Aswath Krishnan

I remember being drawn to a dynamo bike light when I was a kid. It's a contraption that converts the mechanical movement of the bike wheels into electrical energy and then, light. So you power the light just by pedaling the bike. When you don't pedal, the light stays off. As you start pedaling, the light turns on dimly and then, turns to fully bright as you get to a faster steady pace.  The dynamo concept came back to me again yesterday as I was having a particularly lazy vacation day. I had woken up late, didn't shower or change, and didn't step out or move much. I felt sluggish and so spent more of the day laying and reading in bed, and napped more. The lazing made me feel more lethargic both physically and mentally, which is antithetical to the goal of a vacation or relaxation.  The sluggishness quickly dissipated when I eventually showered, changed, and went out for a walk in a vibrant part of town.  Like a dynamo bike light, our bodies and minds also get activated ...

When we step back a lot, intellectualize, and abstract away everything, we imagine a universe like this.  This can make us feel like a meaningless speck in space and time. But the reality is that the universe is also this -  Your family, friends, pets, plants, coworkers, and neighbors are all parts of the universe too. You and all your experiences, thoughts, and feelings - are the universe too. Each of us is a little universe, and we are vibing with each other.  Zooming out gives us a wide perspective and frees us from pettiness. Zooming in and being in the present is how you live a little. 

We had a fun time playing Monopoly with friends this weekend. As with every game of Monopoly, it got competitive, but we are all still friends :)  Monopoly was invented by Elizabeth Magie in 1908 to demonstrate the evils of Capitalism (which has ironically sustained and grown over the years thanks to a capitalistic engine).   Teaching through games is such a clever and effective idea. It's fun, hands-on, experiential, and demonstrates a variety of scenarios. It helps you develop an instinct for the concept in a way that reading books or doing projects rarely do.  The game is indeed illustrative of many aspects of Capitalism. I have listed some of them in no particular order below -   1. The first couple of rounds start out as a mix of mostly luck and some skill. If you are fortunate with good die rolls and happen to land on unowned properties, you get to buy them at a great price.  2. But quickly wealth concentrates among a few, and the rest are squeez...

This is a period of high economic turbulence. Inflation is rising, a war and energy crisis are escalating, and supply chains are still wonky. Fed is responding with interest rate hikes, governments are changing policies, and the market is responding with valuation cuts, tightening the belts, and layoffs.  Times are uncertain, and that increases uncertainty for each of us too. That means we can get laid off, not find a job, our investments may tank, and we may not be able to afford or get what we need or want. No one can give us guarantees, and we are ultimately responsible for how we and our close ones will fare.  This is how I'd advise people to prepare:  1. Personal resilience:  Just like businesses do, make sure you have a robust runway by increasing savings (in low-risk, liquid assets) and reducing spending. Try to save for a few months of expenses to prepare for the eventuality of a layoff and a tough job market. If you want to take it up a notch, you can get in...

When we are upset or anxious, our minds automatically seek soothing activities - something that offers immediate pleasure, or distraction, or makes us feel in control.   This is a good strategy, except when the soothing behaviors are unhelpful - they provide immediate relief, but eventually amplify the root situation or cause a different unpleasant situation. Then to soothe ourselves again, we do more of the unhelpful behavior, causing vicious cycles or addictions.   Alcohol, snacking, smoking, anger, gossip, nail-biting, procrastination, and doom scrolling on social media are examples of such unhelpful behaviors.   We are better served if we train ourselves to replace these unhelpful soothing behaviors with more helpful ones like drinking water, pacing, going for a walk, sleeping, exercising, meditation, journaling, or creating a plan to address the stressful situation.

Everything and everyone is a domino in a web of dominos that have been falling since the start of the universe.  Your success or failures, good or bad decisions, body, mind - both conscious and sub-conscious, wants, fears, values, personality, intellect, wealth, and power are all results of your genetics, environment, life situations, cultures, formation of the planet, and everything that ever happened until now.    Wait...what about my hard work, deliberate choices, and free will?  You definitely experience your life, you change and make changes, and it certainly feels like you are in control of many of your thoughts and actions.      What I'm saying is that you, your body and mind, your control, your sense of control and consciousness originated from everything else. You are a neural network and genetic machinery that is shaped and trained by the universe, maybe with an element of randomness that could appear like free will.  If we moved you as ...

Recently I have been hearing stories of conflict among friends, family members, and colleagues. The pattern is similar - one person or group behaves in a way that doesn't meet another person's or group's expectations, and they get annoyed, but most don't address it healthily, eventually creating conflicts that harm the relationship. We all have different lives and therefore expectations, perceptions, behaviors, and quirks, so these sorts of mismatches are inevitable.  You can try to reduce conflicts by lowering your expectations (be more accepting) and spending more time with those who are compatible with your expectations. But those aren't always options or foolproof, and you may miss out on the joy of healthy relationships, so you must also learn to deal with conflicts and "fight well" when they arise.  So what can you do when there's a conflict? The first question is whether you care for the relationship . If you or the other party don't care fo...

It's the 4th of July! The day where we celebrate American independence with warm summer gatherings, BBQs, beer, and fireworks.  A foundational principle of USA is freedom. Often referred to by patriots, FREEDOM! Freedom is great - I certainly don't want to live in a society where my life choices, potential, and path are largely dictated and limited by other humans.  This freedom did not come easy and is still fragile . It needed an inspiring vision for a better future, courage to act on it, and cooperation to unite together. Without its continued defense, the natural order of concentrated power will grow and return.  This freedom was not and still is not uniformly distributed . Native Americans, millions of slaves, women, LGBTQ, or lower-income populations did not and still do not enjoy the same rights. Subjugation comes in many forms - legal, representation, access, cultural, opportunity, economic, etc.  This freedom is not absolute . Where it clearly and unfairly h...

I have recently been spending more time with my baby nephews and niece. Babies are simple. They eat, sleep, poop, explore, and cry or laugh depending on how well the situation supports this survival and comfort [1]. When you observe babies, it's very apparent that we are all just survival programs. Adults just play more complicated, indirect, and longer-term survival games.  We begin as bootstrapped programs that function as follows: (a) feel pain and act distraught when we experience something threatening to survival, (b) feel pleasure and act happy when we experience something positive for survival, and (c) seek more pleasure and avoid pain, and be curious about the environment, presumably to look out for those sources.  Then the program learns rapidly over time, through memory and imitation - avoiding the pain, doubling down on the pleasurable, and exploring to discover more. There is a fair bit of randomness in there too. Many of the learnings are then passed on to offspri...

These are turbulent times - with inflation, market crashes, fears of a recession, a war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, climate scares, and political division. It's natural to get distracted, dismayed, or fearful of everything that's going on.  In your personal life, business, or career, you can get around it is by focusing on your mission and what's in your control.  For this to be possible, (a) your mission needs to be robust - something you really want to do, are capable of doing distinctly well, and something that others need and support, even during hard times, (b) you have partners who are aligned with you on mission and values, and (c) you need to live and operate well below your means and independently. 

I realized my investment portfolio is complex. I have investments across 6 different accounts and own over 25 individual stocks.   This may not be that complex for someone who's a finance expert or actively manages their investments. I'm not that. Managing finances is essential but not the area of my life where I want to excel - I'd instead focus on interests and differentiated skills in building products, businesses, or writing. I'd be happy with a B+ than an A+ (satisficer vs. maximizer).  The complexity prevents me from monitoring and managing effectively. I don't have enough knowledge, skills, or regular focus in this area to deal with the complexity either.  A more straightforward strategy like - (a) Automated investment and dollar-cost averaging, (b) Investing into a balanced portfolio of cash, stock indices, and a very few individual stocks, bonds, real-estate, and (c) Buy & hold and then, rebalancing twice a year and as needed to adjust for disturbances ...

Credit scores are like your gums. You know you need to take care of them now, or it'll be a pain in some distant future.  I'm trying to buy a home now and realized how consequential they can be.  Mortgage lenders, I was told, look at the middle of the scores from the 3 main credit bureaus/mafia (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion). If you're applying with a partner, they will pick the lowest one between you.  You need a middle of at least 680 to qualify for a jumbo loan (over ~$650k in WA state).  A middle of 680-700 can have an interest rate of ~5.6% vs. the ~4.8% that you get if it's >750. On a $1M loan, that's a significant ~$800 a month!  A single collections account (usually >$100) can impact your credit report by 100 points and stay on your credit report for up to 7 years. So missing a one-time $150 payment can end up costing you $800/month for many years or even disqualify you from getting a loan and home (If you can, you can pay the creditor - eith...

We were clearing up our house of unloved and unnecessary possessions before a move and decided to sell around 40 books that we'd never read or likely never reread.   We hauled them to a Half Price Book store. The lady at the counter told me that they have a computer program that calculates the offer price for each book.  That's an interesting programming puzzle.  There are 3 factors I'd take into consideration: (1) the price at which it will sell, (2) the average time to sell (payback period), (3) risk and profit buffer  These are related variables that can influence each other, but we can simplify the problem by treating them as independent varibles. For (1), we can assume it's half the average retail price across Amazon and maybe a couple of retailers. (2) is tricky as it involves predicting the future. We can use the past book sale date to do that. I'd use a weighted average of the recent average time to sell for (a) the very same book, (b) for the author, (c...

The most fundamental question to understand, IMO, is the existential one...What the heck is all this?! Why and how are we here? What are we supposed to do? Elon Musk is an incredibly smart guy - he has a track record of making things happen - both in the physical world (batteries, cars, rockets) and within human society (leading businesses, making money, acquiring a following). He's also a clear, first principles thinker and shares a lot about how he thinks about the world. So I think he can play a part in helping us understand life and the world*. So what is Elon's answer to the foundational question? Elon has two answers - one explicit and another implicit.   Elon recalls that at the age of 11 or 12, he had an existential crisis because he didn't understand why or how we are here. He concluded that we may never know but we may be able to find out if we expand the scope and scale of civilization and consciousness , and that's what he wants to do.  I like Elon's fra...

I have come across some research that showed that people with mentors are more successful in life and career, and I totally buy that. The world is a large and complex place. None of us know all the possibilities or how to navigate them well. But we can know a lot more by tapping into the experiences and wisdom of other people.  1. Seek advice  If you are doing something new or trying to make a difficult decision, in your personal or professional life, reach out to a few wise people who have walked the path before. It's also helpful to simply chat with wiser people about their lives and your life, without any specific topic in mind.  There are many good strategies on how to develop these relationships. I'd call out these three -  Be genuine - seek advice on topics or questions that you truly care about and can't figure out elsewhere (say, by just googling online). Don't do it to just "develop your network" or get something else from the other person.  Make it ...

I had a recent breakthrough in my pursuit of equanimity and joy .  I have been trying the Buddhist / Stoic principle of not fighting with reality for a couple of years now.   It's pretty sensible. We get flustered when the reality is different from our expectations and therefore, we'd be more equanimous if we fully accept and appreciate reality because it is what it is and focus on what we can do.  But despite the intellectual acceptance of this principle, I'd still occasionally get upset with reality and feel like I'm falling short of this principle. When I was discussing this with someone, they pointed out that it isn't healthy or self-compassionate to deny or resent the emotions I feel.  Then it clicked inside me that emotions are a part of reality too.  We feel emotions because of how we are wired.   So don't fight with emotions either. Let them happen, feel them, observe them, and focus on what you can do.  Aha!  I was assuming reality is onl...

My wife and I were chatting yesterday about how whenever we feel like we are in a rut, it's almost always because we stopped taking care of "basic shit".  Basic shit includes -  Sleeping well  Time in the morning to relax, meditate, plan, and get ready for the day Walking outside and/or exercising   Taking a lunch break and breaks during work Winding down from work and doing other things we enjoy  Taking some alone time to think reflect, read, write Drinking enough water and eating healthy Doing the chores to keep our homes and lives in order  Keeping phone, social media, and TV time low  Relaxing and self-care nighttime rituals like tea, board games, reading, journaling  Using weekends well to do fun stuff, wind down, and do chores Connecting regularly with close friends and family Focusing on what you have, balance, and what's in control. Not overdoing, overcommitting, being obsessed, greedy, jealous, fearful, judgemental, or worried Having...

It's now somewhat common best practice (inconsistently practiced though) for Product Managers to talk to customers and use the product regularly. The reasoning is pretty straightforward - if you aren't really understanding what customers need and experience, then how can you successfully prioritize what to build and build it well? But product leaders (PM Manager) can feel a push away from talking to customers directly or using the products as they take on more team management and strategy tasks (based on my true story). I'd posit that's going to hurt your effectiveness, especially if you are new to the domain or company. How are you going to set or vet the right team strategy, provide feedback, or take bold bets/changes if you aren't familiar with customers? How can you stop falling for availability bias (over-index on a limited set of user insights presented to you to develop an incorrect or incomplete model)? How are you going to stay connected to the ground reali...

I was upset and having a particularly rough day. We were meeting a few of our close friends couples that day. Not wanting to be a downer (and likely to avoid being judged), I covered it up and put on my regular act. But I couldn’t fully hide it towards the end of the day. One of my friends noticed something was off and when we had a moment, he  asked me if I was okay and even texted me later that day. I felt loved and supported, and it helped.  People around you may be silently suffering. If you want to help, you can’t expect them to express an ask…you have to pay attention, listen closely to pick cues, and care and act thoughtfully. And that can make a big difference. 

I was tasked with starting a "big bets" team at a startup I was working at. The goal of the team was loosely defined as to achieve step-level or 10X outcomes -- either in the core job-to-be-done or through a new job-to-be-done.  I was previously leading growth for the core product and I set this team's key performance indicator (KPI) or key result (KR in OKR) similarly -- X monthly active users.  And that was a mistake.  Done right, a KPI is a measure of the most important thing, provides directional guidance, and is a measure of progress. A wrong KPI can be useless, misleading, and demotivating.  For a new product area, the most important thing is to identify the problem space to play in and to achieve product-market fit. The goal of X monthly active users is a big step removed from that. It didn't provide us directional guidance, didn't provide a measure of progress to either the team or the execs, and it felt pretty demotivating to declare failure against that ...

I may have stumbled onto a life-changing practice on Twitter yesterday. I have only practiced it a couple of times so far and I feel a dramatic effect on happiness and equanimity each time.  Whenever a life-changing practice works out, it...well, changes your life. So well worth trying out strong recommendations.  Here's how it starts:  **** Hm well so all day I’m either talking to my parts or thinking “how can humanity become more alive” and diving into that question. That’s what my head is doing Body is doing whatever it feels like basically on autopilot — Nick Cammarata (@nickcammarata)  June 11, 2021 **** wait hold up. all day you're talking to your parts? can we get a monologue demonstration? — visa is doing final edits (99.2%) ✍🏾📖 (@visakanv)  June 11, 2021 **** I'm glad that Visa actually caught the casual mention and asks Nick for a demonstration (I'd probably have simply brushed through the tweet, so this is a good lesson in paying attention and being...