Aswath Krishnan

I can’t stop There’s always Something more Until I finish This bottomless scroll A tweet, a meme A staged pic Of vanilla ice cream Fake news And strong views Highlight reels Of people I barely know Been an hour What did I do? Saw random stuff Got more FOMO Piled up chores And unrealized goals Helped Zuckerberg Buy a nice boat Can’t sleep My eyes are tired Brain’s wired Oh god I need saving From this Dopamine craving Aswath

Seeing a flower Makes me wonder Why such beauty Has to naturally end From bud to bloom To an inevitable gloom Perhaps it is To make us Appreciate it more Perhaps it is To give life To some things new Perhaps the end Is just an illusion There never is one As our lives just continue as many different ones Aswath

The path to health, loving relations, and reasonable wealth aren't much of a secret. It's theoretically simple. The hard part is doing what it takes consistently and over a long time. Change is hard. Our habits are a result of years of conscious or unconscious training, environment, and brain chemistry. It is hard to change old habits or develop new ones overnight.  Over the years, I have learned, reflected, and experimented with many tricks to establish new habits. Here are the top tricks that have worked well for me.   1. Big Why and Small Hows To do anything hard, you need to have a deep desire. Only pick a few goals where you can respond to "Will this make my life amazing?" and "Will I really regret not doing this?" with a resounding yes. Don't set arbitrary goals - you are likely to fail or, worse, spend your limited time working towards something that you don't really want.  My personal goal is to be as peaceful and joyful as possible and sprea...

In most discussions, debates, and decisions, the most important point is way more important than the second one.  The power law of communication is simply saying the most important thing. Say it powerfully and clearly. Completely cut or deprioritize everything else until the most important thing is understood and resolved. 

It's January - the season of resolutions. Unfortunately, it's also the season when resolutions die! A study showed that most people give up on their New Years' resolutions and goals by  January 19th.  Why is that? The most common problem is bad resolutions, not people or their will powers. There are 3 types of bad resolutions.  1. Blind resolutions : Most people blindly pick resolutions like "I want to drink more water" without knowing why it matters to them.  For any resolution to be relevant, you should be able to answer both "Would your life become significantly better?" and "Would your deeply regret not doing this?" with a resounding yes.  To know that, you need to start with a clear philosophy and picture of how you want to live and what your life is about. Then you work backward from that to create a prioritized plan. This is a solo exploration and a time-consuming process, but a foundational one. A lot of people skip this step.  2. Dream...

COVID started in 2020, but a deadlier pandemic has been spreading over the last 12 years or more. We see manifestations of it in recent uprisings, terrorism, politics, elections, and in the internet and real-life conversations. Its symptoms are dissatisfaction, tribalism, hate, violence, and a lack of cooperation and progress. It is the virus of disinformation and division. The virus spreads through human vulnerability to engage, believe, and share shocking lies that appeal to their theories, sense of righteousness, or sow doubt in the morals and actions of "the others" to blame for their real or imagined miseries.  The virus slowly then suddenly destroys the antibodies of rationality and empathy, replacing them with escalating levels of tribalism, hate, and anger. The infected then fervently spread it to others around them and on the internet, like zombies. 

1. Attitude and values  Are they rational, authentic, and honest? Are they curious and enthusiastic? Are they optimistic and cheerful? Do they take pride in their work, being good at their craft, and having an impact? Do they have a growth mindset?  Are they low-ego, respectful, win-win, and collaborative? If a person has a misaligned attitude or values, it's better to say no, even if they have high capability and interest.  2. Capability Do they have the raw smarts and foundations to learn and grow? Do they have the required functional skills at the right level of the job? Do they complement the team's skills and bring something new? Can they communicate and collaborate well? Do they have a similar previous experience with good work and insights? (less important if the above are strong) 3. Interest Deep interest is a multiplier for both attitude and capability.  Are they interested in the mission and domain? Are they interested in the customers? Are they interested ...