Realization: Birthday Gifts are Reversed

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If it’s your birthday, you should be the one giving people a birthday gift. Not the other way around. You’ve been taking oxygen from the atmosphere for this many years?? What did you pay in return? I got this realization while reading this blog post. I don’t think the author has intended to convey this idea, but he did. Such … Read More

The Simulation Framework

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Over the past few months, I’ve developed a fascination with the concept of Mental Models & Frameworks. A mental model or framework is simply a way to process information. One mental model that I co-developed with a close friend is the Simulation Framework, which suggests to look at every scene in your life as a simulation. Different people live in different … Read More

Dopamine Addiction

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I admit: I’m addicted to dopamine. I guess most of us are to an extent. There’s something about keeping our minds busy that’s attractive. It’s horrifying to have our minds wander freely when we’re alone. It’s even more attractive when we’re watching other people’s lives. It’s always good to think you’re better than someone else, eh? And when someone’s doing better … Read More

Happiness is not the End

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Everyone seems to be on their pursuit of happiness. While different people attribute different goals and desires to happiness, I think the state is very comparable for everyone. We look at attaining happiness as if it was a process: I’m at point A I want to be at point B To get there, I need to work When I get to point … Read More

Grieve and Dance

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In the past couple of years, I found myself attracted to a genre of music that I’m yet to be capable of labeling. It’s sub genre of house music where there’s usually a sad instrument dominating the track, coupled with the fast paced beat you’d expect from house. The sadness often comes from a violin, oud, or even a piano … Read More

Work Principles

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I jotted down some of the work principles I live by. I’ve learned some of these through experience, and many of them through books and mentors. This will act as a reference for me, those who work with me, and others. It’s still a work in progress. Don’t take your job for granted. Do your best to earn your place every … Read More

Going Live (& Alive)

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As a founder/creator, I often struggle with launching my products and ideas. It seems like the “launch” is this huge step where an idea makes a leap from 0 to 1. From nonexistence into a sudden loud existence, shocking everyone in the process, and hence generating lots of pressure. This can be terribly crippling, however, since ideas and products feed … Read More

Tension of Opposites

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There’s tranquility in between every two opposites, and both are needed. Good is meaningless if bad didn’t exist. Virtue is empty without vice. For every two opposites, there’s some healthy balance in between. I call that the tension of opposites. Working hard is good, but if not coupled with some leisure, burnout occurs. Everyone wants to be happy, but without … Read More

On Money

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Here, I put down all my thoughts and principles around money. These are principles I wish someone had taught me. Money Money is a resource; a made up one. Money doesn’t exist in nature. It is a tool we developed to make it easier to transfer value while conducting trade. Instead of trading items and services directly, we get to … Read More

On the Value of One’s Time

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Having been in the US for the past few months, I’ve been hearing arguments on hourly minimum wage and how it’s “not enough” for low-skill labor jobs. I found that to be quite an interesting argument considering that the average American is paid at least 10x of what their Asian or African counterparts are paid for doing the exact same … Read More