Seena Ba Seena. سینہ بہ سینہ

1. (a.) Of or pertaining to tradition; derived from tradition; communicated from ancestors to descendants by word only; transmitted from age to age without writing; as, traditional opinions; traditional customs; traditional expositions of the Scriptures.

2. (a.) Observant of tradition; attached to old customs; old-fashioned.

I have been thinking, with the progression of time, what is it that we will continue to loose that has been traditional and handed down generationally in our business context. From food products to hand made artisanal crafts, to hakeems nuskhas(traditional medicine), to the guy who taught his children the one trick in their business. Generational loss if not preserved, by way of either children not being interested, the skill being too difficult or the appreciation for the skill, trade or craft diminishing over time will result in economic value being wiped out in an already economically challenged country.

Things that will slowly and gradually fade like Hand made Carpets, Earthen Pots (Matkas), Glazed Tiles, Cotton Garments, Camel Lamps, Khussa, Peshawari Chappal, Wood Carvings, Ethnic Jewellery, traditional food recipes and products like Sattu. There is much more, my list doesn't do justice to any of it. There is a silver lining though, for each craft you want to save, you can learn it, scale it, monetize it and preserve it. The process starts with you, what we may think as being lost, is some thing you can help find, re-discover, re-imagine, re-build, old is the new, NEW. Old is the new trendy. Find it, learn it, build it, scale it.

Outcomes

We all love to talk about metrics. Useful metrics allow us to measure how personal or organisational performance supports progress towards strategic goals. However, metrics sometimes fail to align with the strategies organisations are pursuing, or with the behaviours that companies want to encourage.

One way to think about this mis alignment as “anti-metrics”: measurements that actually conflict with the objectives the organisation wants to accomplish and the strategy it is working to implement.

There are two broad categories of anti-metrics, Wasteful anti-metrics provide tons of data without revealing any truly actionable information, while harmful metrics can create behaviours and outcomes that conflict with strategic goals and objectives. Both are largely people driven. Hire the wrong, incompetent, inexperienced or over leveraged individuals they will hide behind metrics and create organisational drag.

A good way to control, manage and stick to your outcomes in life and in organisations is to decide on anti-metrics that will help you measure negative outcomes or unintended consequences and decide whether an incentive is working properly or not.

Wasteful anti-metrics : they provide data that doesn’t really help you move forward. (more charts, more meetings, more data, but not linked to enhancing outcomes). Learn how to say no to more "content" and thrive on small data instead.

Harmful anti-metrics actually interfere with our ability to align our organisation with our strategy and desired behaviours. These metrics can actively impede progress towards our goals. Like deciding to do some thing at a point in time and never re-visiting it after that time has elapsed.

In life as in business, keep in mind that the key to effective measurement is creating the connection between strategy and desired behaviours so you can consistently have the desired outcomes.

One New Thing

If you are like most people, in many aspects of your life you are between 0 or 100. Whether it's business, relationships, sports or other hobbies. Every one does most things at the top of their game or ability.

How about when it comes to rest? Well, do you do that with rest? Is it the same, do you prioritise it closer to a 100, does it take importance in your life like the rest of the stuff?

Are resting and and a state of work really that different? or diametrically apposed? Do you define "rest" as just sitting on the couch and watching Netflix or Youtube?

Or is it more the ability, desire, want and need to be actively choosing to do things you enjoy doing that are outside of what you do for work?

Some ways to rest include, meeting people , going to dinners, gaming naps, sabbaticals, walking, being active, making lego, making puzzles, talking to people, catching up, gardening. What constitutes rest?

So a question to all you readers, what are the most effective ways you rest that give you back your energy that put you back on track that make you want to give every thing else your 100% again?

Boring stuff that scales

I love the internet. Every day it surprises me. I stumbled upon a tweet, that listed people selling powerpoint templates and some one making over 500k USD selling a single power point template. Moral of the story, you don't need VC $s or Angel $s or any dollars, all you need is the right product, at the right market place, with the right traction to make money, remotely. Go look for it.

Heres the link to all the powerpoint templates and their lifetime sales so you can draw inspiration and do something that makes you money and changes your outcomes for the better. Stop complaining, if you have power point or slides or if you need to beg borrow or steal, this is the right opportunity to focus on. Power points are boring. People are lazy, if you allow them to save time, they will spend the money. Data seldom lies.

You heard(read/saw) it here first

Do you do drugs? Do you take over the counter medicines(to manage stress, anxiety or some thing else), do you self medicate, do you take home remedies, do you feel you should? Is some thing driving you to those actions?

Maybe you should talk to some one?Some times it's good to have perspective to have better outcomes. It's ok to get help, reach out to some one that will help you. If you need some one to talk to you can always try the good people at Umang or Taskeen or a loved one you trust. Don't worry about any one judging you, just make sure you care about your self to do whats right for you, to have the best outcome for your self. Its 100% ok to ask for help if you feel that any thing else you are doing is not positively impacting you outcomes, your health or your mental wellbeing.

If you have some one reaching out to you for help. Do right by them, make sure you are the friend they deserve and need vs not, especially when they singled you out to positively impact their mental health or personal outcomes.

What you should be reading(about)

1972: the year of Karachi’s first gated community. You should be reading more about history and how far ahead of its time, both Karachi and its people were.

A gated, planned community the first of its kind, master planned by Arif Hassan.

One hundred and twelve units of privately-funded, middle-income housing with an adjacent commercial area. The complex consists of eight, five-storey, T-shaped blocks containing 14, three-bedroom units. The commercial block forms a barrier between the major traffic artery and the residential blocks. The commercial and residential areas are linked by pedestrian paths.

Monetise your time

By spending it well. Patents, the wonderful yet not so exciting world of Patents. If you must allocate 5 hours a day to social media and 35 hours a week to mindless scrolling, perhaps you dedicate some time to Patents. Ok so whats the catch?

Big companies do exciting stuff, they protect it with patents, if you get into the habit of reviewing, reading, scrolling through patents you would see patterns emerge. Patterns you can use as signals to cut out the noise from your life. Where does one start?

Here.

https://patentdrop.substack.com/

What is it?

In the words of the author

"Every week, I’ll give you a summary of 3 new patents from big tech companies and a wider list of all patents from these companies.

Patents are a great way of getting a peek into the future before it’s been built and released."

(Dreams)Made in Pakistan

I read a story online at the Better Cotton Initiative. In the Vehari district of Punjab, a capable young woman called Almas Parveen went on to raise productivity on her own cotton smallholding and become a BCI Field Facilitator.

27-year-old Almas is one of four siblings, and has been running her family’s nine-hectare farm since 2009, in place of her elderly father.

Instead of deferring the management to a third party male farmer, as is often the custom in Pakistan, Almas was determined to run the farm herself, cultivate healthy crops and produce the best possible yields to sustain her family.

This is her story

One Last Thing (That is fascinating)

We are a few months away from yet an other new year.… I’ve been thinking about the pandemic and the crisis and opportunities it has brought with it. What we thought would be dominant forever or those would would dominate, got their fair share of challenges, some even had to shut down and pack up. Some may continue, it’s possible. But history tells us:

No company is too big to fail. Of the world’s 20 biggest companies in 1989, 0 are on the list today. What was a US + Japanese innovation cycles of first and second place road show, is now and US + China but mostly US dominated game. Tech rules most if not all. The mighty have fallen hard into obsolescence. Any ones time can come if you do not innovate and work towards managing your outcomes. Change is the only constant.