When You Know, You Know. I had a teacher in O'levels. Mrs. Naumani, she taught English Literature. There was once a parent teacher meeting and she said some thing to my father, whilst I was sitting there that has stayed with me 2+ decades later. "His handwriting is not decipherable but I like the parts I can read, I am sure he will do what ever he has to do irrespective of what any one else thinks or does, just don't expect him to be like other kids or even your other children". The message, embrace your own diversity and difference. Too many times, people mistake quirks and differences for flaws. Agonising over an aspect of your looks, personality, ability, or habits isn't always the best idea. Learn to understand and love your whole self, and start embracing what I think we should call "personal diversity". The confidence that remark gave me is still with me. I was blessed with some of the best most sincere teachers and mentors. Everyone on earth has imperfections, but sometimes this is extremely hard to accept. No matter how many compliments, achievements and good decisions you accumulate, there are probably moments when all you can see is your very worst traits. My advice, "Don't do that to your self" and secondly, leave any situation where your mentors are not helping you be a better version of your self by first accepting your current version(s).

Outcomes

No one knows them, but we all pretend to be experts at them any way.

I was going through some old digital documents with my kids a few weeks ago. Found a file titled com435. Likely a communication course I took at university. This was 20+ yrs ago. Don't even recall the context but the one thing that was clear to me was as follows:

Your outcomes are part luck, part hard work and mostly being consistent in the outlook you set for your self. I will let you judge what bold predictions I was making as a teenager, in the US away from home(excerpts below as some of the stuff in the full doc were just boring).The only thing I want to leave you with is that when you are deliberate in your desires and committed in your actions you will consistently embrace your flaws for the outcomes you want for your selves vs the ones you wish you had.

Stop wishing. Start being Deliberate.

One New Thing

One of my favourite quotes goes some thing like this "The grass is always greener on the other side because it's fertilised with bullshit of others". Not some thing very newsletter like to say, but hear me out. Dozens of young adults are applying to foreign universities, the pandemic is not making things easy at all add to that the stress of travel and the future is pretty bleak. Compounded be insane parents with insane expectations. (Current Newsletter Audience based on feedback, has dozens of High School students). The one new thing you didn't know or likely don't know is a personal story, that should give you hope.

I was an aspiring kid wanting to go to the US, lo and behold I was sent to Islamabad with an uncle, who happened to be going in that direction any way so that I could go to the US Embassy and get a Visa with adult supervision.

Simple enough till you know the cover story only. My O'levels grades were hmmm lets say less than desirable, 7Cs 2Bs and Perhaps a D. Not sure, but clearly not your A* Category. Add to the mix I had applied and gotten an admission to Purdue University on the basis of my 12th grade, with no intention of taking my A'levels or completing them after the stellar O'level performance. To this date I hate rote learning and blame it for that exam performance. (Different post)

So I go in, interviewer, let's call her X, she looks at the usual stuff, I had the School Transcripts, Admission Letter, Proof of funds all other items including a valid passport and luckily enough an older brother at that very university. She looked at my grades, "that was the first time in my life I felt, what being judged meant", she dipped into a bowl in front of her and gave me 2 cards. One had LUMS written on it with a phone number and the other similar with GIK. She spoke to me through the glass and said "Mr Siddiqi, I think you best stay here and save your parents some money".

For reference, Niel Armstrong went to Purdue. Its been years but I do remember what she said after this, " the school you are going to is not of repute". I was dumb founded. Maybe the first shock was making me hear things. Either way, passport returned and boom. I was trekking out of the Embassy.

Then I realised, "she has no right to tell me this", there must be a way. So I asked an other helpful person if there was a way to appeal the decision. They looked at me with "pity" said yes, you can take a token, redo the application and reapply as early as tomorrow.

Got an other application form, re filled it, there was matter of the fee, I don't know (remember) how that was paid or by whom. No less I was back the next day. Contrary to popular advice. Besides my parents who said do what you must.

Day 2: I could see lady X (again) but thankfully assigned to Mr. Y. Friendly mid-westerner, we spoke about the weather and Niel Armstrong, he looked at the items from the day prior, whilst I was droning about being told that I should stay in PK and that Purdue wasn't good enough, before I could get any more stupid, he said, "son, come back at 4pm, we will have you sorted". "You want to study, go for it, but its not about grades really, its about showing up, you showed up here today cuz you wanted this, thats all right by me"

Again this is what I THINK happened as memories from that long arent perfect, I can barely recall what I had for breakfast today. But what I know for sure is that had I accepted the bullshit view, given by every adult that "NO ONE ever gets an appeal" etc or "Stay back , Our Universities are great too" "Its not the end of the world". Not denying we have great schools. They weren't for me. Probably couldn't even get accepted today. But if you let other peoples bullshit set your world view, you are only going to be like them. Be who you are, fight for your cause, don't be stupid about it, but the hardest thing to do is not to give up especially when the bullshit is at all time high. Every day in this country, our countrymen and women alike force the view of their fertilised grass on to others, irrespective of the need. Steer clear. Grow you own grass, fertilise it with your own world view.

Boring stuff that scales

Unplugging and No-Multitasking.

So I Read a Tweet that made me get serious about this concept. Welcome to BufferBloating:

The only way your outcomes scale in todays world if you can manage this "state of buffering". When you take pictures before you have food, when you post vacation pictures whilst on vacation, when you reply to every work item after 6( guilty as charged on this one) you are a victim of bufferbloat or when you are sitting around people and replying to different people not present there.

Too much stuff going on, too many connections, too many responses, too many things happening will be the death of us. If you can un-task, de prioritise and win your pre-buffered life back you will win at scaling. Scale is mis-understood to be doing lots , most of the time, Its not.Sounds boring but this is where we need disruption, be it analogue or digital. The reason being we got ahead of our selves, the internet has ruined the same things it has given us control over, but then taken that control back by adding to our "to do list". Kill your to-do lists and go off line.

How the Brain Works

The cerebral cortex handles the brain's "executive controls." Those controls, divided into two stages, organize the brain's tasks processing.The first is goal shifting. This happens when you switch your focus from one task to another.

The second stage is rule activation. This turns off the rules (how the brain completes a given task) for the previous task and turns on the rules for the new task.

So, when you think you are multitasking you are actually switching your goals and turning the respective rules on and off in rapid succession. The switches are fast (tenths of a second) so you may not notice them, but those delays and the loss of focus can add up.

Adams, Chris. "Can People Really Multitask?" ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/can-people-really-multitask-1206398.

To Scale you must pay the premium price to not be in a rush to multi-task. Unlearn the skill because it doesn't really even exist you are just switching gears and getting worse at your cognitive outcomes every day.

How Multitasking Depletes the Brain's Resources — And How You Can Restore Concentration, With Daniel Levitin - Big Think — bigthink.com

Multitasking is a myth, says McGill University Psychology Professor Daniel Levitin. Switching focus across tasks comes at a neurological cost, depleting chemicals we need to concentrate.

You (likely)heard(saw) it here first

I continue to dis-agree with Bhuttos Nationalisation. But most of us were either not born or too young to understand what happened but some times its good to develop your own view. Many moons ago I wrote a blog post on NERO(NERO – Nationalization and Economic Reforms Order (1st Jan 1972) to NRO. If you want to hear Bhuttos Nationalisation Speech First hand go here. The reason for sharing this is our present day budget, what has really changed with all the government intervention or the lack of it? Also where are we really where are we headed. The equaliser is going to be tech, only if the babus in govt and the politicians that have to rely on them are managed in time. Else they will do, to this tech-opportunity what they did to industries. Put in competent people at the helm.

PAKISTAN ORDERS NATIONALIZATION OF 10 INDUSTRIES - The New York Times — www.nytimes.com

Pakistan Press Bhutto nationalizes oil refineries but leaves untouched Brit‐owned Attock Petroleum Co, only oil producing co in nation

What you should(n't) be reading & why(not)

News is bad for your health. It leads to fear and aggression and hinders your creativity and ability to think deeply. The solution? Stop consuming it altogether.

News misleads. Take the following event (borrowed from Nassim Taleb). A car drives over a bridge, and the bridge collapses. What does the news media focus on? The car. The person in the car. Where he came from. Where he planned to go. How he experienced the crash (if he survived). But that is all irrelevant. What's relevant? The structural stability of the bridge. That's the underlying risk that has been lurking, and could lurk in other bridges. But the car is flashy, it's dramatic, it's a person (non-abstract), and it's news that's cheap to produce. News leads us to walk around with the completely wrong risk map in our heads.

https://www.wired.com/2010/05/ff-nicholas-carr/

https://highexistence.com/why-you-should-avoid-the-news/

As some one who has built and run some super complex and high engagement delivery mechanisms for news distribution, trust me when I tell you, the technology of engagement was exciting but the long term outcomes of how we are consuming news is clearly some thing you should re-evaluate for your self. Do a 30 day no-news diet on the web. I assure you, you may even loose some lbs as your stress levels will be lower. So how about it? no news for loosing some lbs (This is clearly not scientific).

News Company Ownership InfoGraphic Link

Monetise your time(One Way ticket to PK)

Stop asking people what it costs to move back to Pakistan. This is costing you time and money. If you are serious, you'd already be here, if you are still considering it, I have a gift for you. Some time ago I built a basic cost of re-location calculator and wrote a detailed blog post. Its dated a few years I'd say add 15-20% to the numbers and you will have a fair idea, if moving to Pakistan will allow you to monetise your time for better or for worse.

We have heard of Wapistani, TechBhais, just don't be a X$RupeesMianKiaHota hay dude. Ffing, figure out where and what you want to be, there is no one waiting to give you work, start you a company or hand over their empire to you cuz you lived out West or East. Trust me, we have more of you than we need and most are likely less moronic in their line of questioning. Own your outcome by not sitting on the fence with your entire family, either waiting for tragic news to come from Pakistan or for your own Easter/Western outcomes to become tragic. Move before you need to, or have to. Move whilst you can touch your knees and you can lift your kids in your arms, any thing else is too late if you are still debating the merits.

Made in Pakistan

The Sagar Veena is a Pakistani plucked string instrument. Similar to the Carnatic Gottuvadhyam (Chitra Vina) and Vichitra veena, it has no frets and is played with a slide. Developed in 1970 by prominent Pakistani lawyer Raza Kazim, it has evolved from Vichitra veena in both structure and sound. Up until today, Kazim's daughter Noor Zehra is the only player of the Sagar since its inception. More than seventeen Sagar Veena's have been made since its inception, with each later version different in variation and advancement. The sagar veena is being developed, studied, and researched at the Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts in Lahore. The sagar veena was strummed by Zehra in the ninth season of Coke Studio, during an original track performed by her sons Ali Hamza and Ali Noor

One Last thing

Imagine a world where every one who wanted to communicate with you using voice notes could click, drag, organise and order each voice note and forward them to you like they send pictures and msgs, but as a tracked managed, project activity.

We are missing out on an opportunity whereby with the prevalence of Smartphones, but lack of education and the ability to read and write we can not train or re train people to organise information and data.

The cure to this issue is, voice based project management or task management. People can still use logic to organise blocks of audio info as part of a task or groups of tasks and still be able to use their smart phones, but the kicker, tracking, audit, traceability, timelines without inputting and building visual gantt charts or knowing how to type.

Voice is the new growth vector in frontier markets that want to enable the rest of their population to jump on to the productivity bandwagon but really cant. Imagine the countless hours wasted in listening to un structured voice messages especially if the are project driven.

Want to take it to the next level, some one builds and audio based project tracker with Voice to Text as service to translate the audio Project Management to a visual one. Build it and there will be an immense value creation and unlocking happening in our domestic market alone. This has less to do with machine learning and AI and more to create an app that allows people to categorise and roll out and use voice msgs they are already creating and use them more effectively.