Pareen's Blog

I believe all humans are fundamentally good. They do shitty things mostly out of their own ignorance, ego or their past experiences.

Hitler has become the mascot or pinnacle of shittiest things humans can do. So let me go with the flow and ask, if Hitler was left in a jungle or handed to a tribe in Brazilian rainforest after his birth, would he have caused a holocaust? Much less likely.

Like the world is always in balance, all human beings are fundamentally good. If I can’t understand why someone is being mean or an asshole, I would rather think what caused this instead of ‘this person is an asshole’.

These two realisations lay a lot of responsibility on me as an individual, but they are equally liberating from being stuck as a blamer or pointing at the wrong thing when all I can do is control and improve myself.

I live in a hippie place. I am a minimalist. I work with people in the startup sector. This contrast gives me a unique perspective of two extremes.

My friends in Bangalore are trying to find the psychological impact of Instagram reels and every Twitter feature while my hippie community is trying to quit social media altogether. “I don’t want to consume more information,” said someone I know when I recommended watching something amazing on Netflix.

While there is a possibility of startuppers being anxious and lost all the time, there is a real phenomenon where those who prefer a simple lifestyle are losing their capability to comprehend complexity.

I understand choosing the simple life. But in that bargain, are you losing your mental muscles that are designed to read Taleb, Borges and understand where the world is heading?

If you’re living a simple life but are rendering yourself incapable to comprehend complexity, minimalism / simplicity is just an excuse to escape the complexity because you couldn’t handle it.

For example, my friend who doesn’t want to “consume” this information doesn’t have the capacity to process such vast amounts of concepts, data and ideas. I think she has lost those muscles. This is visible to anyone who has spent enough time with her.

My balance is where I can delve into complex ideas, frameworks and data while living a minimalistic lifestyle.

Very rarely do I meet someone who has the capacity to process complexity and yet chooses to live a simple life. I love those people.

Related: ‘I am bad with technology’ people

Related: Opting out of technology is not possible

I’ve lived in different worlds and met people who have polar opposite lifestyles, beliefs, and thoughts than me. It is interesting and there is so much I learn from everyone.

But when working with someone, you need to have a common foundation to build on.

Here are some things that are non-negotiable for me. You may have a similar list. This helps us find if there is some kind of overlap. These things seem trivial to discuss when there is a good working opportunity to be grabbed. But this also decides the culture and strength of the company/project that we’re building:

• Open to change. If you can’t change your mind about something, we cannot work together
• Humility is essential. If you are always competing with
• Integrity is non-negotiable. Lie once and we are done
• Ideas are nothing, execution is everything
• Courage: Should have the courage to own mistakes and also tell it how it is
  • Corollary: Contradictions in words, thoughts and actions need to be pointed out. Goes back to courage + openness to change
• Materialism has a floor and a ceiling, after which marginal change in happiness is insignificant
• Skin in the game is necessary
• Priorities change, never leave anyone hanging
• Value our words. Without this, we cannot have any trust in the relationship
• Accept mistakes. If you never accept mistakes, you are either Buddha or too egoistic to accept them
• Anything that is not explicit is not on the table. Things can be made explicit during the journey
• Think in terms of 20 years, not 1-2 years
• Respect each other’s experience but also know its limitations
• Freedom to fight. There should be freedom to disagree and change course accordingly
• Numbers rule
• I do not trust anyone who says “I am not doing this for money” and still wants to work on a for-profit project
• Most important: We are all here to learn. Changing the world does not happen if you do not embody that change
• Priority pyramid

Content you should read

Everyone’s work ethic and philosophies are shaped by the content we consume. Here are some landmark content that has shaped my thinking:

• Naval’s tweets on money, lifestyle, and broader thinking (of course)
• Hard things about Hard things
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• 4 hour workweek
• My experiments with truth
• The Bitcoin Standard
• Sapiens

People I religiously follow:

• Conor White-Sullivan
• Visakanv
• Nick Cammarata
• Freya
• Richard Bartlett
• Austen Alfred

I know of people who need the latest iPhone even when they live on rent. This is a stark example but I’ve seen people in Arambol needing beer when they cannot buy decent avocados.

That is wrong. The way I was brought up:

• Food first. My parents would let me spend any amount of money on food.
  • Food does not include junk, packed, supermarket food
• Shelter. It is hip to say its cheaper to rent than buy. But my parents always taught me, and I can see why their paper net worth may decline but their peace of mind is kept by the fact that they own a home. Not very prudent as per finance gurus, but it works well in uncertainty.
• Learning: Spend as much money as needed on education, courses, tutors, anything that makes you a better person.
• Tools: Get the best tools for your job. Do not compromise on that. But then use your tools like a craftsman. In India, we have a day where people worship their tools. This is important because you know this is the source of your growth. They may be inanimate things but I absolutely take care of my laptop like it is my mate. It is a source of immense integrity, focus, and craftsmanship.
• Materialistic comfort: This is the fourth thing. I still don’t own a car. I have enough material comforts but I would love to get rid of them one by one. This stage comes when you have “moodi” (in Gujarati) or “capital” to find it.
• Travel: This is one thing my parents were unaware about. In my mind, once you have a decent amount of capital working for you, travel is the biggest mind-opener. By travel, I don’t mean tourism. Slow travel is what I prefer. But each person is different.
• Lifestyle upgrade: This is when your capital is growing. For example, my Dad has enough capital to live an upper-middle-class lifestyle and enough income to not worry about most things people in India are worried about. But he doesn’t upgrade his lifestyle unless he knows he has enough capital that is making enough money to 1. Grow the capital. 2. Spend some extra. Capital must keep growing. If your capital is growing at 8-15% in a country like India in 2020, you’re losing your wealth.
  • I could write a book on it but just to be clear. Having a few million dollars in my bank would not make me change my lifestyle. I will still travel by trains and not buy a car. A million of capital is not much in this time.

The priority pyramid needs to be in our DNA. Every time we see an Ad or a discount or another shiny new thing, we need to know our “aukaat” or “stature”.

The world may think I’m rich because I have the latest phone or I wear an expensive watch, but my financial decisions are not to impress anyone in this world. They’re to make my family grow over centuries.

What is idealism?

It is just ignorance of a part of reality.

I used to be an idealist. But I’m not anymore because anyone who understands idealism knows that is it is delusional.

However, it is often thought that idealists want to make the world better and realists (not getting into pessimism right now) want to keep the status quo. That is so wrong.

I am a realist who believes in utopia and is working towards it. Get that.