Resolutions,Time-Rich, Rupi Kaur and PapaCJ

Welcome to the first issue of the newsletter for 2021. This edition is all about being time-rich.

Why do we wait for the new year to make resolutions?

A new year gives us a feeling of making a “fresh start”. It offers a hope of a new beginning and an opportunity to be a better version of ourselves. A resolution tells us what we OUGHT to do.

Do you make new year resolutions? I do.

I have only one resolution this year – to make me richer … (hold on, let me complete my sentence) when it comes to my time. So will pack in less every day. And be less burdened with productivity.

I thought about all my resolutions that I made last year. None of them happened. I did not travel anywhere after March. I did not hug my friends. I stopped going to the gym. While the planned ones did not come through, 2020 was a creatively fulfilling year for me. And I have no complaints.

How did you do with your resolutions in 2020? Tell us

But I did many other things in 2020 that I feel good about. So it led me to wonder what my real motivations are. That is what led me to rethink my goals for this year.

I will take one day at a time in 2021. That is how addicts achieve the goal of kicking the habit.

But if you have already made resolutions here is what you can do to keep them. You can try temptation bundling. This is a method developed by Prof Katy Milkman. She writes about it here <Dig deeper>

PS: When you read the next article about Rupi Kaur, you will know why I set my goal for this year to be “time-rich”!

Home Body by Rupi Kaur

I wrote about Rupi Kaur in my book Dreamers & Unicorns. She writes her poetry on Instagram and illustrates them. She makes the reader EXPERIENCE her poetry. She is a Market Shaper who has shifted how poetry is written, experienced and published.

I just read her book of poetry Home Body.

in 2014 no one would publish my poetry because “there was no audience for it”. professors told me not to self-publish because the literary world looked down upon self-publishing. i laughed because i didn’t have the luxury to care what the literary world thought of me😂 the topics that this 21 year old punjabi girl who came from an immigrant working class family wrote about weren’t going to resonate with them anyways.

As a 21-year-old university student Rupi wrote, illustrated and self-published her first poetry collection, milk and honey (which spent a year on NY Times bestseller list). Her books have sold over 8 million copies and have been translated into over 42 languages. She is 28 now. As in Gurmukhi script, her work is written exclusively in lowercase, using only the period as a form of punctuation. She is on Instagram with 4.1 million followers as @rupikaur_ Here is a poem that I loved

i measure my self-worth

by how productive i’ve been

but no matter how hard i work

i still feel inadequate

That is a poem from a section called ‘productivity guilt’ from the book Home Body by Rupi Kaur. That was the one that resonated with me.

This poem once again convinced me that being “time-rich” was the right goal for me this year.

Papa CJ on the “cost of your dreams”

“I want to be a stand-up comedian” says the teenager to a horrified parent. Parents want to know, “What do the stand-up comedians DO?” Some ask the absolutely silly question, “Can you tell me a joke?”

It is annoying for comedians, “You don’t go to a boxer and say, “You are a boxer, can you punch me?”

Most people believe that they will work in a soul-sapping piece of work until they earn enough to pursue their “dreams”. How Papa CJ responded was a surprise for me.

See the pattern?

The chat with Papa CJ is available here for you to enjoy LinkedIn page or Facebook page

You can see quick highlights and short snippets here

Book Recommendation

Researcher Ashley Whillans talks about the difference between how Americans spend their meal time and compares it with the French. If both get the same (hypothetically) 60 minutes for lunch, the Americans spend most of it thinking about the choices and what to eat and very little time talking to the friend or colleague. The French spend their time quickly deciding what to order but maximise the time they are spending chatting with the friend or colleague.

I want to spend 2021 being ‘time-rich’. What are the common errors?

1. Trying to choose the perfect/ best deal in situations that do not warrant it. You may not remember the details of the dishes you ordered, but you may recall the conversation and the moments shared.

2. If you think you will spend time working for that dream lifestyle, maybe ask yourself, why you want it and how it is impacting others around you currently.

3. Some more ideas are given in the sketchnote below

Want to get a quick view of the ideas her book talks about? Watch the talk.