The Elephant's Artist

  The influence of our beliefs and expectations on the outcomes we experience is a fascinating phenomenon backed by scientific studies. Even when we are unaware of certain expectations, they can profoundly shape our reality. During the relentless days of the pandemic, I found solace in seeking ways to optimize my productivity and maximize the value I extracted from each day. I became consumed by productivity-related information, diving into the realms of time management, daily planning, and various how-to guides. The satisfaction of feeling productive became my sole measure of a day well-lived. I immersed myself in the teachings of inspirational figures such as Ali Abdaal, Matt D'avella, and Robin Sharma, who epitomized the ideal of a fulfilling life achieved through meticulous planning and execution. Their guidance provided me with a structured framework to follow. Yet, I couldn't help but feel inadequate on the days when I fell short of my planned accomplishments. I had unkno...

Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The people who you habitually associate with, determine the kind of person you are. This has been observed since the beginning of time. Such as the formation of tribes, and the separation of groups based on differences in cultural traditions followed. This is true for animals as well, for example, a study was co nducted to find the difference in nut-cracking techniques between three adjacent chimpanzee communities, each group predominantly used different techniques to do the job, and while given the option of the other methods they found it difficult to follow.  Researchers state that innovative behavior patterns that individuals acquire are through some form of social learning rather than independently. Similarly, how we approach things simply depends on the possible options we have subconsciously developed over time due to exposure to them. However this doesn't mean innovation isn't der...

  The Rise of Gig Economy Imagine a hypothetical situation where you wake up one day and you have five short-term discrete contracts, and you are provided the choice to pick which ones to work on and you earn the money on a piece-work basis. Once you are done, you can take time off and enjoy the time with your family. The gig economy refers to a free market system where organizations contract with independent workers for a short-term period either a project or service. The onset of the pandemic had opened us up to a new approach to making a living without having to follow the traditional norms. The lack of certainty for stable jobs directed people to transition into the gig economy out of necessity. The Coase theorem put forward by the economist, Ronald Coase captures why a company is of the size that it is, this is concerning external transaction costs. The underlying issue of carrying out an activity externally is the legal property rights and not because it is external. However,...

  Consuming news, a vicious circle of overburdening of problems that we cannot influence. The best analogy put forward in ‘The Guardian’ article on the hazards of the overabundance of food which can cause obesity, diabetes when not consumed consciously. “But most of us do not yet understand that news is to the mind what sugar is to the body.” -Rolf Dobelli from The Art of Thinking Clearly It is easy to scroll through your phone and continue mindlessly ingesting new information on situations and problems you cannot rectify and doesn't bring much value into your lives. The plus point is that it can turn into a few minutes' topics for a conversation in a group setting if you remember it. What people don't realize is that this approach of keeping yourself preoccupied for the sense of “keeping busy”. It's not doing much other than making us passively involved in an overwhelming information-generating system of news that most likely everyone else has access to as well. News h...

When you ask people about what they want to do in this world, what's their purpose? They often have something to say about adding value or leaving an impact in the world, one way or the other. But what exactly does adding value or having an impact mean? Sure we can't expect everyone to be as gifted as Bill Gates or Nikola Tesla or what not to invent a product that changes a billion lives nor we can expect all people to rule a country. So what do they mean by having an impact on our society? In a make-belief world, like we are in, it's easy for us to get swayed away by big words and talks on how people who have made success happen for themselves define their success as a proclaimed magical formula for us to accomplish something too. Maybe we do find a certain pattern for a few of these successes but as a whole, your success is subjective to your belief system and passion. Some of us spend a lifetime working towards a dream, some work on finding what it is, some have a dream...