Hello, my friend! It’s been a while since we last chatted. How have you been? I hope you’ve been well.

Even though I have grown online, got over 2,000 subscribers on my channel, and started making money from my other website, I haven’t really been very active recently. This duration, this break that I took, proved to be a good time for self-reflection. I’ve been pondering the question of what it really means to feel and be alive—and to be honest, I don’t know what is the right thing to do. Maybe you can help.

For a really long time, I’ve been a believer in “Hustle now and rip the results later.” I’ve worked hard to learn skills, do things, and achieve things for several years. Not that I always liked working hard, but because I thought and I knew that if I didn’t work hard, I would live a very ordinary life, a life with limitations. My family’s economics definitely was a reason for why I was so desperate to grow, but more importantly, I wanted to grow myself, I wanted to make myself capable to support my family and myself.

But all of this “hustle”, as we call it, is it really the right thing to do?

We should live in the moment, no? What if there’s no tomorrow? What if the world ends tomorrow? If tomorrow was my last day, would I really be doing the things I am doing right now? Would I be hustling? Would you be sacrificing so much for the hope of a “better future”? I think not. Perhaps I should not be working so hard, perhaps you should not be sacrificing so much, perhaps you should really be living in the moment.

But what if there is a tomorrow? What if the world doesn’t end tomorrow? What if tomorrow is not your last day? Should I or should you waste this time that we have, this energy that we have right now? Should we just waste it and not use it to build something for ourselves, for our family, and for our future? Perhaps not, again.

I have no concrete solution or a to-go option for solving this. The only workaround I’ve found so far is to find a balance, a balance between living in the present and building a future. How do we find the balance? I might have a way.

I think doing what you love is how we should live. Multiple times I’ve met people who do things only because they have to do it, they do it as a profession. Yes, there are instances and circumstances that don’t allow for the freedom of choice, mostly economics. But that may not really be as huge a hindrance as you may have thought.

In this era of tech and the internet, everything is available online. I, myself, am built on the internet due to the internet. I am able to code, edit videos, send you these newsletters, build websites, and make some side income, all because of the internet. You can learn anything and everything here, and the best part? For free. Yes, it may take time to find the right resources to teach yourself, to find the right PDFs or the right videos, but it is here. You just have to look for it and use it. That is not very hard. It just takes dedication.

Back to the point, to find a balance, you should learn a skill you like and monetize it, maybe on Instagram, maybe on YouTube, or maybe offline. When you do what you love, you don’t really feel like you’re working or you’re sacrificing things only because you have to. You will feel like you’re doing the work you’re doing because you like doing it. Nobody would be forcing you, there would be no external force compelling you to not live in the moment.

When you do what you love, you like it, you be happy, and you live in the moment. This might help, maybe.

What do you think is the right thing to do? Should we live in the moment and enjoy and live life? Or should we hustle and build a future, a life for ourselves and our family? Let me know, maybe via the comment section.

Have you ever wondered why some people, despite having the same hours in the day as you, get so much more done? If you are into productivity, you might know the major reason of this to be the “Parkinson’s Law.” No, not the disease Parkinson’s, but the law. This term, “Parkinson’s Law”, was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955.

Parkinson’s law states “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

To explain this law is rather simple, but it’s implications are hugely impactful. As shown in the picture above, time and effort are inversely proportional. What that means is that when you put more effort in getting something done, it takes less time compared to if you did the same task with less effort. That is where Parkinson’s Law comes in.

Parkinson’s law is important for how you allocate your time for tasks, i.e., how many hours you give to each task that you have to do. For example, if I had to write an essay for my English class, I could allocate it like 1 hour. And if I allocated/decided to give 1 hour to writing that essay, it would take me no less than 1 hour. Why? Because I have the time and my brain knows that I have the time.

But if I wanted to be more productive, or get more done, I would want to spend less time doing the essay. Now that I know of Parkinson’s law, even if I gave it 30 minutes, I would get the essay written anyhow.

To take another example, let’s imagine that we have a project to due tomorrow and right now is only the morning. Being a fellow procrastinator that most of us are, we would not even start doing the project until later in the evening. Then when we’d realize we have no time, we would rush and get the project done anyhow before our school time.

What I mean to imply by this example is that when we have less time, we get the work done anyhow. So the trick here is to allocate less time to tasks in the first place. If you think that you would take 1 hour to do something, give it only 30 or 40 minutes. If you think you might take around 5 hours to study for an upcoming test, give yourself only 3 hours.

In the beginning, you might feel that it’s not working, but as you keep practicing your time management keeping Parkinson’s law in mind, you will save a lot of time in the long run and you will have become a lot more productive. Give it a try, let me know if it works.

If you read this article till here, thank you so much! I sincerely hope this was helpful.

It has been a while since I last wrote, almost 3 months now. These “almost 3 months” have been a good learning time. Even though I haven’t been writing articles or making videos on YouTube recently, I have become a part of a club, I have made friends, and I have also started reading fiction. So these 3 months weren’t entirely a waste. Before I forget, this article only has some of my random thoughts and some really important realizations that I’ve recently had.

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.

– David Allen

Time Management

Recently, making and managing my time has been a real struggle. From as much as I recall, I could make enough time to do everything that I wanted to do before these “3 months”, I had also started a podcast which remains a secret for now. But then all of a sudden I couldn’t make any time. Why was that? I have no idea. A major reason for why that changed, I think, was because I stopped using my task management system.

A task/time management system was one of the most important and impactful things that I have come across. My system consisted of 3 things: A to-do list, a calendar, and a note-taking app.

1. To-do list: As the above quote by one of the most productive persons of the century, David Allen, states, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” So noting things down is super important. Once you write it down somewhere, your brain doesn’t have to think about it. Whenever I have anything to do, I jot it in my to-do list app of choice at the very moment it comes to my mind. “What to write?” you ask. Well, it can be anything like calling a friend, writing an essay, visiting someone, or buying something, literally anything however big or small. Where to write it down? I prefer apps. I use Apple Reminder, but you can use “Google Tasks” or “Todoist”. I tried physical papers and diaries but the thing with those is you cannot carry them everywhere. Our digital devices like phones, however, are always on us. We bring them everywhere. So for me, it’s easier to write tasks down on my phone. If I don’t have my phone when I am in school, for example, I write it on my phone and update my to-do list app as soon as I can.
2. Calendar: After I have things on my to-do list, whenever I am home and I have a few minutes, I look at the list to see if there are things that should go on my calendar. What goes on my calendar? If I have anything that would take more than an hour or something that is to happen or to be done in the future, they go on my calendar. Things that don’t take much time never leave my reminders app. Which calendar do I use? Google Calendar because of its reminder customization options.
   Pro tip: When I come across someone’s birthday that I should remember, I put it in my calendar and make it recurring for every year.
3. Note-taking app: For the things that require more than a reminder, like planning something or writing about something, I use ‘Notion’ for that purpose. Notion is a free note-taking app that is more than just a note-taking app. You can literally organize your life around it. If you have been into the productivity world and have been watching YouTube, you must have seen many videos sponsored by them. Notion is sincerely amazing. If you don’t know what Notion is, watch this video: LINK. After you are convinced about using Notion, watch this playlist to learn more of the advanced things you can do with Notion, LINK.

This was a major thing I realized was the cause for why I hadn’t been making enough time: not noting things down. I realized when I wasn’t noting things down, I had to forcefully keep things in mind and I often forgot things. And since I wasn’t using my reminders app, things weren’t going up on my calendar and due to that, I didn’t have a proper estimate of how long things might take. This led to me wasting whatever empty slots I had in between tasks.

I want to write more than just this, but this article has already become long enough and you as well might have gotten bored. I hope not, but maybe. I am going to write a lot, also read a lot, but write too, not just think or learn, but also write and share. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. See ya again soon.

Whenever there’s a higher position or a reward associated, it seems obvious to choose the top performer. However, you need to watch out for spotlight rangers. I am pretty sure that if you’ve ever worked in a team or have led a team, you’ve had at least one person who’s a “spotlight ranger.”

The concept of a spotlight ranger comes from the US Army Ranger Schools. A “spotlight ranger” is slang for the rangers who don’t give a mission their best unless a high-ranking officer is looking over them. In other words, she or he performs only for the “spotlight.” And the concept of a spotlight ranger is not just limited to the army and the military, it is applicable to everything.

We often have teammates and colleagues that are great people when there’s a superior person present watching over their activities, and these spotlight rangers do great things when the spotlight is over them and they are being watched. But as soon as the superior officer (the spotlight), is gone, they are literal jerks.

If you want to create a great team, or if you want to hire great employees, you need to understand this concept. Because if someone is a spotlight ranger, they are not really team players. They do it only to be appreciated by the superior or to get the reward, while not really being a good person. I’ve had multiple encounters with spotlight rangers, and it’s fairly easy to spot a spotlight ranger when you are working with them as their colleague, but it’s really hard to spot one if you’re leading the team or if you’re a senior officer. But there is a solution to all of this: 360 Feedback.

After the US Army Ranger Schools detected this problem of spotlight rangers, they developed a three-layer selection system. With this system in place, to be promoted from a ranger to an army officer, the rangers would have to pass:

1. All the exams conducted
2. All the physical tests
3. A 360 feedback test

The first two basics, which is to say that they need to be good at being a ranger. The third test, however, didn’t check their ability to be a ranger, but to find out the team players. In the 360 feedback test, all rangers give feedback on every other ranger. This helps to find out whether someone is a team player or a spotlight ranger.

This same concept can be used while creating a team, rewarding winners, or hiring people. While how you implement this is entirely up to you, the consequences of not doing so can be disastrous and draining for a team.

And if you’re a team member, don’t be a spotlight ranger. If you aren’t really passionate about the job you do or the mission of the company/team, don’t do it. Do what you love!

If you’ve come this far in this article, thank you for reading. I really appreciate you doing so. If you may, please let me know that you read this article with a comment or like, or you can DM me. You might as well make my day.

Take care!

This probably is not a very interesting article, this is mostly a personal update on what I’ve been up to recently. So read this only if you have a few minutes to spare.

A lot of things have been going on recently. One of those things, definitely, is the fact that my board exam is approaching and I am not entirely sure how I am going to do in it. There are several lessons in Mathematics that I haven’t entirely understood. There are also 18 sets of questions that we have to submit in order to get our admit cards to take our board exams, and there is no way around it. There are also several assignments that I have to catch up with.

Despite all the pressure for the exam, the thing that has me engaged the most is not anything related to it, it’s something else. If you have read my previous articles, you probably already know that I have been in multiple things for most of my life.

When I was in grades 5, 6, and 7, I used to write. I have written over a dozen poems, poems about everything. I was so much into writing that I had written a short novel in grade 7, the summary of which was published in a national newspaper. I wrote a few poems in grade 8 as well, but then I stopped writing.

Then came grade 9, the year of photography. I had been the “Photographer Guy” ever since I was a kid for all the weddings and major family events, but I had never thought of pursuing it as a career. But then in grade 9, I don’t know how exactly but I got into photography. I think it started when during a club event I was handed a camera because there was no one else to photograph. I did like taking photos even before this, but I think that was the trigger point.

That was the trigger point for getting me to be serious about photography. I used to watch YouTube videos about photography the entire day and night. Even when I used to be in my washroom, I’d be watching videos about photography for how to set the perfect frame while taking a photo; about the rule of thirds, leading lines, golden hour, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, composition, colors, and so many things. I used to watch videos even when I’d be doing my assignments and having food, and even while I’d go to bed to sleep. I’d sleep watching videos about photography and in the morning I’d wake up with a dead phone. And then I got a long multiplug adapter to get my phone charger near my bed so that I could watch YouTube the whole night and my phone wouldn’t die.

My brother would get really annoyed when he would call me to talk to me but I’d tell him about how cool getting this camera or getting that camera would be. I almost had him buy a camera we couldn’t afford. At a point, I was even researching film schools I could go to. I still receive emails from Everest Film Academy, New York Film Academy and some other film schools that I had filled forms to receive regular updates.

Then came along grade 10, the corona and code year. I remained in Birgunj, the city where I studied till grade 10, for most of the COVID lockdown period. I couldn’t go out, so I started using my computer very much. It started with binge-watching movies and web series, but then I got bored of watching because there was nothing interesting left that I knew of. So I joined LinkedIn.

When I joined LinkedIn, after a few weeks, I saw a post that was shared by one of my connections. It was about volunteering at an INGO. I thought I should give it a try since I had nothing else to do. So I shoot a DM to a co-founder of the INGO telling her that I wanted to volunteer. I told her that I wasn’t yet sure how exactly I could contribute but that I want to do something.

I wasn’t expecting it, but the very next morning I receive a response from her asking when I was free to set up a meeting with her team. I said, “Today evening?” Then we set up a meeting, I try all the different angles in my room for the meeting so that I’d look good, and I change into the only formal cloth that I had, and then finally we have the meeting. I was super excited and motivated and scared and nervous all at the same time, but it went alright. After a week I join their team as an English teacher for a student in Honduras. I taught her for about 2 weeks and then I realized that I didn’t really want to teach, maybe because I was having to learn Spanish which I was really struggling with.

I then decided that I’d work on building their website. I didn’t know anything besides basic HTML till then. After I knew that I wanted to work on building their website, I started watching YouTube videos. I started watching hours-long tutorials on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, WordPress, and GoDaddy. I started using VS Code (a code editor software) to build web pages for the INGO. This time as well, I would watch YouTube videos for hours and hours, similar to how I used to watch about photography.

And then I got into freelancing. If you don’t know, a freelancer is someone who is self-employed and works with clients on a project or task basis and doesn’t have a fixed employer. By then I knew how to build a simple but good enough website using both HTML, CSS, JS, and GoDaddy. So I monetized that skill. I made about $17 (about 2,000 NPR) doing that. It’s less, but it was the first money I made.

And then, I gave up on freelancing. Freelancing, at least when I started as a newbie to the industry, was very demanding. I would have to reach out to potential clients and keep applying for projects on UpWork and Freelancer and rarely get any clients. And even when I used to get any clients, they had no idea what exactly they wanted for me to build and I’d have to make countless nights. I was irritated and tired. So I stopped freelancing.

Then my brother recommended me CS50, a free computer science course offered by Harvard University. So I did some research and dived right in. Professor David Malan who teaches the course was amazing. I started watching all the lectures and doing all the problem set assignments and submitting them. I used to study till late at night and the whole day and not cook healthy because it was time-consuming. But my PC couldn’t keep up. It had only 2 GB of RAM and the lag in everything I did was really bad. So I couldn’t finish CS50.

And then I started learning how to build websites on my phone. And then I had to choose between getting a laptop and a camera, I choose getting a laptop because I really needed one for my online classes and to code, photography wasn’t really a priority at the time. And fast forward, I built a few websites, one of them you’re on right now.

Basically, a lot of things happened and everything that I ever got interested in, I got addicted to. I’d learn about every new interest all day long. Fast forward to grade 11, I started getting interested in, learning about and doing other things as well, but I was in control.

But now that my exams are close, I am getting back to being how I used to be. I am getting back into photography and filmmaking. Maybe the trigger this time was a video I shot with the team that I am a part of in school. We shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV which is like a revolutionary camera in the photography industry.

This happens to me every single time. When I get interested in something, I get so much into it that I often skip taking care of important things to learn about it. The upside of that, however, is that I learn soooooo many things, so many things that I wouldn’t have learned or known about if it weren’t for this addiction or this obsession of mine.

But now that my exams are close, I’m trying to focus. I must. I will.

The entire point of this article was to just write, to write about everything I have been thinking about these couple of days. I just wanted to in a way journal and braindump at the same time. This article got a little too long, but alright.

Anyways, if you read this super long article, thank you! Know that I truly appreciate you for doing this. If you may, let me know that you read it so far. It’d mean a lot.

I hope you have a great day/evening/night.

See ya!