Go deeper or move forward?

Whenever there is a moment of inner turmoil, I learn new things about myself. Many of these are old lessons in a new form. But each time there is inner turmoil, it is a moment to introspect, a space to face my vulnerabilities and an invitation to garden the soul.

But how much should one indulge in the process of this self exploration? A few hours? days? months? or longer? At some point, reflection must give way to motion.

So today, I take that pause, chisel at my feelings, console the inner child and move forward as I continue to mould a new being.

Emotional Depth

As life progresses, one of the factors that gets increasingly present in our daily lives is ED (Emotional depth… I know, you laughed – maybe twice, depending on which headlines you’ve been reading). I do not know if Emotional Depth is a real term, yet it seems to describe a feeling I have.

As I started to write this post, I immediately remembered this tweet from @kshashi where he talks about what unleashes the wrath of toddlers. “Breaking roti in pieces when he wants it full” stuck with me. Maybe all of us remember a moment from our childhood when we cried over something that now seems either silly or common.

Last week, my 6 yo nephew in Bangalore cried and created a bit of a ruckus (only a bit, he is daring for the most part) when he saw his parents playing a game of Catan with some friends when he returned from his class. His demand was that they need to play two games of Catan with him on the same day! My bhabhi explained to him on the lines of… “seeing your family happy and having a good time should make you happy instead of thinking that you lost something…”

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In matters of heart and mind, the heart wins

In matters of heart vs mind, for me, the heart wins. Naval Ravikant famously said ‘play long-term games with long-term people’. What I am thinking this morning is a conflict related to this. Of course, Naval put this out perhaps in the context of picking business partners and associates. My dilemma isn’t the same. But I like to build relations before business. Be it the nearby cafe or the guard at the parking lot.

So should one attempt to play long-term games with short-term people? There are many transactions in life that are short-term. Often just one-time. Should one seek a long-term player on the other end for these transactions too?

Think of a used car salesman. Should one just see the car they are buying and make the trade based on due diligence? Or also assess if the salesman is trustworthy? I find it extremely difficult to do such transactions without establishing trust in the counterparty unless it is something as basic as buying a cheap earring from a roadside vendor.

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Underestimating Technology – My Tryst With Monitors

A lot of us have made the mistake of underestimating technology. How big can the internet be? What real work would our computers or mobiles be capable of? There were plenty of questions in the early days of internet & mobile that had experts puzzled and take polar views. I may have many such tales myself, but here is a simple one. Also personal.

I have had a desktop computer for most of my life. I think the earliest I got one was sometime in 90s. It was a privilege. And in over two decades of computing it is only in 2020 that I have learnt how useful large screens are. So much so that I believe it is a disservice to spend on a good laptop before buying a large external monitor (27″ or more!). I also think organisations need to promote use of large external and even multiple screens for professionals. It is a must have for productivity.

Using an external screen is increasingly common for coders. But the benefits are far from limited to just software engineers. During my international visits, I found it lavish to see even admins & operations staff at co-working space using external displays with their laptops.

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[IMP] Starting a newsletter – Letters From Annkur

For the ones who have followed my blog for a long time, I miss writing regularly and interacting with you. A lot of my conversations moved to Twitter, which works great, but there is just so much more to share and talk about. Plus there is a sense of permanence on blog/email that simply can’t happen on a social network.

I am committing to a weekly newsletter, which in itself is a challenge to talk to you often. To make it easy, I am going to be sharing interesting stuff that I came across (stories, articles, photos, blogs, podcast, news, analysis, life gyaan, gadgets etc), so you don’t really have to read a boring personal letter every week. I would do my best to keep it crisp.

The newsletter is called ‘Letters from Annkur’. It has its own page: https://annkur.com/letters – which you can use if you want to share with someone. I am also putting up the subscribe form below in case you can’t wait for another click 🙂

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Riddikulus: Conquering A Fear

It is scary, crazy times and I have much to talk about that. To start with fear!

Fear has a big part to play in our lives and everyone including Harry Potter knows that. Today I talk about how conquering fear turned out to be a cool thing. Almost like getting rid of a Boggart with the Riddikulus spell!

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Barnum Effect

I trust my self-hosted blog to do better note-keeping than Twitter or Facebook. Hence reproducing this FB post by Navin Kabra here.

 

All of you—people who follow me on Facebook—are not average people. By the fact that you’re drawn to my posts, you automatically have self-selected. Using the Facebook API and some text processing, I did some analysis, and here are the key characteristics that I believe would describe you:

• You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.
• You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.
• You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
• While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
• Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
• At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.
• You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
• You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
• You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
• At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.
• Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.
• Security is one of your major goals in life.

How closely does this set of statements describe you?

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Answer that question before reading further

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Conversational Narcissism / Shift Response vs Support Response

Reading about a very valid conversational tendency we have to make the topic about us. I guess It happens unintentionally but getting better at conversations and listening is a never ending path. Here is a snippet and couple of references:

The shift response

Karen: I need new shoes.

Mark: Me, too. These things are falling apart.

The support response

Karen: I need new shoes.

Mark: Oh yeah? What kind are you thinking about?

Shift responses are a hallmark of conversational narcissism — they help you turn the focus constantly back to yourself. But a support response encourages the other person to continue their story. It lets them know you’re listening and interested in hearing more.

Read: Why we should all stop saying “I know exactly how you feel” Second, the Facebook post which got me thinking about this topic again. Sorta documenting on my blog so that I can come back to this and keep this concept alive.

Hat tip: Aarohi

Ps: I wanted to link to the Facebook post. But damn Facebook’s growth hacking. I can’t get the link from their messenger mobile app (I wrote this post on mobile).

Killing The Battery Anxiety

I often joke that there are three levels of Apple Enthusiasts. The top tier is formed by the ones who buy an Apple Watch. The second tier are the ones who buy a Rs 12,000 ($149) earphones, the Airpods. And the third tier are the not so rich but still very much Apple enthusiasts, the ones who buy a Rs 7000 ($100) power bank i.e. Apple’s Battery Case. I am one of the few who invested in an Apple Battery Case.

I have used my iPhone 6s with the Battery Case ever since I first got it in April last year. For me, undoubtedly it has been the most productive mobile accessory every purchased. The case feels good to hold, provides protection to my phone and most importantly close to doubles the battery life on my iPhone. This means, on most days, I am home with anywhere from 40-60% charge still left on my device. Even on days when I am traveling with heavy GPS and LTE usage, I do manage to survive with 10-15% at the end of the day.

This has had an amazing impact on my mobile usage. I am more confident about using Google Maps or stream Neflix / YouTube on mobile. Plus I no longer have to consciously charge my phone in office before I leave for any evening commitments. Else I risk being out of power and scrambling for a lightning charger, which is still very uncommon to find with any restaurant staff in India. (Side note: I would actually switch to Android if I can only trust my data / privacy there). Read More

UX: The Fallacy of Making Things Faster!

I never received formal training in design and as I started to build web products in 2012, it was a learning curve. Certain ideologies on what I like about different products guided me. There is of course a lot of design lingo that I picked up over the years. Yes, the usual suspects like “CTA”, “Above the fold”, “How many clicks does it take…” etc etc.

However, good design isn’t a factor of learning jargons or spending money on expensive consultants. I have seen some hyper funded products with poor experience and some very well executed apps by a single person effort. For this reason, it becomes important for founders to educate themselves a bit about what makes their product more usable. Today, I want to talk about one of the most common fallacies of UX – Trying to make things faster by eliminating steps.

Don’t we hate apps that introduce a LOT of clicks during checkout? It may be for various reasons like confirming order details (qty, price etc), address and payment mode. In some cases there are steps induced for up-selling (Hey Godaddy!). And given that all of us have suffered terrible UX, we strive to make our own apps / products easier to use. Often by reducing steps. Read More