Hey guys, This past week I have been actively thinking about flexibility. Having flexibility in life is like a superpower I didn’t know I needed or had. The COVID-19 pandemic, if anything, has taught people, myself included, that flexibility is not something to compromise on. What is prompting this? My workplace is forcing everyone back into the office for full-time hours - 5 days a week. Almost zero flexibility unless there is a special need. This is absolutely not something I want to do...
about 3 years ago • 2 min read
Hey guys, So this week I have been thinking about my identity. I am a man, a father, a husband, a project manager, a photographer, an Australian, a Pakistani and a whole bunch of other things … do you think these are too many identities? Unfortunately, almost all of us, identify with way too many things. We have too many anchors in life. Often we switch between these identities depending on our social circumstances and morph through them over the course of our lives. I have written an article...
about 3 years ago • 1 min read
Hey guys, Sorry, this week’s newsletter might be a bit morbid but this is an important one. I recently finished re-reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and I have written a short summary of this book which you can check out here (6 minute read). While going through this book a second time, I couldn’t help but ask myself some very basic but important questions: What is the meaning of MY life? What is truly important to me? What am I striving/working hard for? If I was to die in 3...
about 3 years ago • 1 min read
Hey guys, Do you often find it hard to create a balance of things you ‘must’ do and things you ‘need’ to do? A balance between order and chaos in life? A balance between desires and needs? Between staying disciplined and having a wild streak? This is definitely something I struggle with in life and have done so for many many years. I tend to gravitate towards disorder and chaos very often. I recently asked all my Instagram followers how they manage this tendency in order to get a better...
about 3 years ago • 1 min read
Hey guys, After nearly a 6-month hiatus I went back to the gym this week 💪🏽. The reason for the break? I was/still am nursing an injury to the wrist and a tennis elbow (same arm) and required time off of lifting heavy things. What caused the injury? Pushing too hard - too soon. I was impatient. It dawned on me, the upside of pushing hard (harder than my body was prepared to handle!!) was very little - doing an extra rep or extra 5 kilos will not make an astronomical difference in my overall...
about 3 years ago • 3 min read
Hey guys, This has been a very productive week for me with plenty of focus and deep work but there is also a darker side to it. Something I deal with every day and have done so pretty much all my life; Procrastination. I had the wrong ideas about procrastination and have been trying to solve it with the wrong methods; apps, gadgets, time management etc. My research and understanding of the topic have led to some stark realisations. I have collected all my research in this article here. Check...
about 3 years ago • 1 min read
Hey guys, The new year has started with lots of excitement and the promise of many possibilities however I have been thinking about something along slightly different lines. I have been wondering, in the years gone by, about all the things I did for the last time, or that happened to me for the last time. Key among them was the last time that I, my four siblings and our parents were together under one roof. Before there were respective spouses and children. Just the 7 of us. That was circa...
about 3 years ago • 2 min read
Hi guys As 2021 has come to an end, I have had time to reflect upon and learn from it. I have come to see the fragility and the resilience of life in this year and both at the same time. Here are my favourite things from 2021. Books Will by Will Smith & Mark Manson This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way...
over 3 years ago • 6 min read