Getting stuck and unstuck - Update 2

My stuck life continues. 

I wrote a piece back in the month of May as a piece of self documentation.

It surprises how true those same things are true even today.

and this is after I have just returned from india after a 2 week vacation and I didnt work at all.

hence, It can not be burn out.

it has to be lack of meaning.

We earn money, but after a certain amount, it becomes meaningless.

I flew to India in business class. the travel was comfortable and I slept a large portion of it. but the utility stops there. for others it may look glamorous. but it is highly utilitarian and that is the value of money.

That utility fades as you step away the plane. In the past I have travelled via business and first class internationally several times. and the experience is the same. every time.

money can solve money problems.

but what I am facing and experiencing for several months now is not something I can fix with money.

No amounts of scrolling on Facebook or Instagram has been able to help.

These feeds are nothing but distractions. So, no distractions help.

Ultimately you are reminded that you are shirking away from what you should be doing.

there are a few things that have been going well too, though.

my focus on working out everyday has become really strong. 

Even during my travels to India, I stayed committed. I worked out everyday and also lifted weights.

and I can absolutely feel the difference of that in my body.

and with my motorcycle, my vlogging journey has started well too. I have done good Vlogs and recorded videos of my trips around Naperville. Infact, I took a long trip of two days and I recorded those vlogs as well.

My reading habit has definitely taken a hit. I am not reading much.

So, this is a continous struggle for a while now, and I am dealing with it daily.

I have also attempted to change the location of where I sit and work.

unfortunately that didnt work on multiple levels. I could not fully move upstairs as dipti uses the room and it become a huge conflict point. she completely disagreed to even discuss the possibility of her doing her classes in the basement.

and then I lost interest upstairs, because it made no sense to keep moving from the room, and having this continuous reminder on where it was her class that day.

I have been to coffee shops too, and that has been decent, but I cant do my other stuff on the side, like recording videos when I am outside. but it was a lot better for me, for sure in comparison to the home.

I am committed to breaking this cycle of lull and esp getting rid of social from my life again.

I will report back soon with the outcomes.

This is an example of how Stuck feels like

 The last two weeks have been weird.

the work has been slow, but good. I am making slow but steady progress. nothing exciting though.

But outside of that everything is stuck.

I dont read anymore. 

neither on technology, AI, or anything. not even productivity stuff.

I dont write anything. 

I am not publishing on LinkedIn.

I initiated getting back to creating videos for my YouTube channel.

Which by the way was starting to do well and I was getting hang of making videos last year.

I posted a ton of material across different genres. 

but then I stopped.

so I restarted posting a few videos.

With my new motorcycle came a breath of fresh air and I made a resolve to re-start.

I have posted a couple of videos that have done well. 

but I stopped.

I was gaining significant momentum with my guitar practice. I was stuck on it, but then I started putting in a lot of 30 min session consistently everyday.

my teacher even recognized that I was doing very well.

But I stopped.

I was journaling everyday morning after waking up.

I stopped. I had been consistent for over a year.

my hours at the gym have dropped significantly. my weekly running mileage, and lifting of weights is at a all time low.

This is the best definition I can give about being stuck.

Our jobs are not our lives, but they have a massive impact on how we feel.

Keep aside the fact that nothing external should be responsible for how you feel, jobs matter.

When you are operating at a very high level and then you come down to a lot smaller and tactical level it takes the air beneath your wings. 

But leave that aside too.

I have been stuck.

This realization struck in me yesterday.

and then I wondered where did I spend my time, if none of the things that made me happy.

and the culprits are not very unusual.

- I dont have Facebook or instagram apps, but looks like I trained my brain to use these via browser (I am just taking a peak for one of my motorcycle groups etc) to getting stuck scrolling these websites.

- My YouTube consumption is several hours spread through the day.

- My time spent on the trading view or webull charts is not so small either. I am spending at least 90 mins give or take spread through the day.

so this is where my mind is stuck.

I am making as an account of how I feel, and as an example for anyone to see how easy it is for a well oiled machine to get stuck and come to a grinding halt.

Moroever, not have the energy to go back and pick up the motions and re-start.

I know I have to make videos, but I dont.

My journal is always with me, but I dont write.

The book is next to me, but I dont read.

(The only thing I have done is spend time in gardening in past few days)

Is this a chemical issue or a mental issue?

Is this depression or burnout?

I didnt feel unhappy or anything else. I just didn't have motivation.

my fix is micro-habits or micro-steps.

once I realized that, I made a promise to do really small steps today.

so, I read 1 chapter of the book I was reading before this pause came in. 

"How will you measure your life" by Clayton Christensen.

Then, during the day I took a small break and took a short walk inside.

then, I journaled.

and wrote a short script for a simple video I want to record.

that is the way to get unstuck.

to come out of your head, and put some actions behind thoughts.

most of the times, our ideas and thoughts are simply thoughts. 

This happens to me a lot. I think about something vividly and in great detail.

But the execution doesn't follow.

Then that thought stays there, in great details and in my head.

Like carrying some baggage within, but not offloading it.

The best way is to put action behind it.

Cheers.

How the Iran conflict comes to an ends? Hint Its Mr President!

Donald Trump can end the Middle East war today.

He possesses the unilateral authority to halt the escalation. While the geopolitical cost is high, the path to stability is narrow and specific. To reclaim his vision for America, he must execute two radical moves:

• Rein in Israel: Leverage U.S. military and diplomatic support to force a ceasefire.

• Meet Iran’s Conditions: Prioritize a functional peace over the optics of "winning."

This conflict is a quagmire of miscalculations.

Early in his term, the President’s focus on the American economy yielded results. 

Recently, that focus has been overshadowed by the friction of tariffs and domestic enforcement (ICE). 

He now faces a choice: remain entangled in a foreign war or return to his "America First" architectural roots.

Great leaders are defined by bold pivots.

Decision paralysis happens when a leader fears the outcome more than they value the action.

 Trump is a businessman. He understands that a "sunk cost" is a trap. 

He has the unique ability to change direction without apologizing for the past. 

His transparency is his greatest leverage.

Ending this war requires a blow to the ego.

It may even damage the traditional standing of U.S. bases in the Middle East. 

But the alternatives are catastrophic:

1. The Eternal Stalemate: Both sides refuse to blink, global markets collapse, and the human toll becomes immeasurable.

2. The Nuclear Escalation: Israel continues to pull neighbors into the fray until the "nuclear option" is no longer a metaphor.

The world does not need a multi-front war. It needs a dealmaker who isn't afraid to walk away from the wrong fight.

President Trump can end this. He just has to decide to.

There is only one way to build true leverage.

This is not just a post. I am instead sharing my morning journal. (cleaned up.)

This is  reminder to myself. this is addressed to me.

But If this helps my reader, then you are welcome.

Most people spend their lives trading hours for dollars. 

They work, they procrastinate, and they repeat the cycle. 

Me too, to some degree.

But the wealthy and the influential focus on a different metric: The Body of Work.

This is a concept I learnt a while ago.

A Body of Work is the only asset that grows while you sleep.

• It Scales: A single note becomes a post. a post becomes a video.

• It Compounds: One article is a drop. 500 articles is an ocean.

• It Validates: Your body of work, your experiences are your resume.

I have done that on linkedin. I started to do that with YouTube, and lost my way in between.

Have I gotten any returns out of it?

Nothing tangible. No job offers came because of it.

No sponsortships. Nothing.

But, it taught me skills, and gave me confidence.

When you know you have written several hundred posts on linkedin, its a different level of confidence.

Similarly, when you create videos, how to record, how to edits, how to post, how to package. There are like hundreds of small decisions you need to make.

The "Generic" Trap 

Many writers freeze because they fear being "average." 

I feel this every time.

But on a good day I ask, "Who decides if my work is inferior?"

There are only two filters that matter:

1. The Internal Filter: Are you writing from a specific perspective? You must choose your positioning: are you the Guide (teaching those behind you), the Explorer (documenting your learning), or the Authority (sharing hard-won expertise)?

2. The External Filter: The market eventually tells you the truth. But remember: in a distracted world, silence isn't always a critique of your quality—it’s often just a lack of volume.

Ultimately, If you aren't building media, you are actively squandering the opportunity of a lifetime.

This is the only way to build leverage.  The economy has shifted. 

Permission is dead. Leverage is free. Stop overthinking the quality of the first brick. Just build the wall.

Your Push for Efficiency is Killing Your Bottom Line

Process improvements create process bloat.

It sounds counterintuitive. 

Having a clear process is the foundation of scaling any business. 

It helps you stay focused, build repeatability, and transition away from relying on a few heroic individuals.

Process matters when you need to scale.

Done right, clear processes deliver predictable outcomes, accurate cost forecasting, and the elimination of friction. 

But in most organizations, the process itself becomes the friction.

Here is how process mutates into a margin-eating monster, and exactly how to fix it:

1. The Illusion of Value 

Activity does not equal value.

For a multi-billion dollar company, process bloat might look like a rounding error. But when you zoom in on operations, the reality is staggering. You stop building products and start building bureaucracy.

Suddenly, your payroll is consumed by:

• Teams hired to unify messaging.

• Teams tasked with building checklists.

• Teams dedicated to writing documentation.

• Teams acting as mandatory review tollgates.

• Teams formed to cross-qualify opportunities.

• Teams building processes just to review Statements of Work.

• Teams existing solely to bless the processes of other teams.

• Teams managing RFPs, who manage other teams writing the RFPs, who then wrangle technical teams to approve the responses.

Every single person in that chain thinks they are adding value.

They are doing exactly what they were hired to do. 

But if you take one step back, the truth is glaring. Managing paperwork is a massive cost center eating away at your margins.

2. Death by Tollgate 

Startups win because they have no tollgates.

They move fast, break things, and ship products. 

But as companies scale, fear creeps in. To prevent mistakes, leadership adds layers of approval. 

Every decision now requires a blessing from three different process teams.

Speed slows to a crawl.

The very system designed to streamline the business paralyzes it. 

You trade market agility for internal compliance.

3. The Expiration Date 

Companies must scale and build processes.

But every new process must be tied to a clear, time-boxed objective. 

If a process isn't actively protecting your margins or accelerating your output, it isn't an improvement. 

It is just bloat.

and that process review should be time boxed too.

In fact, the team that owns the process, should bear the cost of process improvement.

The solution is simple.

Give every internal process a six-month expiration date. 

When the timer runs out, the team must prove the process still adds measurable value to the bottom line. 

If they cannot prove it, the process dies.

Force your company to justify its bureaucracy.

Watch your margins grow.

Nvidia's $1 Trillion Translation Problem

Nvidia stock is stuck under 190.

In the latest GTC keynote, Jensen Huang announced a $1 trillion pipeline and 30x performance leaps.

The backlog projection jumped from $500 billion to a trillion dollars.

Yet, the market yawns.

Analysts connect the dots. They say the growth is already "priced in."

But if the growth is priced in, these same analysts wouldn't be setting price targets of 260. 

The truth is much simpler.

The market isn't bored by the numbers. 

The market is confused by the narrative.


My belief is Nvidia’s communication is holding the stock back.

Here are three reasons. 

1. The Translation Gap 

Jensen’s presentations are built for engineers. (sort of)

He showcases teraflops, graphic quality, and processing architecture. 

Wall Street doesn't speak silicon. 

Investors speak cost savings, customer stickiness, and profit margins.

The market doesn't know what to do, when a presentation fails to connect technical leaps to tangible business revenue.

2. The Fragile Trillion 

A trillion-dollar pipeline sounds invincible.

But it isn't locked in a vault. 

Hyperscalers can walk away from capacity commitments if their returns fail to materialize. 

The entire pipeline depends on Nvidia's customers actually making money off these massive investments.

If the end-user doesn't see a return, the hyperscaler stops buying, and the trillion dollars can evaporates.

3. The Predictability Premium 

This is why traditional giants like Costco and Walmart keep winning. 

Their business models are universally understood. 

You buy a membership, you buy bulk goods, the company makes money. 

There is a clear differentiator in the business.

People have to eat to live.

Predictability breeds investor confidence. 

Wall Street prefers a boring, predictable dollar today over a complex, theoretical hundred dollars tomorrow.

Nvidia is selling the future, but explaining it like a science project.

The Fix: 

If Nvidia wants to unlock its next massive run, the communication must change. 

This is where Steve Jobs set his own legacy.

To make the presentation palatable for Wall Street, they need to check three boxes:

1. Show the graphic quality and innovations, but prove the cost savings. 
2. Highlight the processing speed, but demonstrate the revenue generation. 
3. Break down the stickiness of the businesses fueling the pipeline. 

Smarter investors will always figure out the underlying value.

But if the world's most valuable company makes the math just a little bit easier for the rest of the market to understand, the tailwinds will be unstoppable.

What is your Strategy?

 Strategy is not a boardroom presentation.

It is the allocation of two finite resources: time and money. 

Infrastructure, headcount, and intellectual property all reduce to these two buckets. 

The rules of corporate strategy apply directly to your life too.

Resource allocation is the only true metric of a strategy.

Look at the evidence:

• Selling a new product: Track the hours spent meeting customers and refining the pitch.

• Landing a high-impact role: Measure the daily minutes spent mastering the industry and publishing insights.

• Being a generous person: Count the exact dollars donated and the hours volunteered.

For months, my goal was a career pivot.

I wanted a role with massive impact. But complacency crept in, and the status quo felt comfortable. 

The realization hit this morning: a personal strategy fails without dedicated resources.

Without action, a strategy is just ink on paper.

So, I pivoted.

Instead of squandering the morning, my time went toward dissecting the Nvidia ecosystem and mapping the market's future. I listened to the keynote yesterday, and wrote some insights about it. 

The final outcome remains unknown. 

But the daily habits, or todays actions matched the ambition.

The strategy is in motion.

Building product catalog & offerings is easy but getting it right is complex

Most companies build services the wrong way—and it’s why they fail.

They start with a list of ideas. They collect buzzwords. They ignore the data and spend months building things no one wants (may be, you don't know yet).

Stop that. 

Build from the outside in.

If you want to create an offer that sells, follow these three steps:

• Solve one specific pain. Don’t build a big menu. Build a clear solution.

• Start small. Build a simple version first.

• Test it. Sell it before you build it. If no one buys, you just saved yourself months of wasted work.

The Million-Dollar Question: What problem do you solve?

You don’t guess the answer. You find it in the real world. Here are four ways to find it:

1. The Side-Step: Look at what you already sell, then add a simple fix that makes it better.

2. The Door-Opener: Offer a quick check-up or audit that leads to bigger work later.

3. The Best-Customer Filter: Ask your top 10% of customers what they struggle with, then build the fix for them.

4. The Campaign Test: Send an email or run a simple ad to see if people want it before you spend time building it.

Who should lead the build?

There is a common trap here.

If Sales builds it, they promise a perfect world that the team can’t deliver. 

If the delivery team builds it, they get stuck in fear and add too many rules.

You need both sides to work together in a short window:

• Sales must prove there is a buyer before the work starts.

• Delivery must make sure the process actually works.

Don’t build in a bubble. Build with the market.

The problem with tracking online news

I have to rescue myself from the news cycle.

Every few weeks, I have to intervene with my own patterns.

I cut the cord on online news, and almost immediately, the anxiety and the hunger for a continuous feed vanish.

I’m no saint. 

I fall for the trap just like everyone else. 

But after years of watching the decline of digital media, the problem is clear. 

We aren't being informed. We’re being harvested.

Here is why I see modern news cycle as a threat:

• The Opinion Factory: News agencies are no longer in the business of information. They are in the business of building an Opinion. Every "report" is wrapped in a layer of inherent bias.

• The Search for Truth: Platforms like X (Twitter) try to verify the truth, but they are losing the race. Fake information travels faster than the truth.

• High level points, repeated everywhere: You seldom learn anything new. Outlets regurgitate the same three talking points because that’s what triggers the algorithm. That is how it feels like. Depth is missing on any topic.

• Engineered Negativity: The news cycle grow by creating uncertainty. It is a machine designed to highlight what is going wrong, keeping you in a state of continuous negativity.

• The Opportunity Cost of our time: We consume "information" that feels productive but contributes nothing to our actual work or lives. It is the illusion of being "informed" without the benefit of being "educated."

• The Booby-Trap: Platforms have become notorious for "content traps." You go looking for a headline and end up stuck on an escalator of rage-bait, ads, and explicit content.

If you want to understand the world, stop looking at the feed.Pick up a book on the subject. 

Find a verified source like the Associated Press that still preserves an iota of journalistic integrity. The feed is designed to keep you scrolling. A book is designed to let you think.

I am trying too.

Your attention is your most valuable asset. Stop letting algorithms spend it for you.

The magic of deliberate effort and serendipity in career and life

Life is mysterious and magic, and we are always trying to find that shortcut, but there are none.

I am reading "how will you measure your life".

One of the chapter talks about deliberate planning and serendipity.

It is a topic that hits home.

The author says both of those approaches apply in different conditions. 

They can be suitable for building a career and outside when applied right.

My experience is a tad different.

I have applied both of them together.

In fact, even when I am not watching deliberate short term planning & long term serendipity is the answer.

At times, you need to work on a specific swim lane, and keep your head down.

but in the larger scheme of things, that is a blip. One doesn't need to worry too much.

If you don't close yourself off, other opportunities will show up.

They may not look like how you thought.

Be deliberate on your swim lane, while keeping yourself open. 

That is how life uncovers.

We build career and life over long periods.

Building with a deliberate mind and focusing on the end goal is a sure shot way to failure.

Here is my biggest argument.

The deliberate way of life assumes that you know what you want. and That it is right for you.

But, we are malleable. We are ever changing.

It may surprise you if you look back and see where you are today.

This is where you wanted to be. 

This was the target, may be.

But today, it feels like you have further more miles to go.

That is how our mind is. 

So, starting with end in mind, forcing yourself into a deliberate path is a recipe for disaster.

The best model in my mind is 

1. Stay Open. Opportunities may not look like how you have envisioned. Entertain possibilities.

2. Spend more time in evaluating opportunities than ignoring.

3. Once you commit, put deliberate action in the short to medium term. Fail fast if you will, but put everything in it.

In my career this is how I have played out. and I have done well.

I am not CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, but this has served me well.

Wastage within large companies in name of alignment

In large organizations, alignment is the primary objective, but synchronous communication is the primary waste. 

We are witnessing a culture that confuses "presence" with "productivity." 

To lead a P&L effectively, both must be decoupled. 

High-performing companies do not achieve alignment through more meetings. 

They achieve it through better systems.

Amazon banned PowerPoint for a reason. 

it's performative and low-density. 

Instead, meetings begin with 20–30 minutes of silent reading of a "6-page narrative." 

This ensures everyone has the same high-resolution context before speaking. 

It eliminates the "lofty, meaningless conversations" you noted, forcing logic and data to the forefront.

Now, do they not do large town halls, but those should be highly specific and fewer in numbers.

GitLab operates with a "Single Source of Truth." 

Every process, goal, and decision is documented in a public handbook. 

If a message needs to be "communicated over and over," it is written down once and linked forever. 

This eliminates the need for 90-minute "kick-offs" because the information is always accessible and searchable.

Stripe uses "Transparency by Default." 

Most internal emails and documents are searchable by any employee. 

Alignment happens through passive absorption—people can observe the decision-making process without needing a "checkpoint" meeting to be told what happened.

Basecamp treats real-time communication (Teams/Slack) as a secondary tool. 

They prioritize long-form writing for significant ideas. 

This gives people the "time and space" to think deeply before responding, preventing the day from becoming a series of fragmented, 90-minute interruptions.

To stop the "energy suck" you must audit the communication ROI of your team.

• Any meeting where the primary goal is "info sharing" should be an email or a recorded video. Synchronous time is for conflict, complex problem solving, or final decisions.

• If a meeting is necessary, start with 10 minutes of silent reading of a prepared document. If there is no document, there is no meeting. This stops people from "flaunting a busy day" with aimless talk.

• Force your direct reports to categorize their meetings as "Productive" (Decision-making) or "Performative" (Information-gathering). If the latter dominates, their role is overhead, not an asset.

• Remind your team that a packed calendar is often a sign of poor management, not high performance. In a P&L-driven environment, "busy work" is a liability that gets cut when the numbers don't add up.

Alignment does not require more talk. 

It requires more clarity. 

Move your team from a culture of "talk and review" to a culture of "write and execute." 

Productivity is the only real job security.

Everything we do in real life, works against us in Trading

 I have been trading now for over a month and there is nothing yet to write home about.

Its been a roller coaster of emotions.

In trading - our notions and beliefs turn upside down.

The biggest of them which I am realizing is - hard work.

The more manical I get about my strategy, the more difficult it becomes.

The state of moving averages, news, index, stock specific news, RSI etc.

The more data points we include, the confusing it gets.

We are trying to tell ourselves that there is "this" data point that tells us what will happen.

We are searching for certainty. 

We hope that a combination of indicators, news can some how provide us with that edge.

But, unfortunately that is far from the truth.

Days where i have been certain on what a stock will do, it doesnt work 60% of the time.

It has worked, but not so well that you can say that the method or analysis is good.

Its a coin toss. 

If I didnt judge it and went in as is, there was still a high chance of the play working out, or failing.

and this is the hardest part.

We untangle the biggest challenges in front of us, by paying more attention to it.

Working hard on them, putting our mind on it.

But with trading, that may work against us.

Too much espresso was hurting my Eye

 For months, my right eye wouldn't stop twitching.

It happened during runs, meetings, and showers. 

It started as an annoyance. It turned into a constant companion.

I looked up the symptoms. 

Online medical resources are designed to convince you that you are dying of a rare neurological disorder. 

I ignored the panic and looked at my inputs instead.

My sleep, screen time, and diet were constant. 

Only one variable had changed: The Espresso Count.

I had ramped up to three double espressos per day. 

Two in the morning, one after lunch, followed by evening decaf.

I decided to test the caffeine variable. I changed my routine for two weeks:

1. Morning: Two glasses of warm water immediately. No coffee on an empty stomach.

2. Delayed Input: First coffee 30 minutes later.

3. The Cap: Maximum of two double espressos per day.

4. The Cutoff: No caffeine after noon. Earl Grey or decaf only.

The Result: The twitching stopped within 48 hours.

The medical "limit" for caffeine is roughly 400 milligrams (about four cups of brewed coffee), but biological limits are personal, not statistical. 

I may have been operating at or just above the limit. It is hard for me to say how much caffeine is in my Espresso. My double espresso portafilter takes about 15 grams of espresso grinds.

My system was signaling a breach of its specific tolerance.

If your eye is twitching, stop reading WebMD. Check your inputs first.

Trading Isn’t Hard. Changing Is.

 Trading has taught me something profound: The markets aren't the problem; we are.

There is a level of skill involved in developing a strategy with an "edge." You have to put in the work to backtest and validate that the strategy actually works. 

But once the math is proven, the weight of the work shifts entirely to the operator.

If we were robots, trading would be easy:

1. Identify the strategy.

2. Establish position size and risk per trade.

3. Execute on parameters.

4. Reconcile the outcomes at month-end.

But we aren't robots. 

We get in our own way. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve made my share of mistakes, and I’m learning that human nature is immensely difficult to override. 

Identifying why we sabotage ourselves is one thing—

actually changing that behavior is a completely different hill to climb.

The Internal Saboteur

Despite having clear entry criteria and confirmations, I still find myself:

• Jumping the Gun: Entering trades before the setup is fully formed.

• Lacking Patience: Failing to wait for the market to come to my criteria.

• Predictive Arrogance: Operating with the mindset that I know exactly what will happen next.

• Trading Casually: Losing the professional focus required for high-stakes execution.

These aren't platform issues or market issues. They are ramifications of who we are.

It is easy to blame "over-trading" on a platform because it makes execution too seamless. While partially true, the reality is that the tendency lives within us—driven by vengeance, greed, or boredom. 

The screen is just a mirror.

The Reality of the Game

You don’t control the markets. you adapt to them. 

There are no certainties—only probabilities.

When a trade works as expected, that is simply probability working in your favor. 

It doesn’t mean you predicted the future. There are scenarios where that same trade could have gone against you through no fault of your own.

Having a plan (entry, exit, and risk) is only 20% of the game. 

Following it is the other 80%. 

That is where the battle is won or lost.

The Hard Line

Risk management must be your only "fixed" variable. 

In my first few trades, I told myself I’d manually cut losses at a certain level. 

It didn’t work. 

The ego is too loud in the heat of the moment. It is always better to hard-code your stops into the system so they don't require your intervention.

Over-trading is a trap that never leads to the original goal: more money. 

It only leads to more noise and less discipline.

The Only Security is Agency

We spend 10 hours of our awake time on work. this must be the most important thing in ones life.

So, It has to be more than "paying bills." 

It should be a source of fulfillment. That pulls you into a state of flow. A meditative space where the outcome vanishes and the act itself becomes the prize.

but life and realities collide.

I see executive teams frozen by the risks of AI, and people layoffs. Recent Amazon, UPS, HD and several brands laying people in thousands is one of many rounds of layoffs. These have been going on since 2022 and ramping.

Some say that in this environment, one should be grateful to have a job.

That is a negative way to look at life and your capability. 

It puts the focus on external factors. 

A Company direction, business unit pivots, or market shifts. 

These are beyond your control.

The magic happens when you shift your focus to the only thing you own: Your Agency.

At a few points in my life, I found myself in positions that weren't at the scale I wanted. 

I was being asked to engage at a granular level I felt I had outgrown. 

My ego hated it. I felt like I was moving pebbles when I wanted to move mountains.

One evening after a long run, I realized - fighting the situation was a waste of my energy. 

I put my head down and immersed myself in the work. It was a choice.

That passion and all the experience I had opened bigger better doors soon. 

I led a massive data lake transformation. I stepped into security leadership when a CIO needed it most.

Heck, I even got myself a AWS Certified SA Certification.

I want to be clear: none of my experience matches the pain of a layoff.

I haven’t had the rug pulled out from under me.

But the whole point is to remind, to believe in your own skills and capability.

Roles and titles are temporary. 

A board meeting or "strategic restructuring" can take it away. 

But the skills you build when you immerse yourself are yours forever.

all the best

Saurabh

My trading progress

I haven’t written for some time, but I have been journaling consistently.

A few weeks back, I wrote about trading and how my mind gets pulled toward it during days when work is slow or during periods of a lull. 

This happened again at the end of this year.

My first instinct was to reject it and think that this was just inaction. 

But a little later, I realized that a lot of people approach this systematically and have done well.

While it is said that most people lose money, why do hundreds of thousands of people work in this area? Many are wealthy, and millions of trades take place every day. Volume on a single stock like Apple averages around 50 million shares per day.

Yes, institutional investors are there. They are the biggest buyers, looking to increase their investments and profitability. They are highly sophisticated and deal in large volumes.

But there is a way retail trading can be done sensibly too, isn’t there?

I got burned in the past with options trading. It’s like bringing in a blowtorch and playing with it. The risks are massive—bigger than simply the fun of burning something.

So, I decided to learn the ropes and go the safe way: understand the forces at play and how the markets work, especially from a day trading perspective.

I am happy to share that I have found a good balance for myself. I have started trading small amounts with small position sizes, and I have been decently successful so far.

In future posts, I will share the lessons I have learned from it.

Cheers, Saurabh

Your ability to create emotion and expressing with you personality will be the only differentiation left in the future

Quality is dead.

AI has democratized competence.

In the past, high-quality content meant you possessed three things:

• Exclusive Data: Deep, gated research.
• Polished Prose: Writers who prioritized syntax over soul.
• High-End Production: Expensive cameras, software, and pixels.

If you had those, you won the attention game. 

But AI erased those moats. 

Now, speed, scale, and polish are simply table stakes. 

In fact, "perfect" has become a liability. 

You can spot AI content specifically because it is too clean, too symmetrical, and utterly devoid of friction. 

It is boring.

The new bar is not about the pixels—it is about the person.

To win in this new environment, your content must do more than inform. 

It must provoke. 

Your goal is to inspire, surprise, and move the reader. 

You want them to feel something, because an algorithm cannot replicate the jagged edges of a human perspective.

The future of content isn't found in a prompt. 

It’s found in the person behind the screen.

My Struggles with Isolation: Why Networking is My North Star for 2026?

During my year-end analysis, I realized a huge gap lurking in my life. 

For some reason, I hadn’t addressed it. 

It wasn't a big deal—I could grow and succeed without paying it any attention.

But, like the book title What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There, I realized I must fix this gap. otherwise I will be stuck,

That gap is- the lack of a strong network.

I am good with people, and I enjoy being around them. 

But I refused to socialize "unnecessarily."

Unless we were making magic and getting work done, or unless we were on the same wavelength, I wouldn't engage.

and if I engaged, I would withdraw as soon as the work was done.

I developed standards for my time, and as a result, I unintentionally filtered everyone out—neighbors, colleagues, and potential friends.

My personality shifted to "business only."

• In my running club: I would run, chit-chat briefly, and leave.

• At the gym: Headphones on, finish the workout, leave.

• At conferences: I arrived with clear agendas, hated letting random interactions play out. I would get bored quickly.

It has been like this for years. 

When I reflect on the early years of my career, I was social, but I wouldn't spend time with people just for the sake of it. 

It was about respecting my time and engaging so, I could learn or have fun.

Moving to the States hardened this trait.

It helped me succeed tremendously. For a long time.

Books and high-performing individuals became my mentors. 

I learned from them. The Solitary pursuit moved me in the right direction.

Even recently, this has been my default.

But, this isolation eventually began to hurt. 

In my past role, where I was leading the company's growth, it got too lonely.

I had no relationships where I could bounce ideas, share the issues I was facing, or just go grab a drink to decompress.

I discovered I was doing everything alone—training for a marathon, learning music, writing for LinkedIn, creating YouTube videos, and editing. Everything by myself, from my basement.

Looking back across the last few years, I see this was a huge handicap developing.

Being comfortable with yourself is a superpower.

Many people lack the ability to sit with their own thoughts. 

But I have drifted onto an isolated island where no one knows I am here. 

That is borderline harmful.

I realized that in all spheres of life, I need company.

So, my North Star goal for 2026 is to fix this. 

To become a network magnet in my area and activate a strong community.

Here is what I am doing to open myself up to opportunities:

1. Connect locally: Reach out to folks in Naperville on LinkedIn. Offer to meet over coffee.

2. Don't just work—network: Staying in the basement is no longer an option. I need to get out of the house and work from libraries or coffee shops where people actually are.

3. Fix the body language: When working remotely, I need to stop walling myself off with headphones and closed-off posture. I want to be open to meeting people—smiling, saying hello, and signaling that it is okay to talk to me.

4. Give first: Offer to help or do something for others without any agenda and without expecting anything in return.

So far, so good.

Since starting this shift, five days ago, I have worked outside the home several times. 

I have exchanged messages with several people I hadn't touched base with in a long time. 

I’ve even had coffee meetings with a couple of folks right here in Naperville.

The book Never Eat Alone has played a big role in this realization. 

As Keith Ferrazzi says, "Don't build a network when you need it."

I am building an enormous network in 2026 to create a massive breakthrough.

If you read this, and it resonates with you, I would like to hear it from you. 

Comment below, and tell me if you have felt this way too. 

If so, did you overcome it? how? 

If not, do you want to join me in overcoming it?

-Saurabh

Here is the right way to look at "Gratitude"

The conventional way everyone talks about gratitude, feels like a transaction.

"Pay" gratitude so that we can receive more. 

Is it a vehicle for success? Is it an an insurance policy. 

The logic goes: 

"If I am thankful now, the Universe/God/Life will guarantee me more blessings later."

We are trying to empty our cup so it can be filled again.

But today, a different realization dawned on me. I was at the gym.

Gratitude isnt a strategy to get more.

It is humbleness. It is a realization that we have received far more than the math suggests we deserve.

The Uncertainty of It All

Life is fundamentally unfair and wildly uncertain.

 There is little that is guaranteed, regardless of our effort.

We like to think we control the outcome, We don’t.

* Accidents happen to good people on their way to sign billion-dollar deals.

* Championship games are lost by the best players in history due to a single bad bounce.

* Brilliant lives are cut short simply because a rare disease expressed itself in the DNA.

Gratitude is the realization that, despite this chaos, you are still here. 

You have received something, when there was a very high statistical probability that you wouldn't.

Sure, you can flip the equation.

You could argue that you *should* have received more, or that you’ve had bad luck. 

Both can be true.

But gratitude is looking at where you are today—standing, breathing, capable—and realizing that in a world where millions struggle for clean water or shoes on their feet, you have won the lottery.

The Anxiety of "Potential"

I struggle with this.

When I look at my life, I see gaps.

I see the capabilities I’ve have, and the opportunities I want. 

I am constantly working on self-improvement.

 Lately, I’ve been transitioning into a new role at an acquiring organization, and I’ve been plagued by anxiety.

Am I expressing myself fully?

Am I realizing my full potential?

I look at the CEOs of Amazon, Microsoft, or the Fortune 50, and I think:

I could do that. I could lead at that level. I am ready to put the work and 100x more.

The gap between where I am and where I think I *could* be makes me uncomfortable. 

It drives a restless anxiety.

But then I return to this new definition of gratitude.

I look at the places I’ve been. 

The small wealth I’ve been able to create. 

The books I’ve read. 

The countries i've visited.

I look at the family I came from, and the family I’ve built—my wife and two beautiful girls. 

I look at the support structure around me.

When I look at the data honestly, I can not help but accept that I have received a return on investment that far exceeds my input.

 Yes, I have ambition. 

Yes, I could lead a massive company and amass 100x of this. 

and I should continue working towards it.

But the point I have reached today is no small feat.

Gratitude isn't about asking for the next thing.

It’s a reflection on your own life, realizing that you have enough, and acknowledging that—despite the odds—you have been rewarded for your efforts in a fantastic manner.

Life is mysterious and we dont know where and when it ends. Gratitude is realizing you did your best but received far more. So many people, work hard even on the right things, and never get the results.

Here is a punch list to think this morning.

• If you can take a deep breath without pain, be thankful.
• If your body parts are functioning and you can move freely, be thankful.
• If you have a clear mind and the agency to think for yourself, be thankful.
• If you have a roof over your head to sleep under tonight, be thankful.
• If there is food on your table today, be thankful.
• If your parents are still alive to speak with you, be thankful.
• If you have brothers or sisters who care about you, be thankful.
• If you have a partner who understands you and stands by you, be thankful.
• If you have children who love you, be thankful.
• If you have even just two friends you can call in a crisis, be thankful.

and you have all of the above, you should be exceptionally thankful, because you a lot of people dont have these.

To grow in career, clarity is king

It is very easy to be stuck in your own stories and routines. It’s almost like you are fooling yourself.

My year in review for 2025 had a few breakthrough moments.

 I came completely undone, realizing I was holding onto things that were not serving me well.

It started when I asked Gemini for self-reflection questions. One question startled me:

"If nobody saw your title on LinkedIn, would you still do the work you are being positioned to do?"

The more I sat on it, I realized that the title and how things "appear" had become bigger than what I actually do.

The answer was an emphatic YES—but only for the hands-on work.

This drove me to realize that I love being in front of customers, solving technical problems, and understanding use cases. 

I love it. 

Not the managerial stuff, and not the internal politics.

If growth means becoming a manager of managers of managers, it is the wrong direction for me.

Managing a team isn't bad, and I’m not bashing it. 

But it comes with overheads and activities that are just soul-sucking for me.

I would rather be working with customers, hearing their challenges, and delivering value. 

Then I as I went on to document my thoughts, I realized there are a few other things that are either not serving me, or killing my gains on where I could be (sitting in front of my computer as a way of procrastinating, and lacking a social network). I will touch on these in different posts.

But, I feel I am in a much better place to make a subtle shift in 2026.