Saturday, April 29, 2022
Last month I was fortunate to attend a company onsite at Goa. I had the privilege of meeting and talking one to one with a lot of people who are just crushing it in the crypto space. The four days I spent there were enlightening, both professionally as well as personally. As mentioned in the last edition of The Passion Pad, I happen to have given an interview to my most favourite person, who wishes to remain anonymous, so let’s call that person as AI. Not the Artificial Intelligence - AI, but Anonymous Interviewer - AI. Sharing an excerpt from the same.
AI: Who influenced you the most?
I think each and every person I talked to influenced me in some way or the other. And this generally happens when you are always operating in a learning mode. I think each person is unique in their own ways and their uniqueness is something to learn about. If I have to name one person, I would say it is our ‘’Un” CEO Rahul, who left a huge impact, not only on me, but I am sure everybody else. Well I am sure no one would ever hear of the title “Un” CEO, it's a different story in itself and let's leave it for some other day. I have read a lot of books on habits and how our success and failures are shaped by good and bad habits. We basically are nothing but habit machines. I think he's the only guy, considering my strong as well as weak ties, who is really using habits to build a fortune and live a life many just dream of. Even after being such a successful investor, he still wakes up at 4:30 in the morning, works out daily, reads a lot of books, buy 0.1 ETH daily etc. etc. There are millions who know about the concept of compounding. From those million people, there are a thousand who have read and understood how powerful compounding is. From those thousand, there are only a handful of people who implement the concept in real life. And I feel grateful to have one on one discussion with one such human.
“Family comes first.” I generally hear this advice from those who are living comfortably, have two kids or more, not from investors or people who swim in the sea of uncertainties all the time. Rahul takes it to a whole another level and I guess this is one of the critical things that distinguishes him from other CxOs and is worth learning about. If my memory serves me right, there was not a single speech of his in which he didn’t introduce us to his parents. And I think that’s something we don’t see often and is worth appreciating.
Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. You go through life wondering what is it all about but at the end of the day it's all about family. You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family. Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one and you gotta prioritise it everytime. Rahul even takes it to another level and considers every employee as part of Ohana. Ohana means family, and in a family no one is left behind. Rarely do you see a company treating their employees as a big family.
There’s this one thing that he said which really got me. If you think closely, there are many relationships that you form. Nature actually made it simpler for us, made everything else work out automatically and gave us only one part to choose upon which is marriage. Think about this. You don't have to choose your parents. You don't have to choose your children. The only thing you have to choose is your partner. It's one thing that can either destroy you or make you stronger. Yet people suck at it! Just go and check, the divorce rates are at an all time high.
AI: What was your biggest takeaway from the whole trip?
No one knows it all and everyone is trying to find answers in their own ways. Especially the crypto space which has something new everyday, there's not a single person who knows it all. We always think other people have all of the answers and have everything figured out. That’s simply not true. The wave’s there, all set, with full aggression, you just need to make use of that opportunity and make it to the end with the wave. The people who are good at embracing uncertainties are the ones who make it past the finish line.
AI: What's something which was an unexpected learning for you?
Public speaking. It's not like I wasn't aware of the importance of public speaking before, but, it has such a huge effect, I only realised it there. Without communication skills, the ability to progress in this working world and in life, itself, would be nearly impossible. Public speaking is one of the most important and most dreaded forms of communication. Man, if you cannot communicate what's going on in your mind, it doesn't matter how intellectual you are.
AI: What's something that you didn't like?
Can I say alcohol in the air? I don't understand why people smoke or drink. I think the answer lies beyond rationalism, because nobody would do it by applying logic per se. I am actually looking for answers, if you have any reasoning please tell me because I don't happen to have any answer to it, yet!
The full interview will be out soon.
See you next Saturday, until then have a great weekend :)
Cheers!
👾 TOP 5 TWEETS OF THE WEEK 👾
Even if it’s true. I don’t mind tbh!
What’s up with this Chinese????
By providing them a shelter, right? RIGHT????
This is what is called AI assisted hacking! Tough times ahead ….
Let’s do this Bruaaah!
Some things that you may find interesting-
Article: What Makes You You? by Tim Urban
Book I am reading: Project Hail Mary
Song I am listening to: The Night
Thought of the week: "You don’t need more motivation, you need to stick to your good habits with more discipline."