Visualize: Think, Feel, Perform Like the Top 1% by Maya Raichoora
Your thoughts = cars
Your beliefs = roads
Your experiences = buildings
Your emotions = the weather
Every second, you are driving along different roads and constructing new buildings. The more you drive on a road, the more permanent it becomes. These roads are then your mental map or blueprint, which is how you navigate the world. It becomes the architecture of your mind. Some of the roads will be motorways, others like country roads.
There are going to be times in your life when no one is in your corner. But if you are in your corner, nothing can stop you. You have to back yourself.
There are some interesting points in the book that I liked. This could have been a 40-page booklet or a long blog post. There’s so much repetition over and over again especially in the visualization techniques. Overall, skim through it, skip if you see repetition.
Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
The next time your opponent is having a hot streak, simply ask as you switch courts, "What are you doing so differently that's making your forehand so good today?" If they take the bait--and 95 percent will--and begin to think about how they're swinging, telling you how they're really meeting the ball out in front, keeping the wrist firm, and following through better, the streak invariably will end. They will lose their timing and fluidity as they try to repeat what they have just told you they were doing so well.
The greatest lapses in concentration come when we allow our minds to project what is about to happen or to dwell on what has already happened.
When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as "rootless and stemless." We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don't condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
Lots of good tips about improving mental performance and concentration. Not limited to tennis, is applicable to any activity.
Amazon Story Boxes
Sharing real-world inspiring stories on otherwise lifeless packaging gives it a nice personal touch.Â
Her eyebrows are mysterious
like the winding roads hiding their destination
It is only when you move further down South and look into her eyes
Do you realize that you are LOST FOREVER
The best teacher I ever had
A long time ago when I was in school in India, I was scoring in the ballpark of 70 out of 100 on Math tests. This was considered fairly average in India. My mother thought I needed some help and so I started taking classes with a math tutor who lived in our building. Her students fondly called her Aunty.
After my first week at her class, she immediately recognized that my problem with math was lack of practice and attitude more than anything else. She assured me that if I practice a certain set of exercises from the book, I would have no problem at the annual tests. I took her advice to heart and solved not only the exercises that she recommended but every problem in the book. My solutions to all the problems proudly occupied around 50 pages in my homework notebook.
Next week I shared my solutions and she was extremely delighted and genuinely happy to find out that I had solved all those problems. She was always encouraging and helped me form what Carol Dweck now calls the Growth mindset.
As I lived in the same building as her, sometimes my mother or me would run into her while running errands. She would always tell my mother that I would not have any problem doing anything I put my heart into. She gave me this confidence that I can do anything that I work hard towards. This changed my attitude beyond what words can describe.
Always smiling and encouraging her students, she was extremely smart and knowledgeable. She recently passed away and Dhairya (her son) has a heart-touching account of her daily life after suffering from brain metastases. My deepest sympathy to Dhairya and family. I will always remember her as the teacher who changed my life and the best teacher that I ever had. May her soul rest in peace.
P.S. - FWIW, I scored 94/100 in Maths that year and till date remains my highest score in any math-related test I have undertaken.
Association
When experiencing a product, the experience is not just the product. Its also about the association that you make with the product. Its about the feeling of familiarity that comes for free with it. The stronger the association with that feeling, the more incapable you would be of actually having an unbiased opinion about it. One example that comes to my mind is when I ordered a fancy soap bar after reading its description - it smells like sweet vanilla and orange. In this case its not only about liking the smell of the soap, its also about the association that you would make with the smell. The moment I started using the soap, it reminded me of a detergent used to wash clothes in India. So it was not the actual product itself but my association of it with something repulsive that ruined the experience for me. If you want a product to be acceptable to a global audience, it becomes important to work with people from a diverse set of backgrounds so that they can make different sets of associations with the same product. It would leave you culturally more informed and prevent you from committing product experience faux pas.
feel the heartbeat
words can lie,
eyes can lie,
expressions can lie,
body language can lie,
but a heartbeat never lies!
Pikeplace market, Seattle
Hot orange spice tea and the view of the waterfront are my superheroes on a gloomy day.
In the darkness
In the darkness, you see beauty
In the darkness, you see hope
In the darkness, you see light
Because it is in darkness that one is forced to see clearly.
It is not about getting the bragging rights or having the latest gadget or the brand value or the awesome new rose gold color or any other reason. It is the joy of holding technology in your hands that has been well-thought-out!
Thoughts on Apple Watch
My feature wish list from 2013 for any kind of wearable band stands almost fulfilled. If there was a mode for the iPhone switch between turning the ringer ON and Silent mode, Apple Watch would be that state.Â
Hardware — Designed to worn for the entire day and how I would love the water resistant feature to make it to the iPhone. Batter life almost lasts for the entire day. And it looks better than any other Smart watch out there.Â
Software — Has tons of issues. Haptic sometimes just fails to work and I have had to reboot the watch to make it work. I missed the laundry timer.Â
Usage — Going to the previous song on the iPhone and starting a song from the beginning. Running. It also gives you haptic feedback after running for a mile.  I use it to check Meeting rooms for Calendar invites, laundry timers, quick replies to iMessages. It’s good for offline tasks.
Sampling
If the trial version of a game, the trailer of the movie, holidaying in an exotic location is a sample; its not the same as playing the full version of the game, watching the entire movie or living permanently in that exotic location. The motivation for a trial could be different from the real thing. The trial could be optimized or manipulated for selling it to an audience. It helps to have an approximate scaling factor to scale the sample correctly to the real thing. Be aware about the difference between investing in a trial and the real thing.
Safe mode
Most operating systems allow you to start up your machine in safe mode. Safe mode loads the operating system with only the absolute essential software. It is generally useful for debugging issues and diagnosing problems. If you always boot your operating system in safe mode, you would never get anything delightful done.Life also has a safe mode. You can take decisions to avoid failure and make do with minimum risk. You can decide to always operate in safe mode. But would it enable you to live life at its fullest? Would it make it fun? Would it make you feel alive?