Month: October 2015

Idea Machine – Day 3/200 (Anguish!)

It is hard to blog everyday. It is not due to lack of time even though I have been relatively more busy over the last few days. I mean, come on, I spent three hours watching ‘Agneepath’ rather than being productive. Anyways, back to business.

‘One new idea related to technology’
I wish there was an easy way for similar 9 to 5 workers like me to connect and work on cool projects during off hours / weekends. A lot of people are probably spending their time Netflixing / drinking / watching porn etc. Many of them would be more than happy to spend a few hours every week on an exciting project, only if there are other people ready to lead and give them specific directions.
– Could anything be done here?

‘One new scientific learning’
Reading an article on ‘digital healthcare startups’, I learned how the data inter-portability limitations has put a dampener on the startups in being able to market/sell their products. With over 100 EHR providers in US alone, lack of open API availability would definitely be an issue. Hopefully, the government realizes and ensures open APIs for vendors to be recognized by the vendor etc.  Great learning as it drives home the point that it is not all red and rosy in the startup world despite loads of VC money flowing into them.

‘One new life lesson’

‘Why should I go to college?’
So you can get a degree
‘Why should I get a degree?’
So you can get a good job
‘Why’
So you can make good money
‘Why’
So you can pay back your college loans

I found this as a comic strip somewhere (cannot find the reference now), but it resonates not with me personally, but as a societal issue running deep in countries like US. It is amazing how people think about money before trying to get education. That is not how it should be and hopefully it changes pretty soon.

‘One new idea related to work’
Just do things. I am starting to have new ideas to visualize the Personalized Marketing project, however, rather than expecting other responsible people to create my vision, I need to just get it done. This is the time of my life to fucking work hard and not delegate everything. Don’t be so lazy.

‘One new idea related to love/relationships’
Dhadakte dil se poocho mat
Chup kyun hain uski zubaan
Jeene ke liye hai zindagi
Par lafz dil ke hon zaroor

‘One new idea to further explore/learn’
Neural networks. I keep hearing it as I read about AI. Since that is the future in various industries, I would love to get a better sense of how we are progressing towards making machines learn for themselves (though it is for another post that we need to better understand how our brains in order to be successful in truly AI machines)


Innovation Culture – Limitations of Education System?

Growing up, I always dreamt of creating / innovating things. However, I distinctly remember the thought that most things have been already invented. That thought is miles away from my mind now, however, it bugs me as to how could I be so disconnected from reality? Those thoughts cannot be further away from truth. There were unlimited innovations to be done then and there are still unlimited innovations to be done now, and there will be unlimited innovations to be done at any point in the future.

I should still feel lucky that I had very supportive parents and a few teachers who allowed me to expand my creativity. Designing and building my own website and newsletter; and then the biggest one being writing down the ‘Kaun Banega Saupati’ software, were some highlights during my high school years. However, I attribute these achievements despite the Indian education system.

Beyond these formative years, as I finished my tenth grade, it was the right time to further explore my interests and learnings. However, I had been drilled since childhood that the only future is in being either an engineer or a doctor. I realize its a cliche but could not be more true. The education system was geared to learn the sciences and just aim to get marks. I never really wanted to go deeper into any of the subjects despite doing really well in school. I was simply happy being ranked one after every examination.

To avoid it becoming a crib post, I do want to stress that this is all very easy to say in hindsight. I am indeed very grateful for all the amazing foundation of my schooling that has allowed me to reach today’s status and hopefully much higher in the future. From growing up in a small town in the Himalayas, to studying in a metropolitan city like New Delhi and then moving to US and working here, has been a very exciting journey. All the life experiences, and there have been many ups and downs, have further fueled my ambitions.

Idea Machine – Day 2/200 (Do!)

Spending the weekend celebrating Ansh’s birthday along with Dusshera was a nice changeup to the routine. The drive back and the time at home gave me some time to listen to more podcasts and read more articles. However, as I begin this quest for knowledge as well as wisdom, I also realized it is not worth it unless I am able to apply the learnings. It won’t be a direct action. A lot of it would be at a subconscious level and permeate into all spheres of my life. However, I need to actually start taking action as well – for example, start flexing my idea muscle at work.

Anyways, back to the idea framework

‘One new idea related to technology’
Machine learning. For example, how Siri, Cortana work?
Action: I have joined Coursera’s machine learning course. So hopefully over the next couple of months, I can develop further knowledge in this field.

‘One new scientific learning’
Listening to the podcast, ‘People behind the Science’, where a leading scientist, ‘Dr Patrick Lusk’ talked about the field ‘molecular biology’. For example, I learned about the congenital condition named ‘Heterotaxy’ where the organs are located abnormally across the abdomen rather than the usual or mirror position. He discussed about how genetic engineering was used to identify the genetic makeup of such individuals and how they have been able to develop mechanisms to avoid such genetic conditions in future babies etc.

‘One new life lesson’
Act! Take action. Just a small step. It will give rise to big things. Be patient.

‘One new idea related to work’
One is to reach out to Lisa to get her feedback. Thank her for the award. And lay down some ideas related to Personalized Marketing, but again, more importantly, listen to her thoughts.

Another one is to start listening to the ‘Pharma Marketing’ podcast and gather new ideas to apply to my work. Hopefully it will help in filling this section of the post 🙂

‘One new idea related to love/relationships’
This will be tough to fill every post, but I will try. Two things – each partner in a relationship should strive to work hard 90% of the relationship. If both try 90%, I am sure it will help in cutting out ego.

‘One new idea to further explore/learn’
This section would probably be more technical in future. But to start off, as I intently listened to ‘Rockstar’ soundtrack today, I want to better understand music as an art. What separates amazing music like ‘Rockstar’ from stupid Honey Singh songs for example. It is probably very subjective but might be interesting to explore.

Anyways, that’s it for now. I am sleepy. Good night!

Idea Machine – Day 1/200 (Stay Curious!)

While waiting for ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ to download tonight, let me embark on this exercise of becoming an idea machine. I realized the importance of flexing my idea muscle several times over the last year; however I need to make it a regular habit through an approach I heard over a podcast. So in this exercise, I plan to write 10 new ideas a day for the next 200 days. Post the 100th day, I need to actually start taking action on them to make them worthwhile.

So here I go

Idea Category/Labels
1
An app to switch off/on/dim the lights in the room/home
App
2
How to connect electricity in home to mobile device? Like I always wish to adjust TV volume with my mobile
App/Sciencify
3 Wireless charging – still not sure why it is still not a thing Technology
4 A biochip on iWatch that pricks your skin for blood and does health checkup on the fly to recommend very “personalized” nutritional requirements BioTech
5 Introducing smell to the upcoming Virtual Reality technology – a way for the headset to recognize the ambient sensations in virtual world and then be able to let the user feel them BioTech
6 Self-learning algorithms. How can technology become self-learning? What is the current technology and how can we push it further such that a machine, after being taught a specific activity, can apply it to something else?  Learning
7 Can eye movements be tracked by a camera? It has far reaching implications. If it can be done, it will be the next big thing – for people to be able to use eyes as an input device. I mean, one straight forward way is to use camera technology to compare images of a person’s eye by second to monitor the difference and note the movements accordingly, no? Technology
8 An idea can change people’s lives but if people realize that the meaning of life is just to enjoy and grow oneself as a person (basically self-development as life goal), wouldn’t world be a better place to live? Motivation
9 Imagining a future without any cables/wires : So exciting. I mean right from no optic fibre lines for internet/cable TV (this is very critical to break the monopoly of few in this space) to a home without wires (where everything is charged wirelessly). A light bulb or even a TV just runs on batteries that are charged wirelessly through the solar panels attached to each house. The extra solar energy can be sold to the grid or ideally wirelessly to a central location so industries and other heavy energy consumption places can buy that extra power. Technology
10 Everything needs to become personalized – right from career choices, healthcare, relationships, technology, motivation – nothing should be generalized anymore. Maybe this framework of 10 ideas a day is not personalized for me. I get excited about ideas but more importantly, I want to learn more about the sectors that I generate ideas about. They might lead me to something or they might not. But I want to find out – be an ‘explorer’ of ideas, thoughts and places (both in actual and metaphorically). So instead, maybe the right personalized framework for me is to write a post on ‘one new idea related to technology’, ‘one new scientific learning’, ‘one new life lesson’, ‘one new idea related to work’, ‘one new idea related to love/relationships’, ‘one new idea related to future’, ‘one new idea to further explore/learn’. This can be modified per need basis, and more importantly, leverage this as a guiding framework rather than a rule. Just like religions are meant to be – just guiding principles for living a life rather than hard rules not meant to be broken. Personalized Frameworks

Written actionable thought bubbles

In my endeavor to be productive, I need to push myself to write more on this blog. Though I have tried this before and failed, I need to continue trying. Maybe it sticks as a habit one ‘fine’ day and then actually be able to take actions on the numerous ways I envision my life to change.

So here I go again with a list of thoughts on top of my mind these days:
– Personal life: Spending time with my loved ones
– Career: Next steps as either MBA or job change
– Personal growth:

     – Reading books
     – TED Talks
     – Meditation
     – Podcasts
     – Blogging
– Tennis: Playing as well as watching
Things I should be doing as higher priority but NOT currently doing:
– Becoming an idea machine (writing down 10 ideas every day)
– Healthy living: eating and exercise (exercising every day)
– Networking: connecting with old and new friends (email someone new every day)
– Work: seeking out growth opportunities within Pfizer to expand my horizons

P.S. Just reading this a couple of days later, I am surprised that stock markets did not feature in this list. Actually, it never does when I want to be productive though I spend such a large chunk of my vella time looking at the stock trends and so on. Kind of confused!

Thought Bubbles!

Waking up in the middle of the night is usually not a pleasant experience. What is more irritating is the inability to fall back asleep. Last night, when I woke up at four in the morning, I couldn’t fall back asleep even after a few indiscernible minutes. At that frustrating moment, out of the blue, I thought to apply the most basic and the only meditation technique I knew – focus on my breathing.
It wasn’t easy as my mind strayed to random thoughts. It quickly became a haze as my sleepy mind registered the reason for my lack of focus. The inability to clear my mind and focus on the task at hand leads to the state of mental obscurity. Usually, at that point I would fall asleep, however, this time I decided to do something about these stray thoughts.
I wanted to observe those thoughts from a third person perspective. It was easier said than done as thoughts at four in the morning are immensely personal as well as fuzzy.
I focused on the first thought that sprang up – my parents’ happiness and them worrying about me and my brother. As I forced myself to separate that thought from the entire fuzziness of 4am, I realized the need to also disassociate myself from the feelings related to that thought. Without that disassociation, I would easily dig a deeper hole and get lost in the haze.
I need to stress that it wasn’t easy. It felt like pushing a ball against a hard wall. In fact, to my surprise, I unconsciously began to focus on that ball and could unmistakably visualize it. It was the closest to a Eureka feeling that I ever had. I could feel being a bystander as I observed the ball pushing against the wall. It was trying to free itself from the mangled collection of thoughts on one side to the clarity on the other side (spherical such that the sphere held the mangled thoughts with the free space outside it).
As I visualized the wall boundary being stretched, the ball suddenly broke free and passed through the boundary. It floated into the space on the other side surrounded by calm and peace. It was my first thought bubble and I felt so clear-headed. Probably this post does not do justice to the experience, but at that moment, I figured out an amazing process of clearing my mind to focus on a task. I picked up the next thought – my feelings towards my love – and let it form a floating bubble as well. I felt so light. 
In those moments, I realized I had stepped upon a highly personal meditative tool to bring sanity into my life. There are just too many things in my mind at one moment that I can never get to the task at hand. It is frustrating.
I realize that the application of thought bubble creation process is going to take practice and immense effort to translate it into a habit. However, I feel very excited about this new way to bring sanity to my current muddled state of mind. 
Cheers!
NMG

List of books on Entrepreneurship/Meaning of Life

Entrepreneurship – How to Successfully Build Companies or Products:– The Hard Things About Hard things – Ben Horowitz
– Zero to One – Peter Thiel
– Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh
– Outlier – Malcolm Gladwell
– How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
– The Lean Startup – Eric Reis
– The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win – Steve Blank
– Do More Faster – Brad Feld
– Founders at Work – Jessica Livingston
– The Innovator’s Dilemma – Clay Christensen
– Hooked – Nir Eyal
Fulfilling Life – How to Successfully Build Yourself:– The Start-up of You – Reid Hoffman
– How Will You Measure Your Life – Clay Christensen