unequal?
3. That makes it easy for us to score each option. We are now comparing only 1 factor which is far easier than comparing the entire opportunity.

Last step,

Calculate the effective score for each, by multiplying the score with the weightages.
Here is how it will look:

There you go!

Your emotions, expressed in numbers, suggest that Job 2 is the better option for you. The money is the same, the job profile is the same, it's actually a worse-off location, and yet it wins, because of how you value brand and work culture!

Translating emotions in numbers, lends authenticity to your emotions.
This exercise is one of the best to start that journey :)

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BOOK I AM READING RIGHT NOW

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This week I am reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
This is a terrific book for anyone to understand human psychology and why do we say yes to something, and no to some things.
For example: why do restaurants have the most priced products on the menu printed right in the beginning, than the end.
Or if I told you that this year there will be no increments in your company, due to Covid, and then after a month I came back and said "we had some improvements, so we are giving everyone a 4% increment", people will actually be happier!

I love reading such books that explain the human mind. Pick this up if you care about it too.

QUOTES TO SHARE

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Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: RESULT or REGRET
​(Share on Twitter)​

We all need that somebody in life who says "Go on, I am here to listen" and actually mean it.
​(Share on Twitter)​

You are doing more than you can, because you are scared you will be left behind. But by doing so, you are already behind!
​(Share on Twitter)​

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RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION

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Last week, I asked you:

How many close friends do you have?

1. No one
2. Only 1 close friend
3. 2-3
4. 4-5
5. 5+

Here are the results:

Observations:

1. As we grow old, we eventually make friends, while we may not have some early on.
2. In fact, as we grow older, the results suggest that we tend to have a larger group of close friends. This can be explained by the fact that we have gone to college, worked in multiple companies, etc. - and thus have a larger set of people who we have met in life.
3. Biggest takeaway is that if you are young and do not have many friends, do not feel you are alone. It is really hard to find good close friends early on in life. Take your time :)

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PICTURE OF THE WEEK

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You know your book is doing well, when you find pirated copies being sold on the road! :)))

​For the original copy, click here :)

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THIS WEEK'S QUESTION

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When was the last time you cried?

1. Today
2. This week
3. This month
4. In the last 12 months
5. Do not remember

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

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CONTENT I SHARED THIS WEEK

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Podcast:​
Title of episode: What is this telling me?
​Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, JioSaavn or Gaana.

YouTube:​
Title of video: I had 5 months of money left
​You can watch it here.​

Instagram:​
Title of video: 3 signs of true friends
​You can watch it here.​

Twitter:​
Title of thread: 22 habits for 2022
​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.
​​​(Sardiyon mein subah subah garam paani peene ki kasam!)

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