If we believe we can impact our outcomes, does that mean that Happiness is a decision? Some thing to think about. Happiness is not dependent on external circumstances. There are people in extreme poverty or with serious health conditions that still experience happiness. On the other hand, we all know that money or fame doesn't equal happiness, it more times than not results in depression. To me its about reaction and our ability to control our reactions. No matter what our circumstances are, we always have the choice to decide how we want to react – whether we want to focus on what we have, or on that what we do not have. Take the test, do you make your happiness dependent on external circumstances? you postpone it to the future and make it conditional upon things your may or may not control.? When I fit in to that outfit? When I loose 10lbs ? When I make a Million dollars? When my life is XYZ? are all cop-outs. If your are in that boat, see the video below but first see where we stand on a global listing on the subject here and work to bring happiness as an outcome and choose happiness.

Outcomes

Can you really plan for better outcomes at any age? I asked a diverse group of friends, colleagues, associates and online poll takers. The general sense is, if you try hard enough and plan long enough you can literally "will" the outcome you want, given you invest enough time in it. But the key post-poll question that came from people was, "are you defining better outcomes as more money or better health, or freedom of choice?" etc. I guess outcomes mean different things to different people. We wont get into solving the philosophical end of that simple question, but analyse how, if there is a way or a framework to look at anchors in todays world to have better outcomes in the future.

Ever since I found out about "The Varian Rule" (attributed to Google's chief economist Hal Varian) which holds that "A simple way to forecast the future is to look at what rich people have today; middle-income people will have something equivalent in 10 years, and poor people will have it in an additional decade." has fundamentally re-wired my mental model for outcomes.

The “Varian Rule” also gives you insights into the recent 85M$ Airlift raise, how you ask? Along with the technorati, middle income people will summon a lot more of their goods and services online in the future, and have them show up on the doorstep. Scale economies and online efficiencies will combine to keep driving prices down within this business model and entrepreneurs will soon realise that the middle class is a huge market so tailor offerings toward it. In Airlifts case and many others they are banking on this.(I am not debating the unit economics and their path to profitability-instead using them as an example of predicting outcomes).

The twin forces of automation and globalisation are just too powerful for the average gig-worker and will continue to put pressure on those who try to make a living from the gig economy alone. In our markets in a race to eyeballs and LTV, the gig workers may benefit short term, at-least till the VC bloodbath is over.

Food for thought, the ultra rich, typically do not use social media today? So 10 Years out, if we were planning our own outcomes at work, in life, in business etc, what we bet on for the middle class, how and what would we building?

Look around you and try to model the rich and their behaviour around you and see where you arrive 10 years out in your mental model. Does it look like a good place to be?

There are 2 sides to this coin, are we using tech to create a servant mindset/economy, where the dis-advantaged wait on the rich? Or instead are we building tech, that can offer much better convenience and services to the masses.

Depends where you are and what your vantage point is. Hals original article from 2011 here.

One New Thing

Karachis rich and diverse past continues to delight and amaze me.

Jamshed Nusserwanji Rustomji Mehta was born on January 7, 1886, in a well-off Parsi family in Karachi. The city’s first elected mayor and philanthropist – his developmental contributions earned him the title of ‘Maker of Modern Karachi’.

In 1918, Mehta was elected a councillor of the Karachi Municipal Corporation. In 1922, he was elected president of the Karachi Municipality, an office which he occupied till October 1932. He served in that capacity for 12 years. Under his guidance, a small and unimportant city turned into a well-planned metropolis and the cleanest city in the East. During his tenure, the streets of the city were washed twice a day.

Its broad streets, lights, sanitation and water system, shady trees, parks, libraries, hospitals, schools, maternity homes, veterinary homes, transport system water troughs for animals, welfare centres for the sick, the delinquent, the deaf and mute, the abandoned and even for animals spoke of the city’s progress. The proper supply of clean drinking water to Karachi began during Jamshed's period in office.

People were fortunate to have leaders who thought of the future and did in the present things that resulted in outcomes that are recorded in history.

So this one new thing that all constituents of Karachi want, need, require to grow and prosper was some thing we already had, time to think about how we act today to make sure, X yrs from now no ones still quoting the progress we had in the 1920s compared to the present day.

Boring stuff that scales

When I eat, We all eat.

Derived from the saying "we eatin'", We all eat is the act of taking care of each other and promoting the general best in your group and/or family.

1. "Thanks for giving me your last piece of gum!"

"No problem, we all eat"

2. "Wow, you really went out of your way to show you care"

"Of course, we all eat"

Helping others, scales brilliantly. How can you get into this mental head space of helping people? By asking about dreams and conversations that one would have when those dreams or outcomes are full-filled.

To new founders, partners, friends I have mindfully started asking, what do you think you'll be doing when you realise your dream? The first question is to ask is typically to identify the dream. It's better than asking what you will do when you have a million dollars. Instead I ask if you had freedom to do any thing with your time what would you be doing?

Asking this, helps people think about the end state and visualise the outcomes.

So I asked a friend who was miserable the last few weeks, what was going on. They said, they wish they could help their aunt & uncle by giving him 150k a month as their own adult kids have really abandoned them.

I asked him what was gating him from doing that, he said he didn't have 150k a month to do this regularly. I said what do you get out of this? He said I can visualise how at peace this older couple would be. I asked why them,? He said when he was younger, they both shielded him from a short tempered father & he wish he could do some thing.

I encouraged him to send what ever had now vs getting to a future state of his and their happiness by de-coupling the self made number from the act. I met him this morning. He said, he sent them 47k which he could spare. Both of them called crying saying this saves us from figuring out how to pay bills and persuading our children to help.

Helping people get past their own pre conceived notions is boring but it scales wonderfully. Stop encouraging your kids from having million dollar retirements and big mansions as visions, instead talk to them, speak about what makes them happy, helping them achieve those dreams and the conversations and the life that follows.

This applies to business, startups, founders, friends, peers, employers, employees all, equally. When I eat, We all eat.

You heard(read) it here first

Amazon is opening a Walmart. The more things change the more they stay the same. So we went from convenience, fast shipping, freedom of time, reclaiming your life, reducing waste, to building an online only world, then building the computational infrastructure to support its growth(AWS) to then use all that data, machine learning and customer heuristics to actually go back and open stores.

All is not as it seems. Consider this:

First they set out to kill retail stores by becoming super efficient (designing their outcomes) with regards to their supply chain, now they just gotta go out there and bring back retail stores again, once said stores are dead and being the best at it.(Future proofing, The Varian Rule any one?)

What you didn't know is their deal with SpartanNash. Who? SpartanNash, the US's fifth-largest food distributor has been providing groceries to Amazon to support its grocery online delivery since 2016. It supplies approximately 2,100 independents, as well as some national chains.

Under the warrant agreement, Amazon secured the rights to acquire up to 5.44 million shares of SpartanNash for $17.73 per share through Oct. 7, 2027, or an investment of $96.4 million if fully exercised, according to a SpartanNash regulatory filing. The more things change....

What you should be reading

Money could be better used earlier in life thats the authors claim. He says if you are 20 yrs apart from your parents and people live to be 80(in his demographic) you get inheritance in your 60s. Life's moved on by then.For most people, 60 isn't when that money would make the most impact. The average net worth in this age group, in households headed by someone aged 55 to 64, is over $1 million. People in this age group have already likely planned for retirement on their own, sent children to college, and even paid off a mortgage.

Perkins cites the example of one woman who struggled for years financially while raising her own children, only to receive an inheritance at 49 once her mother died. In an interview with one of Perkins' colleagues, this woman said, "It would have been more valuable a lot earlier."

A common-sense guide to living rich . . . instead of dying rich is the core of this book.

The most captivating thought was:

Imagine if by the time you died, you did everything you were told to. You worked hard, saved your money, and looked forward to financial freedom when you retired.

The only thing you wasted along the way was . . . your life.

Incredible insights on not wasting your life.

Monetise your time (by)

Exploring and listening to things outside of your comfort zone. My top 5 Recommendations this week:

Riches in the Niches Investor Podcast

A Podcast for Investors from Richard Sosa. This show covers investment opportunities in markets that are relatively unknown to the average investor. Through in-depth conversations, we learn how money managers, company executives and other leaders build an edge one niche at a time.

Brought to you by

Surprising stories about how the biggest, household name brands affect our lives and culture — for better or worse. Host Charlie Herman finds tales of tragedy, love, strange histories, unintended consequences, and accidental success

How I built this

Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.

Sinica Podcast

A weekly discussion of current affairs in China with journalists, writers, academics, policy makers, business people and anyone with something compelling to say about the country that's reshaping the world.

The Secret Sauce

How do certain companies succeed where others have failed? What’s their “secret sauce”...and how can we get our hands on their recipes.

Made in Pakistan

Lots of things are made in Pakistan. Growing up Rafhans custard was a staple. I wondered about (Rafhans) origin story. This is what I know so far.

Rafhan Maize Products Co. Ltd. started its operations in 1952 as a pioneer maize processing industry in Pakistan.

Hajji Muhammad Shafi (Late) was the founder of the company. Hajji Muhammad Shafi was an innovative person. He derived the company name (Rafhan) very tactfully from his three sons.

The names of his sons are:

Muhammad

Rafi

Muhammad

Hanif 

Muhammad

Nisar

RAFHAN. Sound Legit.

I have no way of validating this but it sounds like a pretty interesting story. An other thing I was able to piece together ala Google was their timeline of significant events.

• 1952 company started operation as the first major corn processor in the country.

• 1962 Rafhan became affiliated with CPC International. CPC acquired 51%equity.

• 1963 corn oil refinery commissioned.

• 1976 consumer marketing division formed.

• 1985 started using Rafhan as umbrella a brand for consumer products.

• 1987 Rafhan listed as pubic limited company with 18.5% of equity sold to public. CPC continued to retain 51%equity.

• 1990 purchased land for new consumer factory.

• 1991 set up independent consumer food division.

• 1992 lunch of first core brand products, Knorr bouillon cubes and bag soups.

• 1992 inauguration of Perna plant.

• 1998 independent consumer products company under new name Rafhan Bestfoods LTD.

• 1999 purchase of Glaxose D business.

• 2000 take over by lever brothers LTD.

Sounds about right based on Unilever's buyout of BestFoods Globally.

One Last Thing

Some thing to think about. Public Service for all.