I imagined myself sitting in my favourite cafe in my favourite spot sipping on an ice cold Americano. I imagined the cafe as I like it best early on a sunny Saturday morning, almost empty, and that was all I needed to roll out of bed and get to Third Wave Coffee.

There's an air curtain above the door, and it makes a whooshing sound every time the door opens, announcing the arrival of possibly another coffee enthusiast. Occasionally, I look up to see who it is, and most of the times it's a delivery agent here to pick up an order for someone who couldn't be bothered to come sit in the cafe and sip on their coffee. I can understand that. I have been there. Some days I would rather power up with my coffee at home, but that is a thing of the past. I no longer order food at home unless absolutely unavoidable, which is very rare. You see, I want the whole experience, unencumbered by convenience, and yes that will require some effort, but most things worth experiencing require some degree of effort.

The aroma in the air is captivating. There is the distinct scent of roasted coffee in every whiff, but it grows weaker as my nostrils get used to it. I can feel the cool air on my skin and compared to the humid warm air outside, I am happy to be inside in the cooler drier environment. Until October arrives, I am happy to witness sunlight from inside an air conditioned room. I sit close to the glass wall separating the indoors from the outdoors. It's the right balance between the natural light outside and the cool temperature inside. If I had to sit deeper inside the cafe, away from the outdoors, immersed in artificial light, I wouldn't enjoy it as much. I have such a strong position on the seating, and I suspect it is because we're currently exiting the monsoon season, and the last couple of months have been rather gloomy. The sun has been rather elusive. My body, deprived of sunlight, wants to get as close as possible, without experiencing the hot and sweaty side effects it is usually accompanied with.

The cafe is decorated with a lot of wooden panelling. The chairs are upholstered with an earthy turquoise. The table tops are white granite, with a mix of grey swirls and veins running across, giving it contrast and an overall textured appearance. The floor is tiled, and the tiles alternate between two shades of grey. The lights are warm, bright and right above my head.

On my table, in my favourite cafe, in my favourite spot, lies a notebook flat open on the surface, with a fountain pen right in the middle, waiting to be picked up and flourished across the off white pages. My coffee beckons for a sip and my notebook longs for a scribble, just like a lover longs for a kiss after a long absence. I breathe in the cool air, unable to discern the scent of coffee anymore, exhale with a deep sigh, and begin to write.

Imagine walking on a rocky, uneven trail in the mountains for the first time, looking up at a bright blue sky, interrupted now and then by wisps of cirrus clouds and the dark silhouettes of needle-pronged pine trees. Sooner or later, you trip and fall, scraping your knees and palms, cursing your carelessness. Unbeknownst to your conscious mind, you also stop looking up when walking on such trails because that action is now tied to the pain and embarrassment of falling

But what happens when the pain isn’t physical? Imagine devoting yourself to a creative pursuit, sharing it with the world, and hearing nothing in return.

No applause, no ovations, not even a nod of approval.

You (your ideas and your work) were rejected.

There’s no visible wound, only that unease in your stomach. The pain is psychological, but real. And, just like with physical pain, your mind begins shaping an adaptation to prevent you from returning to that pursuit.

Here’s where things get tricky. When the cause of failure is a chain of complex events, and the pain can’t be traced to one clear mistake, the entire activity can be misattributed to the pain. Following our hardwired survival patterns, the mind builds a roadblock, not against the mistake, but against the activity itself.

What’s needed to learn and grow then is deliberate review: break down the chain of events, isolate the true cause of failure, and link the pain to that point alone. Once identified, you either eliminate that cause or improve it so it no longer leads to the same outcome.

That’s where learning happens. Not in the failure itself, but in the conscious dissection of what actually caused it.

The common thread between legal drafting and LLM prompting lies in this:

Both aim to reduce ambiguity in order to control output.

A vague clause can lead to misinterpretations, disputes and costly litigation due to differing party assumptions. A vague prompt, like an unclear instruction lacking context, can result in irrelevant, incorrect, or inconsistent outputs, undermining the intended task.

Both can have costly business implications.

In law, legal precision exists to constrain interpretive freedom. Legal instruments like legislation, contracts and agreements are drafted to ensure that rights, duties, and remedies are clearly defined and uniformly understood.

In LLMs, precise language in prompts aims to constrain the model’s probabilistic behaviour, to reduce variance, hallucination, and irrelevant responses.

In both cases, the goal is the same:

Minimise the scope of variance in interpretation and output. Collapse the range of possible interpretations into one predictable, intended outcome.

Adaptability is the most important skill

In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari redefines what it takes to thrive in today’s fast-evolving world:

“The most important skills for surviving and flourishing in the 21st century are not specific skills. Instead… how to master new skills again and again throughout your life.”

Constant learning is an inescapable reality. But can you do it laterally? Can you pick a new subject and build a working understanding of it? How quickly can you do it? To be able to pick a new skill in any field, learn fast and apply becomes the most valuable (meta) skill to have.

Find your natural inclinations (and build upon them)

So, how do you learn faster? And what should you learn to make work feel like play? In Mastery, Robert Greene offers a powerful starting point: look inward to your past.

“The first step then is always inward. You search the past for signs of that inner voice or force. You clear away the other voices that might confuse you—parents and peers.”

Find what you did just for the sake of doing the thing, in the absence of external validation and reward. What were you doing even if no one was watching. That is your natural inclination. That is where you can move fast. And moving fast is important because as the novelty of a new endeavour wears off, if you're not yet good enough, you'll either have to push through with will power (limited resource) or you will drop it altogether (high friction).

Pursue your passion is bad advice.

I know because I did. I backpacked across the country and made youtube videos. I thought I was passionate about making videos. I got a few thousand subscribers. Not enough to pay the bills. And it got tiring. Passion became work and then the passion vanished.

In So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport flips the feel-good advice:

“The ‘passion hypothesis’ … is based on a false premise: that preexisting passions are both common and preordained. In reality, true passion is rare—and often unreliable—and it’s extremely hard to identify it before putting in the hard work.”

To be certain of what you are passionate about is extremely difficult, and you are often unknowingly lying to yourself. And even if you do identify your passion, if you attach the expectation of an outcome to it, how long does it take before the passion fizzles out?

Instead, get really good at something. Passion will follow.

How I went from zero coding experience to making money with it (as a lawyer):

The framework:

Understand the landscape → Pick your stack → Train the muscle → Stress test it → Ship & feedback

- Getting acquainted with the terminology

I started binge-watching dev YouTube. Anything and everything. Didn’t matter if I understood it. I just needed to get fluent in the language of tech. Get familiar with it. Over time, the words started making sense, and a roadmap started to form.

→ This was like learning the rules of a new game before trying to play.

- Following a structured course

After a lot of exploration, I concluded that web development was the easiest entry point. App development required an extensive setup. With web, I just needed a code editor and a browser. So I bought a full-stack course on Udemy for ₹350 and started learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then I realized I needed to go deeper, so I got individual courses for each topic, still at Rs. 350 each by making new accounts! (Sorry Udemy) The theory laid the foundation.

→ Structure removed the guesswork and gave my learning momentum.

- Follow-along courses / assisted coding

The most fun part about coding is building something.

But at this point, I only knew programming fundamentals, and that got boring quickly. So I started coding along with tutorials to build muscle memory and concept recall. I was also practicing programming fundamentals on Codewars

Practice > theory.

→ Watching isn’t learning. Putting in the reps is.

- Build projects

Since my entry point was frontend development, I went to Frontend Mentor and started converting designs into real web pages. No hand-holding. Maximum friction. Supercharged learning! I started with simple HTML/CSS problems. From there, the difficulty increased as interactivity was introduced and JavaScript came into play. This was the biggest needle mover early in the learning journey.

→ Projects forced me to apply what I had learned and exposed the gaps in my understanding.

- Portfolio website

Then I bought a domain and built a personal website using React.

I hosted my design-to-code projects and simple applications that used public APIs and basic CRUD applications, and started sharing it with people to create a feedback loop.

→Identity shift: From learner to builder

Building things is SUPER fun, but there was also an underlying assumption I was testing:

“Can I learn a new skill from scratch, create proof of work and skill, and then get paid for it, all in 6 months?”

I’ve been working professionally as a software engineer for over 3.5 years. On weekends, I’ve been building prototypes, mostly as a way to learn how to turn an idea into something real, explore a new technology or solve my own problem.

But now that going from idea to a bare-bones V0 has become drastically easier, the more important question is:

What’s actually worth building?

So before jumping into code, I’m forcing myself to answer a few hard questions:

- What clear problem or pain point is being solved? (Focus on the problem before the solution.)

- Who exactly is experiencing this pain? (Who are we building for?)

- Is it a problem people are willing to pay to solve? (How deep and urgent is the pain?)

- Can customers be acquired profitably? (Is the cost of acquisition lower than the value they bring?) The goal of this exercise is simple:

A mindset shift → From writing code to building a product to building a business.

This may seem rudimentary, but definitely a great starting point in developing shift in thinking.

You're lying in a hospital ward. There's an old TV in the top right corner. The same channel is on since you arrived a week ago. The sound is off.

People come in and out of your room. Doctors, nurses, friends, family and the occasional lost stranger looking for his pregnant wife about to deliver their baby (he is in the wrong ward).

You can hear people tell you how you're going to be alright, the clutter of medical equipment, the shuffling footsteps, the wheels of the food tray as it is moved to and from your bed. The doctors are kind and the nurses sweet and diligent.

You can hear them but you're not really listening anymore. You're focused entirely on the TV because just a few moments ago, it started playing the most unexpected show:

The Story of Your Life

Right before you breathe your last breath, in the midst of your end-of-life-brain-surge, as you are enjoying a delicious cocktail of neurotransmitters like Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), Endorphins and Serotonin, time slows down and the chapters of your life start flipping vividly on the TV. You see your life go by on the screen:

Taking your first steps, buying your first car, falling in love for the first time, saying goodbye to your dog.

The greatest hits. The rock bottoms. The dreams. Years of life compressed in a moment. Everything else blurs outs. Even the soundtrack is hypnotising.

But suddenly the alarm goes off, you wake up in bed, at home, healthy and full of life, and you realise it was all a dream. You get out of bed, put on your shoes and step out of the house and go for a run, thinking about the stories you have to write and live while you're alive, so you can see them played back to you when the game is finally over.

1. Choose kindness in every situation, regardless of how others behave. Your character shouldn't depend on others' actions.

2. Situations are neutral - they become positive or negative through your interpretation. What troubles us isn't events themselves, but our judgments about them.

3. Mind over matter - master your mind to end suffering. Your mind is a powerful tool; train it to serve you rather than control you. Recognize that thoughts and emotions are temporary.

4. Live consciously and stay present. Mindfulness isn't just about meditation - it's about experiencing each moment fully and making deliberate choices rather than operating on autopilot.

5. Self-respect and inner judgment matter more than external validation. Focus on being worthy of your own approval first.

6. Never complain, as it changes nothing and weakens your character. Transform that energy into solving problems instead.

7. The obstacle is the way - every setback contains opportunity. What blocks the path becomes the path. Difficulties are opportunities for growth and innovation.

8. Adversity builds resilience. Welcome challenges as teachers that strengthen your character and wisdom. What seems like misfortune often leads to unexpected growth.

9. Treat each act as if it were your last - this brings quality, presence, and dignity to everything you do. Make each moment count.

10. Act virtuously for its own sake, not for recognition. True virtue needs no audience or reward - it is its own reward.

11. Time is finite and death inevitable - act now. Don't waste time on trivial matters or procrastination. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

12. Observe people's true nature with compassion and clarity. Understand that their actions stem from their beliefs and experiences, even when misguided.

13. Practice gratitude daily - it transforms your perspective and brings contentment. Be thankful even for challenges.

14. Actions speak louder than words - demonstrate your philosophy through behavior rather than talking about it.

15. Learn from others' experiences and mistakes. Wisdom doesn't always need to come from personal failure.

As I walk barefoot across a meadow with lush green grass, surrounded by ice-capped peaks, breathing in the cool and clear mountain air, I have the choice of becoming completely aware of the sensations that I am experiencing.

I can feel the blades of grass under my feet. The grass is wet and now so are my feet. With every step, I experience the texture of the grass. I stop and spread out my toes.

With eyes closed, I bring my attention to the individual blades of grass caressing my feet.

In this moment, I have brought my awareness to my feet and the sensations that are being picked up by the nerve endings.

Instantly, I change the focus of my attention from my feet to the visual feedback that my eyes are receiving.

There is a tree in the middle of the meadow. There is some distance between me and the tree, and on the first glance, I can distinguish the trunk of the tree from the branches and the leaves on it. It is a tree like any other. As I continue to observe the tree, I can now start differentiating between the many leaves and how they sway with the breeze. The longer I observe, the more detail my brain is able to capture.

Once again, I sit down on the wet grass, close my eyes, and shift my attention to the sounds of the landscape.

Initially, I hear many sounds mixed up with one another, in a symphony, without differentiating between the source of the individual sounds. But as I continue to pay attention to what I hear, I am able to identify the instruments of this natural orchestra.

I can hear the birds singing, the rustle of leaves in the wind, and the sounds of insects.

As I spend more time with my attention on what I am hearing, I can hear my breath.

Enough time goes by, I shift my focus to the center of my chest, and now I can even hear my heartbeat in the midst of these sounds.

Here, we are experiencing a phenomenon which might be most attenuated in our species.

Awareness and our ability to shift it from one subject to another is possibly unique to our species, as is the ability to observe what is going through our mind.

When a dog sees food, it has the tendency to pursue it. Can a dog take a moment to observe its compulsiveness to consume the food and then decide not to eat it?

A human being on a diet may have an irresistible urge to eat ice cream when it is placed before them. But imagine this human being is motivated to improve their food intake and, after waging a war of thought against the urge, decides not to eat the ice cream.

Where the behavior of an animal with a primitive brain may be directed completely out of instinct, a human being can observe their thoughts and make thought-out decisions simply by shifting awareness to what aligns with their identity. Awareness, and the ability to maneuver it, is like any other skill and it can be trained. It begins by the simple act of observation.

• Up before 7 AM and out of the door for a walk/run/sprints.

  • This will shift my circadian rhythm (internal 24 hour clock which regulates a host of activities in the body like hormone release, body temperature regulation, sleep-wake cycle and more) to be in tune with day and night.

  • Physical exertion upon waking up will improve alertness early in the morning.

  • Instead of showing up at work barely out of slumber, be primed for a productive day.

• Daily exercise.

  • At least 10k steps for sufficient activity throughout the day.

  • A 30 minute calisthenic workout at home or outdoors early in the morning. No gym.

  • Philosophical shift in training from bodybuilding to functional training + energy regulation + mental stimulation.

  • Full body workouts.

• A diet comprised of whole / minimally processed food.

  • 9/10 meals are healthy and home cooked.

  • No sugar.

    • Except with the occasional milk coffee (Cappuccino, Latte).

  • Optimise for protein, quality fats and minimal carbs from sources like fruits and vegetables.

• A strict no-low-effort-entertainment policy.

  • No content scrolling

  • No shows

  • No movies

  • Cultivate boredom

  • Mindset shift from consumption oriented to creativity oriented.

• Daily writing.

  • What have you learned personally and professionally?

  • What idea or theory did you read in a book that was fascinating?

  • Write down an experience from the past. Tell a story. (Inspired by Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks)

  • Visualise the future - let your imagination run free.

  • Ask Ai for writing prompts.