Welcome Interruptions

This Week's Curation #14: Have High Standards, Welcome Interruptions, The Indian Economy

Hello,

This week’s edition was a bit late. I fell into deep focus mode with some other projects. (will explain later in this mail)

I flirt with the idea that I could just schedule out these curation emails a few weeks in advance. But I like the idea of revisiting these later as a snapshot of the week.

Enjoy,

Ved

1. Watch: Nabeel Qureshi on Lenny’s Podcast

I’ve been reading

Nabeel S. Qureshi

’s blog the past few weeks. From his reflections on Palantir to his thoughts on education, I felt an instant click with the intellectual yet practical writing I found.

(Also, I’m a sucker for unconventional book recommendations, like Impro by Keith Johnstone. Or King Henry IV by Shakespeare.)

Takeaway:

Have high standards, else entropy will bring you back to the mean. 

Context:

Nabeel's life motto is "Aim for Chartres". 

This is borrowed from Christopher Alexander, the architect known for writing books about Pattern Language and Form Context Fit.

Alexander was also a professor. And he was unhappy. His students were submitting shoddy work. 

He told them to think about Notre-Dame de Chartres, a gothic French cathedral. It was a landmark in the history of medieval architecture. 

He said, they have to aim to be better than Chartres.

2. Read: Hamming’s Open Door by Rob Fitzpatrick

I love Rob Fitzpatrick’s writing. The Mom Test writer has an excellent Circle community/blog where he riffs about indie building, community, education and life.

All the posts are compressed and full of insights. I guess that comes from publishing 3 books.

Scroll around when you get some minutes, you might find a gem.

Takeaway: Cutting yourself off from email, news and social media may help you complete your to-do list. But these interruptions can also be important course corrections.

Context:

A common lament is how little time we have and how much books, content and just stuff there is to consume. To get stuff done, the common advice is:

1. Shut down your phone
2. Newsfeed eradicate social media
3. Don't read the news

This post turns that advice upside down for me. While cutting yourself off helps you GTD, you may want to program those interruptions to make sure you are working on the right things. 

3. Listen: History of The Indian Economy by Amit Varma

I don’t understand the Indian economy. Since 2009, I’ve heard the growth narrative about it being the fastest growing economy in the world. But with that narrative, I didn’t know how to view poverty and inequality.

I’m a little older now, and things have improved in India. Yet, my understanding is still faulty at best.

I found this 9 hour long podcast deep diving into economic history since Independence. I’m only 1.5 hours in but thought I’d share 1-2 takeaways.

Takeaway: 

1. Industrialists like the Tatas and Birlas supported state control post-Independence because it gave better monopoly power for them. 

2. 7% GDP growth rate is not a reliable metric for showing the complete picture of India's economy.

Context:

Jawaharlal Nehru (India's 1st Prime Minister) was in a tough position when India gained independence. He's been criticized for bringing heavy state control, inspired by Soviet Socialism.

Bonus: Casey Neistat’s Lunch Crises

I miss watching non-commercial YouTube. Casey Neistat’s latest video is a fun watch.

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Thanks for reading along. Let me know if anything stood out to you.

I’m also running a free workshop tomorrow for answering the question ‘Who Do You Serve?’

If you need help thinking through your audience or customer, do join in!