We returned to our usual park and set up shop in the parking area near to the coconut vendor. Sabi embraced her title as a “street hawker.”

Sabi hadn’t been there in a while, but within minutes of opening, an old man recognized her: “Hey, you’re the Snug Monster girl! My friend bought bookmarks and tea from you. I’ve been on the lookout. Got any left?”

That day, she saw more visitors than usual, many of whom were eager to buy after their workouts. As a result, all of her Basil Tea Boxes were sold out.

After covering costs, Sabi pocketed around ₹2700.

Despite the change, she handled it all smoothly.

It’s a strategy best suited for those committed to the long game, building their Judgment and credibility in a specific field, and those devoted to cultivating their Owned Identity, business, or initiatives as their life’s work.

In fact, they are well-positioned to run their own media operations, thanks to their education, mindfulness, and thoughtfulness. They have the content ready!

Who are we talking about?

• Professionals such as academics, researchers, reporters, policy makers, consultants, analysts, and think tank members who develop deep Judgment in their study field.
• The “Fortune 50 million” rather than the Fortune 500—sustainable Work Products earning an honest living, solving specific problems for a clearly defined customer base (Niche).
• Enthusiasts and hobbyists with a profound appreciation for their chosen subject or activity using Passion work products.
• Independent media and content creators dedicated to telling the truth using Candid Communication.
• Investors who’ve spent decades building their credibility and stand to lose from short-term, opportunistic decisions.

They tend to invest in things that don’t change. They’ve built up credibility over decades and have things to lose from taking short-term, opportunistic decisions. Eventually, they tend to become Anti-fragile. For example, Amazon believes that most of their investments are focused on three evergreen factors: lower prices, more choice, and faster shipping. They avoid the Peanut Butter Manifesto.

It is not for everyone!

• Venture Capital funded products, if not profitable, may get axed (remember Google Reader), acquired (recall Posterous, Nuzzel), or simply fall out of fashion (think Orkut).
• It also fails in organizations with extractive monopolies or businesses causing negative externalities like oil or tobacco.
• This approach is not suitable for professionals in strategic industries such as law, politics, and diplomacy.
• It isn’t suitable for those who chase what’s trending online for the sake of standing out, the focus here is on enduring value, not transient trends. Fast fashion flaunting influencers and Instagram-friendly food might get attention, but they lack long-term depth.
• Beyond these categories, Candid Communication does not work for snake oil salesmen. Their modus operandi often involves altering opinions, personality traits, accents, and behaviors to suit their audience. They cherry-pick facts, favoring only those that benefit their narrative. These individuals project grand ideas without delving into the nitty-gritty of implementation, often complicating simple matters to disguise their lack of detail. Additionally, they tend to gravitate towards industries involving large sums of money but marked by low accountability.

Footnotes:

• How Jeff Bezos’s Very First Amazon Job Listing Foreshadowed His Stepping Down as CEO | Inc.com

The artefacts you own can symbolize what you stand for.

Why this matters:

• Often the things you own can give you temporary access to other people who want to experience those objects.
• The storytelling around those objects not only communicates that you’ve the ability to buy these objects but also to appreciate their significance and value.

Examples: The display of high-end bookshelves behind you in the backdrop during video calls (Zoom).

Trust is the belief that you’ll act in a reliable and dependable way. It is earned over time through consistent behavior and actions.

Do you have built a reputation for being trusted, reliable, high-integrity, long-term thinkers in an otherwise trust-deficit ecosystem?

Given this, take clear stock of what you’ve got — Capital, Owned Network, Owned Identity, Owned Media, Labor, Judgment, etc. and see what you can build from there. You should always want to Build multiple entry and exit options. But your Lived experiences will it close and which options it might open.

Building resentment or complaining about what you’ve got is against building a life of focus and ongoing practice.

Accept what have you got and focus on what you can act on.

• Personally: Beauty, smartness, gifted ability, or lack of.
• Socially: People will behave foolishly, rudely, ungratefully, take advantage of us, and treat us unjustly.
• Situations: People won’t comply with our ethics and values.

Footnotes:

• Zero to One
• https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy/status/1571562595957489665
• Dokkodo
• Stoicism
• Good Profit, Charles Koch

A painter cannot build his own style (Build an authentic expression of yourself) until he knows the basics of Labor: color, brush, stroke, shading, etc.

Build a frame of mind that is so strong that you can build authentic expression — express your thoughts, ideas, opinions, world views, and beliefs — unapologetically without consideration of what others might think of them.

Why it matters:

• It helps with Owned Identity: Being authentic helps you differentiate yourself. No two people are alike. Everyone’s Lived experiences — context, knowledge, personality and situation is unique. By being yourself, you are differentiating. The more authentic you are, the less competition you’re going to have. It will also make your brand more real, human, and relatable.
• In a world of Artificial Intelligence generated content, being an authentic real person is Competitive Differentiation

It will also give you the superpower to fail in public and survive.

You cannot be authentic if you don’t Think and act independently. Don’t conform.

How to be authentic:

• Before expressing yourself, master the basics first.
• Curate your beliefs because beliefs define your story: who you are and what do you stand for.
• Build mental strength.
  • You should be able to focus on what needs to be done irrespective of how you feel.
  • You should be able to control your fight or flight response by proving to your physiological self that you are in a safe environment.

You cannot Build an authentic expression of yourself if you’re socially influenced, i.e., you’re changing your behavior because of someone else. We’re influenced by the sitcoms we watch, people we hang out with, the things people praise us for and what people dislike us for. Alternatively, our mimetic desires get more intense the more connected we are. There are three forms of social influence:

• Conformity: Are you changing your behavior to be like others?
• Compliance: Are you doing something because others asked you to?
• Obedience: Are you doing something because you believe you’ve no other choice?

Additionally, conventional beliefs only ever come to appear arbitrary and wrong in retrospect; whenever it collapses, we call the old belief a bubble. But the distortions caused by bubbles don’t disappear when they pop.

Building Judgment demands that you step back and think from First Principles and decide for yourself. For example, Myth-making around Journalism

Footnotes

• Zero to One – Peter Thiel

People have a tendency to attribute value to an individual or company based on their accumulated embodied cultural capital, which can be derived from either their personal identity (such as gender, ethnicity, color, race, caste, etc.) or the distinctive knowledge, perspectives, and abilities they acquire from their unique circumstances.

Why it matters: Recognizing the significance of this, identifying and embracing an Owned Identity that aligns with one’s embodied cultural capital can aid in developing a Niche that is more closely connected to their personal experiences.

• However, this advantage tends to favor those who already possess significant leverage, resulting in unequal opportunities.

How: To leverage this aspect effectively, investing in the art of storytelling can prove beneficial.

i was planing to go to the diwali mela in central park to sell snug monsters but there was lot s of pollution and we didnt want to go but our minds went in a different direction and we went yo the mela not to sell but to have fun we wore masks.

the noise bursted my ear drums i decided to go the swings for 2 mins rest my ears my mom bought me a balloon

One year ago, Sabi began working out with Hanuman Gada and Mudgar, starting with a basic lathi. Fast forward, and she is now able to exercise with a 2.5 kilo Hanuman Gada!

In our home, every ISRO launch is a major event. We huddle around YouTube to watch, and our excitement is palpable. On August 23, 2023, India landed on the moon, and we could see Sabi’s excitement soar. She wanted to create something about ISRO to share her joy.

We discovered Amar Chitra Katha books as a way to dive into India’s rich history. Through them, Sabi met legendary figures like Vivekananda, Mangal Pande, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, and Velu Thampi. These stories weren’t just tales; they were lessons from the past.

We took the plunge and got Sabi a 10-year subscription to Amar Chitra Katha’s app, unlocking over 5000 stories.