If you want great relationships with your spouse/family/kids/co-workers/society at large later… …you have to make regular deposits today and in the now...

There’s a real danger to take pride in how great we are at providing for our family financially or our friends socially, this is an unfair guide.

A justification for our narcissism or self deceit. Beyond a very low threshold those close to you don’t care how big your house is, how fancy your car is, or how much you have in the bank (even if it’s for them).

Kids especially over index on how you make them feel. Make them feel wanted. We can all get carried away especially if we grew up middle class ourselves. Where we want to change our outcomes, know this, outcomes aren't about money but about time well spent. Disproportionally spend time where it matters.

Outcomes

Don't let your outcomes get impacted in one area by your interactions in an other one. Watch the video for context. The Cat being irritated by the human(wrong goal alignment), retaliates in its engaged with the other cat, one of its own. This is what happens when we cant draw boundaries and we let things, good bad or ugly, spill over and take control of our outcomes. Don't let any thing else impact your outcome besides your plan, desire, action around it. Focus on action.

It's a common belief that to be successful or fulfilled, we need goals. But do we?

To achieve them, we've been told we should visualise, plan our steps there and attach deadlines and incentives. Work hard, even if you hate the work. And never stray from the path. This is what results in the outcomes the cat is having above.

We get so emotionally attached to a goal that we’re setting ourselves up for failure and disappointment.

It’s true that decades of research show that goals can get you to work harder, focus more and perform better. But they also can kill your creativity, make you more likely to cheat, and less likely to thrive. 

This disconnect show up every day in what people want versus what they strive for. Look at your calendar today, do your meetings reflect your short term goals? If more than half of them are useless, be honest with your self.

Most people say their main goal in life is to be happy. But while research has shown that happiness results from simple things like expressing gratitude vs buying big houses, or by prioritising family over career, our ambitions often focus on the latter. We over index and prioritise career over family, in the end only to regret it. For great outcomes, set the right objectives in life.

One New Thing

Optimising for Sustainability vs Vanity or Missed time. What do I mean? In my 30s I saw most people around me started getting into health regimens, running marathons, entering contests, doing insane workouts, perhaps driven by Instagram or body issues, but one thing was clear as they got in their 40s and some in their 50s especially those who started in their 30s for the first time, they were seriously breaking down. Worse than their peer groups who didn't do much.

All those who trained like crazy, got injured, got fat later in life. Muscle injuries galore and all kinds of other things. Age likely is not the message here, but sustainability is.

The same rules apply to exercise as everything else. Consistency is key, and something is better than nothing. Walk at work, I try to clock in 10-15k steps every day, hasn't made me a marathon runner, but I get to meet folks and off my computer for a good while.

But while some research has shown health benefits at 10,000 steps, recent research from Harvard Medical School has shown that, on average, approximately 4,400 steps a day is enough to significantly lower the risk of death. This was when compared to only walking around 2,700 steps daily. Every little bit helps.

In ancient Rome, distances were actually measured by counting steps. In fact, the word “mile” was derived from the Latin phrase mila passum, which means 1,000 paces – about 2,000 steps. It’s suggested the average person walks about 100 steps per minute – which would mean it would take a little under 30 minutes for the average person to walk a mile. So in order for someone to reach the 10,000 step goal, they would need to walk between four and five miles a day (around two hours of activity).

Boring stuff that scales

We continue to talk about technology, so today we will look at some thing different.

As the urban middle class grows they have growth related challenges, the biggest of which is to find housing. In a segment of society where most couples work and in their 20s have no children(yet), this demographic is underserved by the likes of property portals and boomer uncle real estate agents. The real breakthrough would be for you to become a Real Estate Curator and Concierge. Fancy, I know. Every one likes fancy.

The middle class wants to deal with people who

Understand their:

1) Price point pressures

2) Mobility needs

3) Entertainment & Grocery needs

4) Commute and alone time needs

5) Internet coverage needs

6) Lack of desire to deal with some one who show up in a safari suit

7) Lack of time & desire to engage virtually

8) Need to share listings, pictures & answer questions rapidly

9) Desire for mutual respect

10) Values & wellbeing needs.

If you can package this, create a whats app group with clients, share info digitally, find and put in the hours to curate and offer white glove service today to say 10, then 50, then 100, then 1000 clients, eventually the middle class migrates upwards. When they go to buy their first house, first shop, rent a bigger home or refer friends or colleagues, you will be the first to know.

Build a brand of one, be on Whatsapp, TikTok and Instagram, post house reviews for rent, be the first to make an "Honest List" for all your reviews, kitchen is great, bathrooms are small. The house next door is not great, road has access to a market. Etc. Look at Zillow and Zoocasa type listings, embody them in your service and be the best service provider in the middle income, middle class, urban youth category, help people find their first home, first rental property, they will remember you.

Make it memorable when they move in, by putting a pack of water bottles before they show up. Or a list of whats good nearby for delivery.

Not all businesses need to be unicorns. This scales as much time and effort you want to put into it. Plus you can apply the same tactics to many verticals that require the human element.

You heard(read/saw) it here first

Never set low prices for any thing you sell. Sell value not price. Change the conversation to value. You have wrong customers not a wrong price. When you talk price you aren't an entrepreneur any more. Must watch video for all entrepreneurs.

What you should be reading

Antifragile. If you are in Pakistan, or deciding to work in emerging markets or frontier markets and you thrive on chaos this book is for you.

Ive spent the last decade looking for problems I can enhance the outcomes for, from Ad-tech to Media to 3/5PL, so this resonated well with me. It helps you organise your state of being and what drives you, if you are that kind of person.

Taleb introduces the book as follows: "Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better" There is no other way to describe this book than to read it. Its not an easy read though but it makes sense over time. Get started today and it may allow you to make sense around what makes you tick.

Monetise your time

By having friends who are a decade older than you and a decade younger than you. This has served me well so I can only speak from experience. Consider friendship like a ladder, if you want to learn some thing new by going up to grab it, you need a forward rung, when you need some thing thats placed lower, you need a lower rung to get to it. Friendships in the form of ladders, give you access to mind sets across ages, helping you enhance your outcomes. Sounds selfish, but it isn't. You are the sum of the people you surround your self with. When you are sincere every one benefits.

Made in Pakistan - FOMO

Right now every ones having a moment in the tech world. VC dollars are a coming to PK. Great for us, the ecosystem and the players. Who it's not great for are the local saiths who are having insane internal FOMO. In the last 1 month I have been party to more conversations where multi 100m$ local groups want to get into tech more than they want to get into personal lives of their adult children(which is saying some thing). (https://blog.chinookstrategy.com/m-i-t-millionaires-in-training/)

Thats a win, a change. Who will win you ask? Those who have an understanding of managing and turning the tides. Those who have local holding power. Don't enhance your employees salaries due to venture dollars but due to respect, build a far open organisation, not out of fear but out of growth needs, be accessible to more people than not, else cancel culture will get the best of you. Understand what you don't know and hire for what you want to know. The FOMO will turn to bad bets, bidding wars, talent wars, ego wars and a new version of the Sind Club Circle Jerk in weeks and months to come vs not. The elite talk to them selves within their own circles thus their results and outcomes will also be fairly similar in the end. It remains to be seen if they can course correct and then every one wins.

One Last Thing (That is interesting)

Contrary to many other countries, Afghanistan did not lose its Jewish population. In fact, the country’s ruling class, mainly consisting of the Pashtun ethnic group showed a lot of sympathy toward the Jewish minority...More here