Importance of Wasting time.

Here is a intriguing read on wasting time. Guess what, you aren’t wasting time actually . 😜.

This struck a chord for me. Don’t forget to read the full article.

Wasting time is about recharging your battery and de-cluttering,” he says. Taking time to be totally, gloriously, proudly unproductive will ultimately make you better at your job, says Guttridge. But it’s also fulfilling in and of itself.

On finding your purpose & procrastination

I was reading this long letter here that was shared on my company slack account, this line stood out for me.

Naturally, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.

A very intriguing letter by Hunter S. Thompson in April of 1958 when he was 22. The amount of maturity and the thought put into writing is very deep and profound. I would suggest you spend the time reading it. I would say, you may want to ponder on this even more than just reading the letter. I would like to quote a few more portions of it, but I don’t want to copy-paste the entire letter here.

The use of the word “procrastinates” surprised me a little bit.  If my life is a path that I choose for myself and I am constantly learning and evolving, when or how do I know that I have procrastinated. Also if I have picked my path only at 30 does that mean I have procrastinated for 30 years? Haven’t those 30 years of experience define who I am how I how chose my path?

I don’t know if there is a definitive answer to this. If you have any, I would love to hear them. None the less, please do yourself a favour and read this letter your self.

 

Apple watch – review after a year

I got the Apple Watch last year and I have been using it for every day ever since and I love it. Below is a brief review after using the watch for over an year.

tl:dr I love it and it is totally the best smart watch you can get.  (You may want to wait a few months as apple watch 2 might launch in Oct 2016)

Pros:

  • Works great as fitness tracker. It has tracking for most common workout needs you may have.
  • Notifications on the watch have been a huge time saver. Huge time saver while driving or in meetings. Some times you can take a step forward and acknowledge messsages (A quick reply is just a tap away).
  • A plethora of apps have evolved. They help  with tracking productivity and reminders etc
  • Siri works well.
  • Bling aspect is still true as was when it launched.
  • Watch faces and the interchangeable bands help suit the mood/trend/fashion.

Cons:

  • Was too slow. (Not any more, watchOS 3 fixes it and the speed increase is phenomenal).
  • Battery life wasn’t  great. I8 hours wasn’t great in comparison to the fitbits and Garmins that last for a week. Not much of a deal breaker for me.
  • Sleep tracking isn’t part of the watch at all. The pillow app fixes this. I wish the watch had native tracking like the Fitbits do.

Watch OS 3:  It is a phenomal update that would be coming to the watch soon. I am testing it on my watch, it isn’t stable yet, but it opens up the watch in a multitude of ways and adressess most of the complaints and restrictiveness it had.

You may think, I am just an apple fan boy and hence my fanatcism with it. Actually I have tested the Fitbit Surge (still own one),  Fitbit  Flex  and  a Garmin Vivofit as my daily activity trackers/ smart watches. So far, the most satisfying experience has been from the Apple watch and hence my recommendation above.

Human sized life

Life never stops, only you can stop. Like it or not or you are part of the journey and you have to live through it. Not that I am complaining, actually infact, things have changed and it has changed for the better.

I feel I am at a point in my  life I feel I have the control of how my future can be and I can do pretty much everything I can wish for. May be all the fun & experience at my new office is making me be exuberant with joy and confidence (over confidence? 😜). My work environment is contagious in a positive way. Sometimes it evens feels like I am invincible (I know for sure that it isn’t the case). May be I am exaggerating, but at this time

This piece from Dave winer is a great reminder to stay level headed and humble.

I think we all need a struggle, I think that’s where our creativity comes from. We need something that feels unattainable, but actually is not. But the struggle to rise above our humanity, that’s not going to happen for any of us. And the desire to have it robs your very human life of any value.

Joe had it right. Live a gentle human-size life. Go for a walk in your middle-class neighborhood and run into a friend of a friend and share what you see, and influence their life for the better. That’s the kind of thing a human can do. And it is, imho, where happiness comes from.