| Sunday, 23 June 2024 |
A community-powered Sunday newsletter on mental models, self-reflection, learning, growth, photos, books, and more Subscribe here
Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Technically, this week marked the beginning of summer for India and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere because Friday was the Summer Solstice. It’s why our days and the sun’s rays have both been feeling longer.
If you aren’t in the middle of a heat wave, long summer evenings are perfect to play Calvinball!
In the event there are still a handful of you who aren’t fans of Calvin and Hobbes, and don’t know what “Calvinball” is (I’m judging you, of course), here’s an explanation:
Calvinball is a game invented by Calvin and Hobbes. There is only one rule: it can’t be played the same way twice.
Rules cannot be used twice (except for the rule that rules cannot be used twice), and any plays made in one game may not be made again in any future games. The game may involve wickets, mallets, volleyballs, and additional sports-related equipment, However a Mask is required.
There is only one permanent rule in Calvinball: players cannot play it the same way twice.
I never thought we’d be using Calvin and Hobbes to explain our professional lives, but here we are.
The “player” analogy is clear to most of us. We’re players in various games. At work, at home, in life. We want to become better players. We want to be part of teams that win games. We want to win games.
But something that few of us spend time thinking about is, what is our “game”? Did we choose it? Did we just get put on one? Who made the rules we’re following? Are we destined to keep playing it? Even if we don’t enjoy it?
Welcome to this Sunday’s edition of the First Principles newsletter, an unplanned and serendipitous group walk through a meadow of ideas and thoughts and pictures for the mind. You never know who you might meet or what you might learn.
1. Killing your darlings and playing Calvinball
“Entrepreneurship is as much about knowing what not to do. Kudos on the courage to make the right call. Cue the First Law of Thermodynamics. :)”
That was Srikanth Rajagopalan, CEO of Perfios Account Aggregation, subscriber, fellow alumnus, and longtime friend. He was responding on Linkedin to my sudden decision to kill the First Principles podcast, in many ways the “parent” of this newsletter.
As a more experienced and accomplished professional, Srikanth was able to innately understand two things and express it succinctly.
(a) Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do.
(b) Every time you decide to “not do” something, you free up energy to do something.
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Hari Buggana
Chairman and MD, InvAscent
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Harshil Mathur
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay
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Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
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Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures