warikoo Wanderings

I am typing this newsletter, overlooking beautiful mountains, feeling grateful for what I have in life and wishing the same peace and happiness for all of you. Have a wonderful start to April! :)

Share this newsletter on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or Twitter.

​

WE ALL LIE. ALL THE TIME.

---

I got an email the other day, about relationships. A 20 yo girl, in love with her boyfriend. And she is certain he loves her just as much.
Except, that he is possessive.
He doesn’t like her talking to other boys. And if she does, they get into a verbal fight.
Verbal fight to the extent of abuses being hurled at each other.

And she had a simple question - should I continue with the relationship or not?

Now, I am frankly the worst person to give relationship advice. I married the first girl I met in life, had never dated before, and have zero experience in what it takes to be in multiple relationships.

So my way of sharing my experience with her, was not to think of this as a relationship; instead, think of this as a mindset.

It was evident to me, that she was in the “I at least have something” mindset.

I hate my job, but I at least have a salary coming every month.
I hate this relationship, but I am at least not single, like most others.
I am not enjoying my college at all, but at least I will have a degree at the end of it.
I am not happy where I am in life, but at least I have something!

EVERY SINGLE DAY, we are lying to ourselves.
We may not lie as often to others, but we are ALWAYS lying to ourselves.
We are trying to convince ourselves that whatever we are feeling is temporary, is transient, is foolish, is immaterial, is unnecessary.
We are lying to ourselves that our sorry state of affairs is going to magically lead us to some happy state.

And that was true for the girl too.
She is lying to herself that this relationship is what she needs. That he loves her. That she loves him despite his lack of respect towards her.
The truth is - she is most certainly just scared of being alone.
She is scared of the options outside of her current state.
And so, she will lie to herself that her current state offers her “at least something”

And something is better than nothing!

The worst lie sold to the world. That something is better than nothing.
NO! Something is not better than nothing.
There is space in nothing. There is reflection in nothing. There is a reset in nothing. There is exploration in nothing.

When we stop lying to ourselves and instead go for the “nothing” we begin to see things we had closed our eyes to.

When was the last time you lied?
I bet, this morning!
When you got up, and despite the emptiness, you got up and walked towards the same state.

You can lie to anyone. But yourself.
The only person you should never lie to!

​

10 WAYS I AM RUNNING MY STARTUP DIFFERENTLY THIS TIME

---

I wrote about my reflections as a founder, the mistakes that I made and how I am trying to do things differently this time around.

You can read about it on Twitter or on LinkedIn​

PS: The entire team met for the first time, last week. We all went to Goa and had a ball of a time. Here is a pic of the entire team - we call ourselves wariCrew :)

​

BOOK I AM (NOT) READING THIS WEEK

---

I haven’t read in 6 days in a row now, and I do not regret it one bit.
The thing about habits is, once they are formed they are hard to forget. That is the nature and the true definition of a habit.

Last week has just been the team offsite and then travel right now, that I have devoted more of my time connecting, planning, thinking. Which means a break from reading.

To make sure you have book recommendations from my side - here are 3 books I have bought recently

​Solve for happy: Engineer your way to joy​
​The power of now: Guide to spiritual enlightenment
​What I know for sure​

​

QUOTES TO SHARE

---

People know of you because of what you have done.
They talk of you because of what you know.
​(Share on Twitter)​

The best candidates I have interviewed had these 3 things in common
1. They asked a lot of thought provoking questions. Not just in the end but throughout.
2. They took their time to answer. For them speed didn’t mean smartness.
3. They smiled often.
​(Share on Twitter)​

Pick a niche and build trust.
That makes it easy for people to trust you later with things that everyone else is also doing.
​(Share on Twitter)​

Most answers in life are simple.
Accepting them is hard!
​(Share on Twitter)​

For the next 10 years, all I want to do is to build a company that people don’t think can be built!
​(Share on Twitter)​

​

RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK’S QUESTION

---

Last week, I asked all of you:

Why did you choose to do the bachelor's degree that you did or are doing or think you will be doing?

1. Parents' choice
2. Sibling's choice
3. Relative's suggestion
4. My own choice

As a deviation, I added a poll. And got 2,283 responses.
And the winner is 69% - my own choice, 23% parents, and the rest were siblings and relatives.

This is frankly surprising, because I was expecting parents to win! But the world continues to surprise.
The best part was the email replies I still got. People were VERY emotional about how they ended up making their choices and they shared freely. I loved it. Absolutely did.

My response too sides with the majority. I did my bachelors in Physics because I wanted to :)

​

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION

---

Pick one and let me know why

How would you describe yourself?
1. Happy with where I am in life
2. Confused with where I am in life
3. Unhappy with where I am in life
4. Resentful with where I am in life (full of regret)
5. Embarrassed with where I am in life

The key is to pick 1 option alone and not mix. I know it’s hard, hence the question.

To participate, click here to respond.

Of course, you are free to respond to my email as well. I read all my emails. ALL my emails.
(pahaadon ki thand mein din ki dhoop ki kasam)

​

Share this newsletter on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or Twitter.