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Hi Reader,
This is my weekly edition of the "Making Of A Book" series. I send out another newsletter with top curated reads and stories every Thursday. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, subscribe to the other newsletter, or fully unsubscribe, you can do it all here. :) Were you forwarded this newsletter by an awesome friend? Yay! You can sign up to get your own here. |
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Happy Monday :)
I spent 15+ hours last week in interviews and synthesizing notes from the interviews.
π I want to express my gratitude to the following 12 people who took time to let me interview them: Sudeepa, Harshita, Lokesh, Hruthik, Shreyash, Rishi, Sreekaran, Pramit, Chuck, Surbhi, Rishi U., and Amrit.
You let me go from the bubble I was in out into the real world by sharing your experiences. Thank you.
This is only the beginning, and I hope to continue spending more time interviewing the upcoming weeks.
In this newsletter, I wanted to share the highlights from the interviews, a note on "wasting my time", and my path forward.
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Project: Balance is about taking you from autopilot to awareness to agency, and building a life of intention across three major areas: your personal growth, your relationships, and your contribution to the world. The book helps you do this by first uncovering the hidden forces (personal, cultural, societal) that influence your attention, giving you the tools to choose between balance and imbalance, and helping you externalize your goals and build systems to live a life of joy.
π‘ Want to read the past editions of this newsletter? Check it all out here!
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Before diving into the results, below is a brief note on demographics.
Demography: 8/12 people I interviewed were <= 25 years of age, and all 12 were <= 30 years of age. 9/12 live in India, the rest in the U.S. All were Indians by origin. |
(1) Everyone had their own definition for what a balanced life looks like. But I noticed a few themes in the responses:
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(2) Only 2 out of the 12 people I interviewed said Yes to the question, "Would you say your life is currently balanced according to your description of a balanced life?" However, a majority of the other 10 mentioned that their life is intentionally imbalanced, that they're prioritizing one area over another temporarily to reach a bigger goal in life.
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(3) Interestingly, when I asked the question, "When was the last time your life was completely out of balance?", at least 50%+ mentioned it was the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic began. Although the reasons were different -- for one person it was struggles in personal relationship, for another it was focusing on just work, for yet another it was changing jobs -- there's a theme there. The pandemic dissolved boundaries between work and life, throwing balance into question.
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Having too much time on your hands is a problem.
As you probably know, I quit my job ~6 months ago. Although I felt like I really quit only when the second cohort of my course ended in Feb 2022. The week after my course ended, I had a mostly empty calendar... and it was overwhelming.
So hearing at least 50%+ of the interviewees say a version of the following hit home for me:
"I feel I have too much time on my hands right now, since quitting my job. I've been spending it on social media and other attention-draining activities. I'm not happy with it, and feel very unproductive."
"It's not that I don't have time. Rather, I lack focus and motivation. When I sit down to do what I planned, I begin thinking about all the things I need to be doing. And later regret how I spent my time."
If that resonates with you, I wanted to share my 2 cents. The next time you feel like, Damn, I just wasted my time, see if the following helps:
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Some of you who I interviewed asked me, "So, what's the deal with this book? What's the end goal?"
To quote E.L. Doctorow, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
That's how I'm thinking about this book. :)
As of now, I'm clear of the next 10 ft that I can see with my headlights. They are:
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I hope that gives you a glimpse into the path forward, Reader.
If you're finding this newsletter series useful (or fun), it would mean a lot if you invite a few friends to join in. Just forward them this email so they can sign up. :)
One thing's for sure. Whether you know it or not, you're keeping me accountable by being part of this newsletter.
Thank you so much for that.
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Yours truly,
Soundarya Balasubramani π
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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
β Lao Tzu.
Below is my version of the 12 steps an author walks to publish a book (and where I am currently).
My current goal is to reach the Publishing stage in the journey within a year.
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Make someone's day π«If you think reading this email will put a smile on your friend's face, please forward it to them! It would mean a lot :) |
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Have a question? π€Hit reply with your question. I might pick yours and feature it in a future newsletter with my response. :) |
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Join 10,000+ immigrants who get a careful curation of breaking news, free webinar invites & latest trends on immigration every week. (<5 min/week)
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