Invocation for New Beginnings

Hello friend!

Welcome to the first edition of my newsletter!

My past 4 weeks through Write of Passage (an online writing course) have been nothing short of an adventure.

This newsletter is an outcome of that adventure. And hopefully, just the beginning of many more things to come.

I feel scared yet excited. The combination of these two powerful emotions has always led me to new adventures.

In the spirit of new beginnings, here is what I have to share today:

An Invocation for New Beginnings

For anyone who has not begun and who is stuck in a terrible place between!

Thanks to Michael Ashcroft, one of the mentors in Write of Passage, for sharing this beautiful, inspirational piece in one of his sessions.

Lessons from Logic

Last weekend, during Write of Passage, we attended a guest workshop with two-time Grammy award-winning rapper Logic.

Pic courtesy: Julia Saxena’s Newsletter (you must subscribe to her if you’re interested in copywriting, online courses, and productivity!)

To be honest, I did not know who he was before the session. But I am never going to forget this session.

Here are 5 lessons based on what he said and quoted that will stay with me forever :

1. For days when you feel different and do not belong to the crowd

Being myself helped me in being original- I was a nerd and I embraced it. If you are a nerd, you are creative. It is weird that is truly normal.

2. For times when you feel you have nothing interesting to say

Anything you can be interested in, you will find others who are interested in it. By putting our weird out, we attract people who are as weird as us.

3. For moments when you question your why behind creative pursuits

Biggest part is why I make music- for me and my friends. If anyone likes it, that is okay. Be yourself, be kind to yourself. You need to be nicer to yourself.

4. For times when you are not sure about what path to take

You should want to be excited about what you are doing.

5. For moments when you feel down with harsh criticism or trolls

Focus on the people who would be excited to share a meal with you. Do not ignore others, just take your pain and insecurities arising from criticism or trolls and put them on a page.

What To Read

How to Manage A Remote Team using S.T.E.A.D.Y. Framework: As part of one of my assignments, I wrote about my experience of building and managing a remote team in the past 1 year. S.T.E.A.D.Y stands for Systems, Trust, Empathy, Action, Documentation, Yearning for Belonging.

Let the Others Find You: I have not been able to stop thinking about this piece in the last month. It is about the paradox of forming deep connections and how they happen when you decide to go first and be vulnerable. It has given me the courage to reach out to the people in the WoP community and have some truly relishing conversations.

Favorite Tweet

David Perell on Intellectual Loneliness

Writing on the Internet is the cure to intellectual loneliness. You know, that feeling of being alive when you're learning on the Internet but alone when you try to discuss the same ideas with friends and family.

Here's my mini-essay. pic.twitter.com/YfLmFgYaz0
— David Perell (@david_perell) February 13, 2021

This mini-essay resonates deeply with me and was one of the reasons why I got attracted to online writing and WoP in the first place.

(And I am not at all disappointed. For example, I was THRILLED when I discovered a thread on the art of note-taking, Obsidian & Zettelkasten in our Slack community!! These were the ideas that had met with stunned/bored silence from my team in office <insert sad laugh>)

Parting Thoughts

So, this was about it! I can see and envision a lot of new beginnings over the next few months.

In retrospect, it is the chase for perfection that has often stopped me from trying new things.

And to tackle that, I intend to internalize this quote from the video shared above to kill the perfectionist within me and let the creativity flow through me.“Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes but he’s a little bit of an asshole and no one invites him to their pool parties.”

Going ahead, you might see variations in the format of the newsletter as I try different things.

I’d love to hear from you about what you would like more and what you’d like less. (You can tell me honestly, I know I have a tendency to ramble on at times! :D).

Just hit reply to send any feedback or thoughts. I’d love to chat! 🙂

Until next time

Love
Vishal

PS: After more than a year of working from home, I am moving back to my work city, Mumbai, next week. I feel I have almost forgotten how to be in social situations! 😀 Expect some rants (or realizations, who knows?) in the next newsletter!