I met friends, bought books, walked across Church Street, and tried new food places. It felt nice to just hang out, away from work and the digital world.

Anyway… I managed to get my hands on some resources in February.

Here are some of the all-time top ones.

Movies:

Ted and Ted 2

I am a sucker for movies and shows that drain me mentally. I don’t know why; but it is what it is.

This love for high emotional investment in entertainment never made me appreciate/explore movies on a lighter note. The kind that feels warm, demands less of your energy and leaves you with a smile.

Ted and Ted 2 are not exactly “warm” movies. Nor they are THE best in any category. If you want to have a good laugh on a Wednesday night after a long day of work, Ted is not a harmful option.

This is adult comedy btw.

Shows:

Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z

Man, someone save me. My entertainment last week was 14 hours and I’m sure 12 hours of it was just this stupidly popular and insanely good anime: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.

It took me a couple of months to finish Dragon Ball (153 eps); to get into the world and for Goku to find a real challenge. Now that Dragon Ball Z started, it’s dangerously addictive.

I had to restrict my entertainment time this week or else all my work would pile up.

Books:

Inner Game of Tennis

I have been reading this book forever as a pre-match ritual. I play Cricket.

I recommended it to all my friends who play sports. If I have to put it in one sentence, the book is all about “Your body has put in the reps to build muscle memory, and you have to learn to let your mind shut up and allow the body react to what comes your way.”

It’s a simple technique. Simple state of mind to be in. It’s beautiful if you’ve played sports and experienced it. Some call it flow.

But again - simple not easy.

This book helps you trust your instincts and shows you how.

Steal like an Artist

Ever since I started content creation, my friends kept telling me I should read “Steal Like an Artist.”

After spending 5 years in content, I agree with almost everything Austin says. It would have been more useful to me 3-4 years ago.

But it’s a great reminder book I would like to revisit every 3-6 months. It’s short too. Should be done in an hour.

YouTube:

10 Years of Acquired

Acquired is one of the channels I look upto. The standards for their quality are insanely high and the nuances in storytelling >>>

In December 2024, on Acquired’s 10th anniversary, the founders spoke about their journey, learnings, and how they do what they do

10/10 recommend if you’re into content, marketing, and business.

Simple Ken Podcast w Rohan Joshi

I love hearing Rohan Joshi talk. The man is such an entertainer and has crazy knowledge about literally everything.

If you don’t have time for the entire episode, do watch his take on love and why he is single. Love love love how he articulates, and I’ll work to get there someday.

What next:

• I wanted to read more physical books in 2026. I read three already. Started fourth. I am happy.

• I want to read cool essays too. If you have recs for me, do send them my way.

• I am kinda making videos on IG. Follow along please?

Have fun.

Love,
Vikra.

But I made a resource to document the best of the best recommendations.

First, I make a list of all I consume, then I curate the ones you might like in this newsletter. From here, only the best ones make it to Vickypedia.

View Vickypedia

Anyway, here are my top recommendations from January 2026.

Movies:

Tetris

I randomly watched Tetris on a Wednesday night and what a story! It’s not just about the game, design or business, but how the world was operating at the time.

If you’re interested in history, a little bit of geopolitics, and business, it’s one of the best movies you can watch just for its combination of events.

Eko

The immediate reaction after watching Eko was it’s one of the best thrillers I have ever seen, but the excitement slowly died down as I processed the movie.

It’s a concept you don’t often see, especially tied to a thriller. If you’re climax paglu like me (ending movie on a high), totally go for it!

F1

I knew it was a mistake not watching F1 in the theatre. The last time I regretted not watching a movie on the big screen was KGF 1.

“Hope is not a strategy” and “Plan C is for combat” will stay with me for a long time, and of course, I will watch Drive to Survive sometime this year.

At this point, I guess it’s obvious I’m listening to “Lose My Mind” on loop?

Haq

If you take away religion, suppression, and women's empowerment from the movie, and look even deeper, you will really get to see the core of Haq, Iqra.

Iqra is the first word in the Quran, meaning: read.

Gurus of all religions preach their teachings and I always believe the relationship between oneself and their God is deeply personal and no one has a say in how that relationship should be held.

It’s only between you and your God.

But your everyday people will use the religion’s sacred texts, traditions, and customs to say you’re wrong and theirs is the only correct way.

Your power in such arguments if you’re not loud, strong, or rich is education.

…and that’s the soul of the film.

It’s about educating yourself about your religion or community, so no one can bullshit you about how you work around your relationship with God.

There is this line in Haq. Yami Gautam says to her religious heads, and it translates to, “You can beat me at anything, but not at the Quran. I read it daily, and I have been doing it all my life.”

I’ll leave you to explore the rest in the movie.

Shows:

House of Cards

Love love love House of Cards, but I don’t see myself finishing this series any time soon. I watched the first two seasons, and I needed some space away from the toxicity (not really toxic but felt toxic to me.)

It’s about climbing up the ladder in politics. No character is anyone’s friend and literally every conversation between two characters is a move for power.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the characters and the writing, but I just don’t have it in me. It’s just way too much thirst for power than I could handle, but a 10/10 show for sure.

The Pitt

So I stumbled upon The Pitt when I saw a reel about shows with IMDb ratings of 8 or more on all the episodes.

It’s THE BEST show I have seen on doctors. Grey’s Anatomy, Good Doctor, all these are dramas and kinda fun. I enjoyed Good Doctor myself.

I don’t know much about how doctors actually work in hospitals, but this show clearly shows how hectic and chaotic a doctor’s life in an emergency ward is.

No overly dramatic cases. No unnecessary random makeouts. Somewhat close to reality.

Reading:

Wealth Ladder

I like this book. Sanat suggested it to me in Ranthambore.

It’s about how your relationship with money/wealth changes as you increase your income. And what you can do at each stage to level up.

Now it’s not the best book ever. It’s not life-changing. But non-fiction is all about gaining new perspectives. Wealth Ladder fulfils that purpose.

How to fix your entire life in 1 day

There is a thin line between mental masturbation and actually reading self-help to improve yourself. This famous article on X/Twitter is super close to either of these lines.

It’s a long essay, but one line summary is: Change your identity if you truly want to change your behaviour, outcome, or habits.

YouTube:

Aditya introduced me to this really cool channel. Again, kind of self help genre. But I love the fact-y analysis and storytelling. I’m actually watching to learn some storytelling.

Videos on closing loops and consistency are my favourites yet.

What next…

• I want to read one book a month. Physical books. Even slowly moving away from audiobooks.

• I’m looking for good podcasts. Fun, work, hobbies, anything works. If you have recommendations, lmkkk!

• I’m reading The Inner Game of Tennis. Last 50 pages left. Picking up Scott Adams’ Reframe Your Mind next. Love his videos, and I wanted to read his book after he passed away recently.

ok byeeee

I have always enjoyed my work, but today I am in a great mental space with the momentum I’m carrying. Content is coming out okay, subscriber growth is good, and so on.

On the other hand, my year as an athlete has been horrible. Probably the worst year I’ve ever had.

I am in the zone when I’m working, and I get sad when I think of the sport I love.

Weird math, I know.

But yes, I started focusing on my fitness. I am sure it’ll have a second-order effect on my performance. But I also want to consume sports stories. Something that keeps me close to why I enjoy the game and not let myself be pulled down by the weight of underperformance.

So I’ve picked up this beautiful book called The Inner Game of Tennis. It talks about the mental state of Tennis players and how to act intuitively. Athletes call it ‘being in the zone.’

Honestly, I am learning nothing new, but constantly reading about mental states makes me conscious of my thoughts. It’s a good book. You should read it if you’re into competitive sports. You don’t have to know Tennis jargon.

Anyway… here come more recs from October. (I know it’s late. Life kinda happened.)

YouTube

Why is Blue so rare in Nature?

Be Smart is my favourite channel to consume useless knowledge. It’s an important part of my personality. I believe all the interesting knowledge consumed with no specific intentions will compound over time.

This video is about the science of why animals are rarely blue, but when they do, they’re too beautiful. Like the butterflies.

The Science of Self-Control

Over the years, I have read multiple materials on self-control, but this video on monitoring internal conflict between your two selves made the most sense to me.

TL;DR is you have selves conflicting with each other.

For example, Self one craves ice cream. Self two says no sugar.

We think Self two loses the conflict to Self one, so we order an ice cream. But the author argues it’s neither about winning nor losing. It’s about monitoring.

Imagine an eagle-eye view.

You’re policing two people having a healthy argument. It doesn’t turn ugly as long as you have eyes on them. But the moment you look away, they start a fist fight. One of them wins. Now you have no control over the action that has already happened.

In much simpler words, the video explains how staying in the present leads to self-control. At least that’s my takeaway.

AMA with Zerodha Executives

I am not a finance guy, but I love listening to Zerodha’s annual executive AMA.

It’s just the company’s executives having a chat about the future of the company and the industry.

There’s so much to learn by just observing how these folks at the top level speak and think, and that’s the only reason I watch such videos even when they’re not directly linked to my interests.

Blogs and Newsletters

I don’t believe in manifestation as in “Manifest something and it happens to you.”

I thought it was wishful thinking with no action. I had another perspective on how one might confuse visualisation with manifestation.

But this blog changed my perspective on manifestation so much that I am manifesting now (Trust me, I am a hard person to convince.)

The author tells us how manifestation is attention training and it’s the most logical perspective I have ever heard.

Movies

Little Hearts

I have a hard time suggesting Telugu movies because they’re language-based. Irrespective of how beautiful the story is, the dialogues engage Telugu viewers, and the dubbing or subtitles won’t do justice.

Especially when there’s comedy involved.

But I’m willing to bet you’ll enjoy Little Hearts. It’s my second favourite Telugu rom-com after Ante Sundaraniki. The last 7 minutes are magic and I’ve probably seen it 30ish times.

Shows

Search

I hate it when shows end the season without solving THE conflict.

Search is a gripping show. Engaging, good acting, suspense, etc. But it never closes the loop.

For example, think of a theft and the police have to catch the thief.

Six episodes pass by with detectives, clues, and stuff, and at the end of the last episode, the makers don’t solve the mystery and say it’s for the next season.

I hate that shit. You open new loops for the next season, great. But you’re not closing THE loop is my biggest turnoff.

Btw, I have also watched Baahubali: The Epic in theatres. The makers have combined both parts and rereleased the film for the franchise’s 10-year anniversary. Pictures.

I have also watched the House of Dynamite and Diplomat season three. Both are good one-time watches if you don’t find any better shows/movies.

See you in December. Write to me with what you’re reading/watching. I’d love to discuss.

I am tired of spy, diplomacy, sci-fi, and war genres. If you have recommendations for me, HMU!

Love,
Vikra

I have hardly read books, watched parodies, listened to podcasts, learned new concepts, drawn towards hobbies… which are usually a big part of my routine.

The reality? I was out of ideas. I couldn’t go down the rabbit holes. I hardly wrote anything. Fuck I didn’t even tweet. I feel rusty, wanting so badly to write, express meaningful words, but hardly finding any.

Good for me, I have a ritual of documenting the best content from each month.

Sadly I won’t be able to share any books, blogs, newsletters, YouTube videos, podcasts, etc., in this edition. All I have are movies and shows, but I managed to discover good ones.

OG

I watched OG in the theater. I was there for the vibes, and I got what I went in for. It’s the usual Telugu, commercial film you expect from a star.

Music was insanely good. People screaming is an infinite aura. For someone like me who’s not a ‘fan’, it’s a pretty average film. But I went for the screams, I got the screams. So I wouldn’t complain. It was fun while I was in cinemas, but not a movie I’d recommend to a non-Telugu person.

Diplomat

It’s a show about how this woman is a potential U.S. vice Presidential candidate and was put into a new diplomatic role to gauge her public appearances. She was a veteran working in the shadows before this new role as a Diplomat.

Fun thing? She doesn’t know she’s a candidate for VP. Hates public appearances and badly wants to quit her office.

Anyway, I don’t think it’s a perfect show. It’s not even in my top 50 shows.

But I enjoyed it. It was engaging, had decent cliffhangers with flawed characters.

I assume a new season is coming up. I’ll watch, but for you: Only watch it if you have nothing better on your watchlist.

Kuroku’s Basketball

Why did no one tell me sports + anime is top-tier stuff?

I accidentally discovered Kuroku’s Basketball and Oh boy, I loved it. As an athlete, I have an inherent bias towards any team games but KB was fun.

It’s not the best sports anime I’ve watched. Haikyuu (Volleyball) is on top. Raising Impact (Golf) second. I should watch BlueLock sometime.

KB would have been on top with Haikyuu, but it didn’t for two reasons:

• The makers didn’t explore the side characters enough. There were 4-5 players on the team I wish I’d known their backstory, but nothing ever came from them. It’s a surprise to me. Anime writers give every character their own story and limelight. The fact the anime on teamwork didn’t cover the entire team was a turn off.

• It’s a 78-episode series. Episodes 60-70 were too slow. So much backstory for what could have been a 10-minute scene.

PS: I moved my publication to Substack from Beehiiv. So my entire list is here. If you’re previously unsubscribed, I am sorry for the trouble.

These days, I am publishing personal essays, monthly recommendations, and will soon start talking about movies and books.

Until next time!

Love, Vikra.

Top movies:

• Coolie: It was not Lokesh’s best, but there were glimpses of the superstar you can’t avoid but appreciate. I didn’t like the film overall, but I’ll be glad to have watched some of the dope Rajnikanth scenes in the theater.

• Superboys of Malegaon: It’s that film you surprisingly discover when you’re bored and end up thinking, “Why didn’t anyone recommend me this before?” If you like films about men’s friendships and true-to-character stories, you’ll love Superboys.

• Hope Aur Hum: Great premise, but could have been made better. It’s about letting go, and the movie was beautifully set up to deliver its message. It’s a shame it couldn’t.

• Maareesan: First 70% of the movie, crazy good. Last 30%, a disappointment considering the suspense didn’t live up. The characters, acting, and making, all of it was perfect, but what can I say - I have watched too many south indian movies with similar drama/emotion/ending.

• Thunderbolts: I don’t know what to make of Marvel films anymore. Marvel’s standards are always high in my mind, and I can’t watch them from the lens, “Oh, it’s better compared to recent Marvel movies.” But I am happy with one thing - Marvel is finally back to exploring emotions. The human side of Marvel separates it from any other superhero franchise.

Top shows:

• Rookie Seasons 5, 6, 7: I can’t believe I watched all seven seasons, but it was totally worth it. Great balance between comedy, conflicts, and character arcs, and I 10/10 recommend it if you want to watch a lighthearted show with occasional heartbreaks.

• Half CA Season 2: Also 10/10 recommend. Beautiful show with only 5 episodes per season. TVF hardly goes wrong with its content, and Half CA has everything you can expect from a TVF drama - cute love stories, heartbreaks, touching dialogues, ambition, etc.

That’s all I have for today. I have to keep it short, I am unable to work/write longer because of this stupid viral fever.

If you have any reading recommendations for me, please send over.

Love,
Vikra.

In December 2023, I published for 30 days straight.

I struggled to come up with new topics or explore ideas. So I chose the obvious solution - Document my day for 30 days straight. Like a public diary. Or text logs.

There were days my body couldn’t move after an intense cricket match. Or the nights I was out with friends till 4 a.m. I still published at five in the morning.

This period allowed me to connect closely with my readers. Some of you started your day with my logs. Some texted me at 1 a.m. asking if everything was okay or if I had missed publishing.

In February 2025, I decided to quit sugar for 50 days.

I had a sweet tooth, and stress eating was a huge problem. I tried restricting my habits, reducing the portion sizes of my ice cream cups, etc. I couldn’t follow.

So I took a stricter route that works for me. Quit all kinds of sugar for 50 days. No added sugars, no snacks, nothing. Only sugars allowed were from fruits or ORS (WHO formula) for my cricket matches.

I stopped the challenge after 60 days. The increase in energy levels was insane, and it is by far one of the most satisfying challenges.

In August 2025, I started a 100-day workout routine.

It’s simple: work out for 100 days straight. It’s my new hard thing.

What qualifies as a workout? Gym, cricket training session, match, and swim. Runs and Badminton if my ankle heals from a sprain.

On busy or travel days, I do the bare minimum to qualify: 50 pushups, 150 squats, 50 burpees, 5000 steps, and planks as long as I can. Not more than 20 bare minimum days allowed.

I have colour-coded my tracker to add gamification. Coloring Goku and hanging it on my wall is my reward. I only get to colour Goku once I’ve finished the challenge successfully.

Why challenge yourself?

It brings freshness to my otherwise boring life. It gives me an activity to look forward to.

It helps me obtain a sense of accomplishment and to master discipline and routines to achieve short-term goals. It helps my confidence. That I can choose tough battles and win.

I started experimenting when I realised I work well in extremes and a limited set of days.

If you ask me to have the same routine for six months straight, I’d rot out of boredom. I usually like streaks of high performance. Then I rest for some days until I find my next curious experiment.

Is this good? Or even healthy?

I don’t know.

Words like moderation and balance seem like the right things. If a genie grants me a wish to choose between extremes and moderation, I’ll probably say moderation.

But I am learning to ride the tide and not swim against it.

As much as I’d love to adopt moderation everywhere, I realised I could categorise balanced activities from extremes. Example, I can have a night out with friends and get back to my sleep cycle the next day. But I can’t have a cheat meal and get back to eating healthy as quickly.

So instead of applying moderation in all places, I decided to use extremes in segments where I perform better in extremes.

Where does it take me? What happens after the challenge?

There are usually phases. Sometimes the momentum helps me carry the discipline. Sometimes I relapse into old habits for a short period. But getting back up is always easier than it was before the experiment.

Do I recommend it? It’s sensitive and personal - I wouldn’t push you to be in extreme streaks and put you in an uncomfortable situation.

But I’ll say one thing. Commitment is sexy. Finishing what you say you will do is one of the most powerful dopamine hits you experience.

The endgame day, when you know it’s the last day and you WILL get it done, is exciting.

We rarely appreciate ourselves. Challenges increase the probability of looking at the mirror with pride and satisfaction.

There hasn’t been a day I haven’t questioned my methods, perspective, and how I do what I do. But today, I am in a better position to articulate my thoughts.

Three months ago, if you had confronted me with, “You say no to most fun, and I see you on your desk all day. But you don’t seem to be successful.”

I’d burst out in angst and with a trembling voice, I’d respond, “You have no idea what I have been doing. I miss the time with my friends, family, and fun events. I start my day with work. I am mindful of my time. I am always learning. You don’t know how things work in unconventional fields, and you definitely don’t know how hard I have been working all day.”

But am I?

The illusion of hard work

Nikhil Kamath’s lines always stay close to my heart. They’ve hit hard:

Hardwork is not that important.

Hard work gives you the ammunition to say I tried when ego comes attaking why didn’t you make it?

In the capatalistic world, I don’t think there is a correlation between the number of hours you work to how successful you become.

Does this mean hard work has no value? I don’t think so.

But I have been looking at hard work the wrong way. Socially, we are conditioned to believe we don’t deserve results if we didn’t grind enough, whether the task itself requires us to work hard or not.

In my case, the need to project hardship diminished my ability to work smart or apply the Pareto principle^[1].

I only need to do a few things right to notice significant results.

In fact, I can name it for you. In a month: 4 issues each on my marketing and personal newsletter, growth and partnerships for the coffee newsletter, 4 Reddit posts, handling 3-4 clients (20-30 hours/mo each), and 2 community events.

That’s it. I do this for six months straight, and I KNOW I will be in a far better position than I am today - with peace, happiness, money, and freedom.

Despite my self-awareness, I make things hard for myself because I am not ready to believe I had a good day if I haven’t ticked a to-do list with 10-15 tasks.

But… things changed in three months, and this is what I think today:

“What caused the shift?” Well, let me introduce you to the illusion of work

Unfortunately, I love my work.

The paradox of passion is your mind never distinguishes between work and play. Because you don’t see work as work, you spend way too much time working without noticing the exhaustion or the clock. Neuroscience supports this^[2].

All the time you spend working feels like meaningful work, but it isn’t.

In my case, any of the tasks I mentioned earlier (writing newsletters, client work, etc.) are meaningful tasks. When I act on them religiously, the needle moves massively in the positive direction (lifestyle, revenue, etc.)

All the other time, I hop tabs, read, organize my systems, create plans, etc. Yes, these are important, but I am delusionally overinvolved in such tasks. Watching a couple of extra podcasts feels harmless until you question if that’s what you really need right now.

It feels like we’re doing the right things. Especially when you compare it with scrolling reels, binge-watching a show, spending hours in bed, etc.

If this sounds relatable - Sorry to break it to you, you’re not working.

You’re in an illusion of work.

“If you are so self-aware, why aren’t you doing what you’re supposed to be doing? What’s the solution anyway?”

Idk man. To each their own.

Time tracking has been working for me. I track my work hours → divide them into meaningful and non-meaningful hours → review every Monday → optimise next week for more meaningful work.^[3]

Also I put money on the line. I deposited 10k in one of my favourite communities. I need to publish three long-form posts a week for 10 weeks straight. If I miss 4/30 posts, I don’t get my money back. Plus I don’t get to attend the next in-person retreat that happens every six months.

I retired a few projects. Example: My blog on newsletters. It’s not a bad project^[4] but I have limited energy and time. It creates more time for my priority projects and removes the guilt of abandoning the rest of them.

If I could go back in time, I’d ask myself if I do meaningful work or if I am just delulu.

Footnotes:

[1] Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule states 80% of results come from 20% of actions.

[2] Instead of sharing a complicated case study, watch this reel by a neurologist.

[3] I post about my time on Twitter every Monday. You can see my tweets here.

[4] My blog is another example of the illusion of work. Everything I published on newslettercasestudies.com could have been in my marketing newsletter. It feels harmless to have a separate blog dedicated to newsletter case studies, but the truth is - It could have just been a Google Doc or a tag on my marketing newsletter and STILL BE FINE.

Filmmakers are unhappy with reviewers’ negative reviews and sometimes sarcasm/trolls. Reviewers say they have the right to share their opinions. YouTubers, Instagramers, etc.

Things are kinda serious. Lawsuits and all happening.

Between all this mess, I noticed one important perspective missing - of the audience.

I’ll present each side’s argument, then will share what I think as a viewer who neither misses a film or a review.

If you have no idea what the fuss is about, I will make it as entertaining and contextual as possible for you. Think of it as a movie lover’s insight, if not anything.

So... this is what filmmakers think about reviewers

• They influence or impose on people not to watch movies.

• They make negative videos by trolling the actors/movie so that they get more views.

• Reviewers have no knowledge or qualification to talk about the movie. “Come make a movie and talk” is a common narrative.

• Reviews are unbiased only if you don’t make money from sponsorships or YouTube.

And... this is what reviewers think about filmmakers

• It’s free speech. Everybody has a right to share their opinion.

• Movies are a product and can be reviewed. Why shouldn’t we do it independently?

• We want people to watch better movies.

• You can’t threaten us with lawsuits or YouTube strikes because we are vocal about not liking your film.

Now... What I think

I have nothing to do with filmmakers or reviewers. I don’t know them. I only want to share my perspective as an audience.

I am a marketer and have worked on 70+ projects in the last three years. I understand how creators think.

More importantly, I have watched South Indian films for 26 years. Multiple languages, thousands of movies - so I know my connection with movies. Plus I consume teasers, trailers, most marketing interviews.

Then I watch reviews too.

If there is a perspective I am missing, it’s that of a filmmaker. I don’t make movies, so I don’t truly understand how they feel. I might be biased to reviewers or blinded to makers.

That aside, I’ll share the popular arguments and my opinions.

“Crew works hard to make movies. Years of effort and we lose crores because of negative reviews.”

Nobody cares about the effort. We watch a movie for a great experience with our favourite genre, artists, etc. That’s the core reason why. Appreciation of your hard work or any other feelings are only secondary.

“There is no story. Why are people even encouraging the old school movies with over-the-top action and dialogues.”

Value is different for different people. I watch movies for a good story and performances. But some people don’t care about the story and only watch for their favourite star. Seeing their ‘hero’ for two hours on screen is value to them. You can’t blame filmmakers for serving a hardcore fanbase.

“...over-the-top action and dialogues - part 2”

From teaser to movie promotions, the expectations are set clearly. As audience, we know if we’re in for comedy, cringe comedy, romance, action, intense drama, etc. Any person who expects Christofer Nolan’s making in Fast and Furious series is searching for wrong value at wrong place.

“...over-the-top action and dialogues - part 3”

There’s this actor, Balayya, who makes action films. Fights are over-the-top and almost all movies are the same. Yet his last four films made 100 Cr each.

See? Set of audience → Attracts value → Brings money to business.

“Filmmakers take our love for granted and raise prices like crazy.”

As makers, they have the right to set the price. I believe the audience has no say in this. End of the day, it’s business. Makers measure the buzz and price the number that brings the most profits. There’s enough pre-release material, maker’s history, etc., to decide if our money is worth spending. If not, there is an OTT release within two months.

“What qualifications do reviewers have to talk about films?”

You are confusing a critique with a reviewer. The way I see it - Critique criticises the movie or makers, considering the technical aspects like cinematography, sound, screenplay, etc. There isn’t a strict qualification, but you need a journalism or arts background as a foundation.

Reviews, on the other hand, share their opinions as an audience. They don’t follow a set of metrics or technicalities, but only mention what they like or don’t like about the film.

Every person who watches a film will have an opinion. Some share it with friends. Some share it on public platforms, turning into reviewers.

My point - Critique might need qualifications, but the qualifications of those sharing opinions don’t make sense. By this logic, none of the audience has any qualification to watch, decide, or share word-of-mouth.

Reviewers are no separate breed. They are the same people for whom the filmmakers make films.

Only that they share opinions publicly.

“Why don’t reviewers make a film? Show how it’s done?”

Taste and Skill evolve at different speeds.

Your ability to judge art develops way before your ability to create. That’s the reason you know what design, book, or food is good/bad, but you can’t make it any better or create from scratch.

Skill comes from millions of reps.

The job of reviewers is to judge a film based on their taste. (FYI: That’s how audience watches too) Filmmakers are challenging reviewers’ skills. Totally different games.

“Reviewers speak negatively about the film for views.”

I agree. Once a creator cracks a code with sarcasm, humour, or anger, they want to double down on it. You don’t want your movie to have branding any different from what you imagined and you definitely don’t want it to be a meme.

But again - audience are smart. They might fall for the review a few times, but eventually will learn to not trust the reviewer.

Btw, there is a bright side too. No one really accounts how reviews bring visibility to underrated, unappreciated movies.

“Is reviews’ influence strong enough on people to stop them from coming to theatres?”

Yes. There is influence when there is uncertainty - when audience consider a movie but aren’t so sure.

I dropped going to theatre to kill time because reviews were bad.

I went to theatres because the reviews were great for the movie I had no intention of watching.

Influence works both ways.

The authority a movie holds over an audience is much larger than of a review.

If the movie is decently promoted and audience see substance in trailers, nothing stops them from watching it in theatres. Including the bad talk and even the bad movies.

Our movie culture has wired us to watch movies regardless.

“Reviewers are manipulating the audience” vs “Audience deserve better movies from makers”

Ever heard of sunk cost? You spend lots of time on your product, so you lose objectivity and assume it is more important than it is.

Both filmmakers and reviewers miss one thing in their arguments - Audience are smart.

Audience are smart enough to not solely rely on movie’s marketing material or the reviews. They are smart enough to decide if the movie is for them or not. They are smart enough to know if they really like the movie or just fitting in with public opinions. They might not voice it, but they know. They also know their expectations of the movie and where it exceeded or failed them.

Even the most hardcore fans who defend their favourite stars with zero logic know deep down the film isn’t that great. Their love and pride won’t allow them to admit it, but they’re smart as well.

So don’t worry about us as much maybe?

Makers and reviewers are significant catalysts in forming opinions or driving audiences to theatres, but they are nowhere close to the causation.

• I enrolled in a super sexy gym. It is huge. I love high ceilings and lots of free space. It has glass windows on both sides; I am a sucker for natural light. I have access to a pool, yoga and zumba within the membership. Not much of a Yoga, Zumba guy, but I am not missing out on 15 minutes of swimming after the gym. Plus there’s a café.

• Picked up sketching as a hobby. I am on a 21-day workshop.

• I made chilli paneer.

I will share all the pictures in the end. Keep reading.

Books

1/ What if by Randall Munroe

I am embarrassed to admit I am still reading this book. I haven’t dedicated time to reading at all and only since Monday, I added a mandatory 30-minute reading session in my calendar.

My stance on What if stays the same. It’s one of the sexiest science books I’ve read and you don’t even need to be a science guy. Feels like Sci-Fi with good humour.

2/ Cashvertising by Drew E. Whitman

I am rereading (rather listening) to Cashvertising.

Each marketer has a book to return to whenever they want to touch base. It’s cashvertising for me.

I have consumed way too many blogs, books, and podcasts on advertising. Nothing articulates what incentivizes humans to purchase in alignment with advertising to make customers act better than Cashieeee.

PS: I have paused Win Bigly by Scott Adams. I’ll finish What if, then resume WB.

Podcasts and YouTube

I got so drawn into a TV series I didn’t bother consuming anything else. Now I see how I fucked up.

Anyway - I managed to watch one or two cool videos.

1/ Why AI is overrated - with Neil deGrasse Tyson

I have to consume what’s happening with AI regularly for work. Astrophysicist’s take on AI was kinda refreshing. It was nothing new, but I love how Neil presented his thoughts. I should listen to more of his interviews.

More cool videos:

• Why useless knowledge can be so useful

• 50 founders share how they got their first customers

• World’s shortest guide to becoming a polymath

Blogs, Newsletters, or something

I only want to share one blog this month because it’s life-changing.

For me, it’s “Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage.”

I read it 40ish days ago. It was during the time (and for a really long time) when I didn’t publish enough because I wanted to produce a perfect output.

This essay just shattered my beliefs and showed me that to create perfect outputs, I must output high volumes.

Ofc, it sounds obvious when I put it that way. But you must read it if you consider yourself a perfectionist.

Movies and TV shows

• The Rookie (Season 1, 2, 3, 4): I love this show. Everyone should at least watch one season. It’s a crime-comedy, great to pass the time. Plus, some heartwarming (sometimes heartbreaking) scenes. I forced myself to stop this show because it’s taking time away from books, podcasts, and newsletters.

• Special Ops Season 2: Okay, if you’ve liked Special Ops 1 and 1.5, you will enjoy the latest season. It’s a gripping story. You always want to know what’s happening next. There are a couple of scenes where R&AW agents made silly mistakes. The kind of mistakes any civilian in the same situation would be cautious about. That I felt was a poor representation of R&AW. Take that away, it’s a good seven episodes to spend time on.

Okay here are the pictures I promised

I drew a Macaw

…and a Sunflower

Poolpaglu

and the gym

Well - what if cooking if aesthetics are not taken care of?

That’s my best of July. If you have recommendations for me, reply to this email and we’ll chat.

If you find these recs useful, please share this link and ask your friends to subscribe. I need more readers hehe.

Love,
Vikra.

Is it more money? Is it friendships? I have a vague idea, but I never gave a conscious thought to it until today.

Some of these are aspirations. Some I already possess. But no harm in writing it down and working towards these:

• Bringing results to the people I work with and being known for my work.

• Have enough time for experimental projects. Building apps, newsletters, physical products; solutions that solve meaningful problems.

• Hobbies. I want to learn to sketch, dance, watchmaking, MMA, cooking, surfing, etc. One at a time with dedication, and get good enough to keep revisiting when I feel like it. I want my hobbies to become my safe space, away from all the chaos my ambitions bring.

• Loving partner with whom togetherness adds meaning to places, activities, and conversations—irrespective of our innate curiosity towards them.

• Friends I can count on. Those whom I don’t talk with daily or meet regularly, but the bond is warm as always, and we keep investing in the friendship, one experience at a time.

• Give my parents all they wish for. They have only a few desires and might even yell at me for overspending on any grand gesture. But these are two people for whom I never look at the price before purchase.

• Jacked body. Not like the supermodel types. But the one that doesn’t give me trouble or restricts me physically. I don’t want to abort on impromptu adventures because I am not physically capable.

• Eat clean. I overeat and abuse myself with food when I’m anxious. Apparently, it’s called stress eating. I am in a better place than I was a year ago, but there are still episodes at times. The goal is to build complete control over what goes into my tummy.

• Play really good cricket. For those who don’t know, I was a professional once. Now I play for fun, but I take my training, preparation, and tournaments with the same professionalism as I did five years ago.

• Meditate 5x a week. I don’t meditate as much as I should. Especially when I know my productivity, concentration, and performance are off the charts when I am a regular.

• Write essays that make a difference to my readers + give form to my thoughts.

• Travel to experience cultures wildly different from what I have known.

• Make new friends, meet new people, get more surprised knowing how different yet similar all humans are. And how similar yet different.

• Financial Freedom to me is the ability to not say no to my interests and my people because I don’t have enough money to compensate for the needs. I don’t know what that number is; all I know is it’s a feeling I am working towards.

• Have a sexy collection of coffee mugs and watches.

That’s all I could think of. I wrote these keeping the next two years in mind.

I 100% recommend you do this for yourself. Crazy good journaling exercise on how you see your life currently and how you want to change it. Don’t be afraid to dream big (eww I sound like a self-help guru, but you get my point.)

Some categories you can look into: health, friendships, relationships, finances, work, hobbies, explorations, challenges, spirituality, community, knowledge, home, etc.

Good luck!

If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to read yours. Have a great day!

Love,
Vikra.

Last 20 days were hectic as hell, but this newsletter is proof enough I survived. I have made new friends, travelled to Pune, met super sexy minds at Lonavala, got some impromptu work done on the trip.

For real:

Anyway, I won’t waste your time. Here are my top recs of June for you.

Books

1/ Win Bigly by Scott Adams

Thanks to Tushar, I am currently reading one of the most well-articulated books on persuasion. You will learn how humans think and what they react to, plus how master persuaders communicate.

If you’ve already read basic books on influence like “How to win friends…” and crossed the threshold, Win Bigly is for you.

2/ What if by Randall Munroe

I missed the xkcd blog era, but I am glad I’m reading Randall. It’s kinda nerdy, geeky, science-y stuff, but I promise you it’s no less than a science fiction film with great humour.

Also I am learning to visualise ideas into sketches. This book has an outstanding presentation of ideas (if that’s your thing.)

Podcasts and YouTube

I haven’t watched many podcasts, but squeezed time to discover cool 10-15 minute videos.

1/ Hard work is not that important

I have a huge ass essay planned on this, so stay tuned.

2/ Love has nothing to do with relationships

So I spoke to 20 people who watched this video. Those who have had meaningful, strong friendships for over seven years - romantically and otherwise - found the video obvious. Others said their minds were blown.

More cool videos:

Be Smart is a really cool channel, ngl!

Movies and TV shows

It’s surprisingly sad I watched only one show and no movies this month.

• Panchayat S4: I wouldn’t say it’s great, but it was no less than its previous seasons. It got better with each episode and I love how ‘seasons’ allow makers to explore character and story arcs compared to movies, where you’re always almost inclined to end on an ideal note.
  
  Spoilers ahead. Skip this paragraph to avoid ’em. Binod totally stole the show for me. Beautiful acting and dil se I was happy to see him win. Abhishek’s and Rinki’s progression from cute talks to almost a kiss was way too fast. Man that scene could have been so much better. But everything else is still cute. Also, I love how TVF explored flaws in Pradhan Ji’s character.

That’s my best of June. If you have recommendations for me, reply to this email and we’ll chat.

If you find these recs useful, please share this link and ask your friends to subscribe. I need more readers hehe.

Love,
Vikra.

On a random February afternoon, I was scrolling YouTube in search of interesting science videos, and a thumbnail with the title “What happens when you quit sugar?” caught my attention.^[1]

“Interesting”, I thought and before I finished the video, I went from “I am bored” to “I think I know what I should do next.”

That’s how it started. Randomly. There were no thoughts leading into it or writing pros and cons, a long list of plans, figuring out what to eat, what not to, etc. Just a decision, then sticking with it.

I gave myself 24 hours to make sure I am not making any impulsive decisions. I only had thoughts like what will be the ground rules, can I do this, etc.

My initial plan was to quit any refined sugar or artificial sweeteners for 30 days. But the period was too little to notice any difference. I asked myself, “What would be a number that feels big but not impossible?”

The answer was 50.

Why was 50 big?

Allow me to tell you a little about myself.

I have a sweet tooth. As big as an African Elephant’s. Plus an unhealthy relationship with sugary products. Think ice creams, milkshakes, French toast with Nutella, fruit juices, etc.

I can’t stop myself from buying a cup of ice cream every time I visit the supermarket.

Moderation was never my strong suit. I always bought two cones, not one. I always bought one-litre bottles, not the 250 ml ones. I never bought cups; it was always buckets.

More importantly, sugar fed my emotions more than my tummy. I had a long day of work, I need a reward - order ice cream. I had a shitty day, I need to feel better - order more ice cream. Sometimes, it almost went to a point of abuse (not too severely, don’t worry) where I fed myself more than I could handle.

Not only this, I finish a month’s worth of chocolates in 1-2 days and probably win if I compete in an ice cream eating competition.

TL;DR - it’s almost impossible for me to say no sugar.^[2]

Why I did what I did?

I was Reddit-ing and people had different reasons to quit sugar. Some wanted to prevent diabetes or control their insulin levels. Others wanted to lose weight.

But I didn’t do it for any health reasons. My lifestyle mainly includes working at a desk 50-60 hours a week and playing sports 12-15 hours a week. I move frequently so I didn’t want to quit sugar for the “sugar crash” reasons either.

Only two reasons:

• Honour my commitment. It was a matter of willpower. “Here is something I can’t say no to, so let me pick this hard thing and constantly say no to it.” I usually post most of what I do online, but I never spoke about quitting sugar anywhere because I didn’t want to do it with accountability’s support. I tried to make it as hard as possible for myself. Only a few close friends and family members knew (<10).

• To check if I can reduce sugar tolerance. I don’t know how this works, but I thought a detox would decrease my sugar tolerance, so when I resume after 50 days, I won’t be eating as much. Or I’d be satisfied with less.
  
  But after 50 days, I do not intend to return to it. At least not how it used to be.

Of course, I had to set up ground rules:

• I’ll not have any products with refined/added sugar. Even if it’s a biscuit and has 5g of added sugar per serving.

• No jaggery, honey, or any artificial sweeteners.

• I can have whole fruits.

• I will document four metrics every day. My weight, how active I felt throughout the day, sugar cravings, and my observations.

The elephant in the room: How did I feel after quitting sugar?

I have to give you a disclaimer. This is not medical advice. I am not asking you to follow my experiments or promising any results. I am just a guy on the internet documenting his journey.

What positive changes did I notice?

Honestly, not many. But the impact was significant.

My energy levels increased insanely (as good as I could notice the difference.)

Before, I could only work one deep work session a day, now I can do three.

I can play a sport and still focus. I can drive, meet people, do chores, and still concentrate for long hours. Previously it was hard and exhausting.

I had this constant freshness I don’t know how to describe. Like how you feel after a really good nap. I used to have this feeling but for three hours maximum. Now it has increased to 6-7 hours a day, allowing me to do tasks that require high, prolonged focus.

I couldn’t write two essays a day. Now I do.

I couldn’t work on the day I played a cricket match. Now I can.

The need for sleep has reduced. Six hours a day feels enough. Earlier I used to sleep for 5-6 hours during the night. And a 60-90 minute nap in the afternoon.

Now my night sleep remains the same. But I only need a 30-60 minute nap at noon. Most days, if I am busy, I can skip afternoon naps and still work efficiently. This wasn’t possible for me for years.

Honestly I don’t feel I need afternoon naps now. Maybe when I overstretch in Cricket sessions and my muscles need recovery.

I am sleeping because it’s more of a habit than a need. In fact there were a bunch of days I got into bed and woke up within 10 minutes because either my sleep was fulfilled or I didn’t feel the need for it.

This allows me to work on one important thing a day, for a longer duration. As someone who works in a creative field, this is gold.

In sports, people say your reflexes improve. Honestly I don’t have enough data points, but there were glimpses I reacted faster than I normally would. Can’t really credit it to quitting sugar yet.

Also - two common claims among people who quit sugar were better skin and weight loss. I didn’t experience either. In all fairness, I didn’t follow a skin care regimen, nor was I looking to lose weight.

Did I notice any downsides?

Sometimes I wish I could have a snack or something. Or a late-night dessert. There were times I was hungry and I couldn’t have a light snack as most snacks have sugar, so I had to order food that is more or less another meal - Haleem, Chicken roll, Sandwich, etc.

I overate a few days, specifically carbs, because I couldn’t snack. I didn’t do much about it then, but now I plan to add more protein, fats, and fibre.

Socialization was never a problem. I met people, had good food, and my friends understood when I said no.

Notes from my documentation

I documented my thoughts daily. I wanted to capture them while they were fresh.

Some highlights:

• Day 7: First day noticing some difference. I have been practicing hard with my cricket training and with this intensity, I should have had a two-hour nap in the afternoon. For some reason, I could not only resist sleep but also get some medium-level effort tasks done. Could be a Placebo.

• Day 10: Even when I overworked or had intense physical exercise, I am able to pull through the day. This doesn’t mean I am super active; only less sleepy.

• Day 11: There’s a slight notion I might be leaning towards spicy, flavourful foods to serve the “junk cravings” for an ice cream, milkshake, etc.

• Day 12: I noticed a pattern in the last 6 days. My energies are shifting alternately. One day I am super productive, next day I am doing nothing or don’t feel like doing anything. Alternate day pattern never happened to me.

• Day 19: I brought ice cream for my mom and grand mom today. Usually in situations like these, I end up buying two cups or a larger portion for myself. This time, I not only resisted the urge to not have sugar, but I didn’t feel even the slightest of temptation.

• Day 22: I am actually thinking, “What’s stopping me to make this a permanent thing?”

• Day 27: I had a weirdly anxious day and these are the days I miss sugar or dopamine drinks more. I couldn’t have coffee today. I badly wanted something hot and liquid. Sadly I couldn’t even have chai.

• Day 36: While I feel active, sometimes I feel dizzy when I overstretch in a match or practice. Rarely happened to me before but 5 times already during these 36 days.

• Day 47: I am increasingly getting surprised with the number of deep work sessions I can do while doing other tasks (helping at home, playing sports, etc.) This is so good that I wish to continue with “no sugar” for as long as I can.

• Day 48: Sometimes I wonder what’s the point of all this when I can’t have my favourite food. Sure I can have one, eat in moderation and be happy with it. Probably I’d do that in other days. But seriously, I should make moderation a habit. I always have had large sized and it’s a bad habit I’m finding hard to recover from.

I only copy-pasted a few important thoughts here, but I am also attaching screenshots of my everyday notes if you want to see how I felt daily in detail:

What about the natural sugars?

I had my fruits and stuff. Only added sugar I had was ORS, WHO formula. I had to drink it to not get dehydrated during cricket matches. Probably Sugarcane was out of the line, but this was after being dehydrated from the sport.

How do I feel about all this?

Honestly, it’s worth it. I got the feeling of accomplishment I set out for plus the increased energy levels as a bonus. Couldn’t have asked for a better result.

I broke the streak after 60 days. Now I only have once a week, if at all.

I wish I could have done a more scientific experiment to see tangible results. Maybe some other time.

As far as my future holds, I don’t want to be this extreme. I want to enjoy life's little pleasures, but I am scared that I will return to my past self.

There is also great self-assurance and confidence that I could pull myself off the trouble or even stay away from it.

The journey had been sweet. Even if the diet wasn’t.

Footnotes:

[1] What happens when you quit sugar?
[2] Do hard things

More links that I discovered in this journey:

a/ How sugar enslaved the world?
b/ What happens to your body when you quit sugar for 30 days?
c/ Sugar | How it’s made?

May was weird in all ways. It felt like I always worked and didn’t make time for myself, but surprisingly I consumed a decent number of podcasts, movies, and YouTube videos.

Before we begin - news!! I have curated a list of the Top 50 South Indian movies. These aren’t the usual SI films you’re familiar with (like Bahubali, Pushpa, KGF, etc.), but the underrated gems driven by beautiful stories.

You won’t need to do anything. I’ll send the pdf here once it is ready; you can access it directly. No catch because it’s the least I could do for reading my work for so long.

Reading

1/ Adult hobbies worth trying

The beautiful thing about hobbies is they make us feel meaningful after a long day—that happiness is found in simple activities and spending time with self isn’t as hard.

Play isn’t limited to childhood. Here are some adult hobbies worth trying.

2/ Why you forget what you read

I love it when thinkers create systems out of thin air.

If you read a lot or actively consume content, but hardly remember your learnings when you revisit, here is why you forget what you read and a way to fix it.

If it matters, I retain information by tweeting and talking about theories with friends.

3/ The intimacy of never talking again

So Snapchat reminded me of a friend’s birthday. I haven’t spoken to him since college (4ish years.) I typed out ‘happy birthday’ but I didn’t send the message because I read this beautiful essay on the intimacy of never talking again.

The message itself is good, but I can’t wrap my head around how smooth personal writing can be. I see essays like this, and they humble me with “There is a long way for me to walk as a writer.”

Podcasts and YouTube

1/ Changing World Order

Apart from the fact that it’s an incredibly detailed, research-oriented video, I love how Ray Dalio made me think about identifying and rationalising patterns.

It’s about how the world events have always ended up the same way across continents - and how you can predict the future based on history.

Thanks Kanika, for sharing this <3

2/ The allusionist

Ibraheem shared this really cool podcast with me. It’s about language. An oversimplified version is - Each episode, the hosts pick one word and talk about its history, cultural impact, etc. Real fun!

3/ YC lectures

Movies and TV shows

My favorite genre of content, lol - entertainment.

• American Manhunt - Osama Bin Laden: If you had no idea about how the US hunted Osama down, this three-episode documentary gives you the premise.

• Kishkindha Kandam: The best thriller I watched in 2025, hands down. Every time you think, “This is it. This must be the key to the mystery,” a new angle emerges and takes the story in a completely new direction. Also, this is one of the 50 movies on my list.

• Conclave: I am still understanding international cinema. I can watch an Indian film and say how good it is because I've watched thousands of them, and I have a cultural context. I am new in the international space, so when many friends said Conclave was one of the best films and had Oscar nominations, I couldn’t see the point. I like the film, but I don’t get why my friends think it’s the best. Still learning; I messaged people to ask why they liked Conclave and gained perspective.

Oh btw, I made a delicious hot chocolate

That’s my best of May. If you have recommendations for me, reply to this email and we’ll chat.

If you find these recs useful, please share this link and ask your friends to subscribe. I need more readers hehe.

Love,
Vikra.

The tweet pretty much sums it up.

I closed a new client. I had to work more hours than usual. Plus I was sick, so I was mostly asleep. I also blame IPL - my dinners were sorted.

Anyways, I curated the best of what I could.

Reading

1/ Hell Yeah Or No

I am not a big admirer of Derek, but I like the way he is with people and expresses himself. He was an entrepreneur. He built and sold CD Baby; now chasing his curiosity.

I read his book “Anything you want” a year ago. It has excerpts from his entrepreneurial life. Love the chapters on delegation.

Now I am reading his personal notes that apparently help you decide “What’s worth doing?” It’s not a life-changing book if you have been reading for over two years, but my routines have been demanding lately - both physically and cognitively.

A light read like this calms me.

I love the cover

1/ A non-writer’s guide to writing a lot

This is one of the beautiful essays I have read on building writing as a habit. If you have the slightest interest in writing and cannot write regularly, this is the only essay you need.

Podcasts and YouTube

1/ WTF are Consumer Electronics?

If you have been following my recs for a while, you know how much I love Nikhil’s podcast. This one isn’t as good as the top ones, but it has value for those who wish to learn the gaps in the electronics market in India.

Podcast here.

2/ How to get whatever you want?

I’m watching more of 5-15 minute clips. I discovered this decent perspective about asking. I have so many people asking me questions about work and they’re vague as fuck. As much as I’d want to help, there’s only little I can do without context.

3/ Cool tech you won’t regret buying

Lately I am obsessed with product recs for no reason. Not that I am going to buy these, but I am just curious to see what products people find valuable and would want to recommend to others.

I am hooked on videos like “My recs under $100”, “What’s on my desk?”, etc.

Also let me know if you want me to write “Best things I recommend buying under $100.”

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Movies and TV shows

My favorite genre of content, lol - entertainment.

• Special OPs: Lioness (Season 1 and 2): I have a soft corner for investigative, crime, or armed forces content. I hop on it from the thumbnails. Discovered Lioness the same way. The characters have their own tangents and they lack closure. If you look at the core story alone, you’ll enjoy it if you’re into this genre.

• KA: It’s a Telugu film; created buzz in theaters. So I had to watch it after the OTT release. The revelation in the climax is new. Probably the only good part about the film. Everything else was average.

• Lucifer 2: This was disappointing. Probably one of the most non-Malayalam-like films I have watched. They tried to add a bit of Telugu/Tamil industry kind of action, which didn’t sit well with me.

• Half CA: TVF rarely makes a bad series. The show was going so well, but ended abruptly. I don’t know it just felt weird and incomplete (or half) after it finished. If you like Kota Factory or 12th Fail, you might like Half CA.

That’s April for you. If you have recommendations for me, just reply to this email and we’ll talk.

If you find these recs useful, please share this link and ask your friends to subscribe. Thanks in advance!!

Love,
Vikra.

Brooooo I consumed so much this month I have no idea how to pick the best ones.

I won’t be talking about all of them, of course, but I will recommend based on “If you have only time for three recommendations in each category, what will I suggest?”

Reading

1/ High Agency

Some months ago, Geroge Mack wrote a viral Twitter thread on a concept called “High Agency.” In one line, High Agency means - this is my version - becoming someone the decision makers rely on for extremely complicated situations.

If you are head of cardiology and there is a surgery with only a 20% success rate, which doctor would you pick to sail the ship? Which doctor among a large pool is the most skilled and efficient to beat the odds?

He/She/whatever-pronouns-left is your high agency person.

George shows how most of us are low agency by default and how we can achieve high agency. He worked on the concept for seven months and turned it into an essay - takes 45 minutes to read.

highagency.com

2/ How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time

I read this essay every 45 days to make sure I am on the right track.

I don’t want to overexplain why you must read this essay, but I will tell you this: If you have career ambitions and are unhappy at your job, you might resign after reading this essay.

Podcasts

There are some categories in which I am actively consuming content. This keeps changing frequently based on what’s fueling my curiosity. But lately it is:

• Coffee: Majorly because I am experimenting with my brews daily and building Caffeineletter with Aravind.

• Health: To learn how I take good care of myself.

• AI: Man, I’m handling too many manual tasks right now. I began learning n8n to automate these tasks with some intelligence.

Don’t mind if I share more resources under these categories.

1/ WTF are Craft Beverages?

You’ll enjoy this even more if you love speciality coffee or are nerdy about how businesses work.

2/ Aravind Srinivas x Nikhil Kamath

At this point, I am religiously listening to everything Nikhil drops. Crazy conversationalist, always sticks to his mission of helping entrepreneurs, and never leaves knowledge at a surface level.

3/ Indian Premier League

Acquired and WTF are the only two podcasts I listen to for their depth and nuances. For me, surface-level doesn’t cut it. I need as many details and nuances as possible. Otherwise, I can’t learn and use knowledge effectively in my work/life.

They recently dropped this 4h 28m banger on India’s history of cricket, how commercialization happened, how the IPL began and continued to become one of the biggest sports leagues in the world.

If you love the sport and are keen about the business side - this is for you.

YouTube

1/ The world is poorly designed. But copying nature helps.

I stumbled upon this concept called Biomimicry. It is about how innovators take inspiration from nature and replicate its form and processes into modern products.

For example, Japan’s bullet train was awfully noisy. To make the train quiet while not compromising on speed, engineers re-designed (mimicked) the front end of the train like a Kingfisher’s beak.

from asknature.org

Biomimicry as a concept is fascinating and apparently there are books, research papers, and documentaries on this subject. Ngl, this might be my next rabbit hole.

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Movies and TV shows

My favorite genre of content, lol - entertainment.

1/ Raising Impact

As someone who plays Cricket, I always thought Golf was boring because it is not intense. But Raising Impact changed that for me. The variables involved, the precision, and the skill needed are crazy.

It’s a short anime with 26 episodes. You will totally love it if you like Haikyuu or Blue Lock.

2/Adolescence

Fun Fact:

One of the finest works of this series is drawing complex, uncomfortable emotions on the screen. Especially episodes 3 and 4.

Some friends found the show disturbing. I didn’t. I am usually cold to most dark themes. Let me know how you felt watching the show. I am curious.

My friend and I discussed what influences kids and how you’d want to raise your kids after watching Adolescence. I highly recommend having this conversation with friends or partners.

List of what else I have watched

• TopGun Maverick: Watched TopGun in January and couldn’t help but rewatch Maverick this month.

• Suits LA: How can someone make a Suits spinoff this bad? I feel Pearson is a much better spinoff.

• Reacher S3: I mean it’s okay okay. Didn’t get the S1 and S2 vibes. The romance angle was horrible they should have just removed it.

• Court: Love watching this Telugu movie in the theater. It’s a courtroom drama about minor love and the POSCO act. No idea when it goes out on OTT.

• Steve Jobs: Didn’t know what to watch. Casually rewatched Steve Jobs.

• UP: I was expecting a full-on love story but surprisingly, it was love + adventure. Amazing. I should watch more animated movies.

• Return of the Dragon: Good one-time entertainer. Not missing out on anything if you don’t watch this movie.

That’s March for you. If you have recommendations for me, just reply to this email and we’ll talk.

If you find these recs useful, please share this link with your friends and ask them to subscribe. More subs = More growth and money for me. Thanks in advance!!

Love,
Vikra.

February was decent. I had a good balance between socialization and deep work, health and stress, fun and work.

Among many things, I had an interesting reflection. I try prioritizing everything at work, and it sometimes makes things difficult for me - to decide the order of work. Especially with the number of things I do - Service Business, Three newsletters, No-code websites, and two communities.

When it hit me I couldn’t prioritize everything, I made two columns: Part-time and Full-time. Important tasks like client work and my newsletters go into full-time. Fun or passive activities like Telugu playlist, Newsletter hub, or subReddit go into part-time.

It gave me a clear distinction between what needs action now and what could wait. While planning my day/week, I allocate a large amount of time to full-time tasks, my family and friends, and part-time tasks. In that order.

Not sure if this is useful for you, but it was a mini breakthrough for me.

Anyway - speaking of what I consumed in February:

Movies:

1/ Game Changer

Shankar and Ram Charan shouldn’t have made it and protected their legacy. RGV’s analysis on Game Changer made total sense. “There is no big idea around which a drama is created. In Okeokkadu, the big idea is One Day CM. In Robot, the big idea is a machine falling in love with a human. There was none in Game Changer.”

2/ Prisoners

Watched it with zero expectations; loved it. At one point, the movie seemed predictable, but it wasn’t. It is not the best of the thrillers but I liked it for how it kept surprising me.

3/ Blink Twice

I have a thing for stories around serial killers, investigation, sci-fi, island mysteries, etc. Blink Twice is an island mystery. Sadly, the only Island genre I loved is Shutter Island. Blink Twice isn’t disappointing, but it’s not even close to good.

4/ Predestination

After so many people recommending me this 1000000000000 times, I finally made time. Loved the crispness of writing, but it’s predictable. I could see the eureka moments coming, but it’s definitely worth watching.

5/ Daaku Maharaj

Balayya movie on OTT is no fun. It’s a theater experience, and I can’t watch it with people not screaming. Social media hyped it for me and the movie couldn’t meet the hype in my mind. But for those who love over-the-top south indian action movies, Daaku won’t disappoint.

6/ Chhava

What could have been one of the greatest films settled for good. Abrupt cuts killed the vibe. Each scene individually is gold, but the lack of momentum through scenes made me not connect with the emotion. Vicky Kaushal was sooooo good. Can’t think of a recent Vicky movie with bad acting. Rashmika was good too. I understand why Marathis were disappointed. It is a dialogue delivery problem, not an acting problem. A dubbing artist would have solved the issue. Any other nuance, of course, Marathis would know better than me.

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Shows:

1/ Good Doctor S4

It’s a show I watch when I don’t have anything to watch. For the times you want to see something new and exciting but can’t figure out what? Yep, that’s when I watch Good Doctor. At this point, it’s kind of boring and repetitive, but the familiarity is comforting.

2/ Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman

Marvel released a new animated Spiderman show and it would be brave of you to think I wouldn’t watch it. The show is okay. There are slight tweaks to how we know the original characters. Sometimes, the tweaks felt refreshing. Other times it made me go WTFFFF, eww. Some animations/fights were crazy good.

Marvel’s Ultimate Spiderman on Hotstar is the best Spidey animation I’ve watched. Top puns, teamups, and cameos.

3/ Zero Day

Started the show because it’s new and trending on Netflix. Short, six-episode series - started off really good and it was set up for crazy good sci-fi. In the end, it wasn’t as big as I expected. I was hooked till the end and at no point it felt boring. Okay-ish.

Books:

1/ Make

I finally finished Make by Peiter Levels. Peiter does my kind of entrepreneurship. He builds multiple apps, solving small problems. They’re automated, generate MRR, and he keeps building new apps while auditing the existing websites from time to time.

Make is about how he does it and what one needs to get started. If you have no clue about building, this is a great book. If not, it’s pretty basic.

More than the book, I recommend this three-hour podcast.

Blogs and Newsletters:

1/ I asked Ayush to recommend a blog that’s dense and way beyond surface-level. A Smart Bear is my best discovery in February. Nothing even comes close.

2/ Oh man, I love Z-Axis. The way Nir explains complex concepts is a place I’d love to reach one day. Best writing, Best content, How AI works.

Discover more newsletters on Newsletter Hub.

Podcasts and YouTube:

1/ I discovered this channel: Odysseas. This guy talks about basic topics, but I love how he structures his video essays. Old school, methodical, and neat. I am binge-watching his videos to pick some structures.

2/ Acquired and WTF are probably the only business podcasts I listened to. Being the watch lover I am, I couldn’t resist when Acquired published this five-hour podcast on Rolex.

3/ I had an ankle sprain in December. Found Bob & Brad channel while I was educating myself about what happened and if I should consult a physio or not. It's like two cool college professors educating you about physical injuries.

That’s my February. I should clearly read more.

Have a great March. See ya!

Love,
Vikra.

This caution for safe articulation is not restricted to celebrities. You could make comments on gender, skin, race, or caste, and they were considered jokes. Now think of making the same comments and you can imagine how much the world has changed.^[1]

This essay doesn’t debate what’s right or wrong but is about a pattern I noticed on social media whenever a person says something they are not supposed to.^[2]

I will tap into different phases of controversy and what it means to us as consumers on social media. This is only a thesis based on my observations. Feel free to disagree, criticize, or correct. I am always open to hearing opposing/different POVS.

This is a simpler representation. The graph isn’t this smooth [3]

Trigger:

It’s the inception of the controversy. This ranges from questions, incidents, accidents, events, etc. In most cases, it’s either a comment made by a popular person or a tragic incident.

The wave of outrage and debate:

This is outrage in its truest form. A trigger occurs, creating a chain reaction among a small segment of people - who genuinely get offended and voice their opinions.

The outrage creates an opportunity for counterstatements. The small segment expands with people providing multiple POVs, facts, references to previous events, etc.

The debate continues until one of two things happens:

• Folks share their opinions until there is no more to share, and the debate dies down on its own.

• Or it reaches a point of virality, and it takes off.

The point of virality:

This is where things get messy. It’s a point of spike. The outrage breaks the threshold of the first segment who genuinely took offence and keeps reaching a massive audience who had no idea about the trigger or were not directly linked to the genre of the trigger.

The recent Latent controversy reached people who didn’t know about the show, Ranveer, or Samay. Or Narayana Murthy’s comments reaching people who don’t even work in corporates.

The point of virality is different for different controversies. Some become a sensation in an hour, some slowly pick up, and some amplify when a celebrity takes a stand, and so on.

Once the controversy leaves the point of virality and reaches a large audience, it’s all chaos. I call it the wave of opinions.

The wave of Opinions:

This is the scariest place as a consumer on social media. Because your feed will have an opinion overload. Almost everything people share is with reference to a clip without knowing (or not wanting to know) the full story. Most content lacks context and its intentions are questionable.

This is when people dig into facts buried years ago. The stories no one knew take the limelight. People also make exaggerated statements to the extent they don’t make sense to one segment but create immense sharability for another. Some demand extreme actions too.

Everybody wants a piece of ‘the topic of the day.’ It is not purely about the trigger anymore. It’s no more about the genuine outrage and debate we noticed in the curve’s inception. The controversy has now become a platform for people to share a version of their opinion, irrespective of its direct connection to the trigger.

This includes me too. There is a reason I am publishing this essay now and not a few weeks later. I know the readers will draw parallels better than ever.

The point of Saturation:

Like all trends, even controversies reach their peak during the wave of opinions and die down to the point of saturation. At this point, we have listened to all versions and perspectives to have existed.

We move away from current controversy and start inclining towards a new topic of the day. Maybe a cricket match, a new Bollywood couple rumor, I don’t know.

Eventually the graph reaches point zero and occasionally keeps popping up when events like court hearings or similar controversies happen.

The graph might make more sense now:

What’s the point of this essay?

No point, honestly. It’s only an observation that made sense to me and seemed interesting enough to form a thesis. As a consumer on social media, it’s nice to have an awareness of our position in the graph to not get influenced by half-cooked content.

I don’t know if that’s even possible. We have our backstories, leading to inclinations. The algorithm is smart enough to show what we want to see.

I got to sign off with a disclaimer. I am not supporting or against any controversy. I mentioned names only to make the explanation easier.

The essay only shows you an Eagle’s eye view of how I think controversies take shape on social media. It might make sense or feel like an absolute bullshit. Either way, don’t take me seriously. I am just a guy on the internet.

Love,
Vikra.

Footnotes

[1] An example of this is when Vikrant Massey called a woman ‘vertically challenged’ on the Untriggered podcast.

[2] ‘Not supposed to’ is subjective and personal. In this context, it means statements you know people might take offence to. Example, jokes on religion.

[3] I generated the image using Claude 3.7. I drew the image on tissue paper and asked AI to turn my drawing into an image. I specified colours and font. Interesting use case if you’re too lazy to prompt. Another way: Upload the essay and ask AI to visually represent the essay.

My work and routine were chaotic and I wanted to add peace to my life. For example, all my submissions were at the last minute. No one had any complaints, but I can do better. One of the rules I have in 2025 is “Never do anything on the last minute.”

It’s been a month. Most of my content or client’s submissions are scheduled a week ahead. Funnily, this is a peace I am not used to and it’s making me uncomfortable.

It’s because I do a bunch of things - run three newsletters, build web apps, host a community and a subReddit, work for clients, post on socials, etc. When I work at the last minute I know the exact task I must pick because of the deadline. Now that I have time I get confused about what to pick when.

I use cheesy self-help methods like time blocking. Mondays 8 pm are for community growth discussions, Tuesdays 3 pm for subReddit, Wednesdays 3 pm for the coffee newsletter, etc.

Plus I have set up ground rules like “Anything marketing during the day; Anything engineering during the night” or “Client work is the top priority.”

Do I follow this every single time? Not really. I follow schedules around 65% of the time.

Is this effective? I am not sure. I could do better with discipline, planning, or plain execution. But it’s not bad either. I mean I can’t start acting today and expect to become Kamal Hassan, can I?

Life rn.

Anyway - I wanted to recommend some movies, shows, podcasts, and books I consumed in January.

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Movies:

I am exploring. I have watched 1000+ South Indian films, and it’s my comfort zone. I watched a fair amount of Bollywood too. As much as I love Indian movies, I hate to admit I haven’t explored international content.

Right now, I am looking at IMDB’s top 100 or “award-winning” categories on OTT platforms and randomly picking my movies.

Top Gun (1986): I watched Maverick first and loved it. Happy I finally made time for Top Gun. I don’t know how good this music is if you listen to it separately but from the context of the movie, I loved it. It’s both peaceful and romantic.

Up in the Air (2009): Meh, not my film. It’s love + wannabe philosophical; didn’t connect to either.

Million Dollar Baby (2004): It was okay. The first 80% was like any other film and the climax was a little different, only a little.

Inside Out 2: Beautiful. I loved Inside Out as much as everyone around me. Glad I finally watched a sequel that wasn’t screwed up.

Shows:

Mindhunter (2017): Brilliant. It’s a shame the third season never happens because there’s no viewership. It’s completely different from the usual serial killer shows on the market, and trust me, the last episode of the first season gives you chills. Keyword: Hospital.

The Good Doctor S2 & 3 (2018): I have a love-hate relationship with this show. I mean I like everything about it, but there’s constant sadness. It’s not a show I’d want to binge, but it has become a comfort watch. S2 E17 is heartbreaking if you’re ambitious and love your job.

Paatal Lok S2 (2025): Paatal Lok is just weird. I have nothing against it, and I actually feel it’s one of the underrated Indian shows. But I can’t recall good things about the show. Things like dialogues, scenes, performances, etc. I know it’s good, but I can’t point towards anything particular.

Black Warrant (2025): Love this. Especially the fact that it was based on real incidents makes the show even more crazy. I didn’t know Tihar Jail was this eventful.

Documentaries, Podcasts, and YouTube:

Tsunami: Race Against Time (2024): If you have no idea what happened in the 2004 disaster, this four-episode documentary gives a clear overview of the situation - from the survivors themselves.

Microsoft Volume 1 and 2: I found my new favourite tech/entrepreneur podcast. Acquired is insightful without being boring. Both volumes combined are around 9 hours long, but it’s worth it if you’re into origin stories and nuances.

How to Drink an Espresso: Just nerding out on coffee here. If you love coffee, you must read Caffeineletter.

Y Combinator Lectures: I have been listening to these lectures slowly over the past six months. They are so good and never disappoint. This month, I have listened from Lecture 13-17.

Lex Fredman x Pieter Levels: I love Pieter because he does my kinda entrepreneurship. I don’t want to run one huge company, dedicating all my time to it, but multiple mini content assets and tools that make money and are automated. This episode is about how you can do it.

People with the Prime Minister: Well, this was the talk of the town, wasn’t it? Among many things, I loved how the PM mentioned nation-building isn’t just about politics alone. If you wish to contribute without politics, you can get into policy making. This is basic, but it stuck with me.

Our Crazy Goa Trip: Untriggered is one podcast I always watch to have a good laugh. No objectives, pure backchodi.

Zostel’s 200 Cr Business: I love backpacking, solo travel, and prefer hostels over hotels. The moment I knew there was a Zostel origin story, I jumped in.

How to write a good essay?: Sometimes, I listen to old-school techniques.

That’s about it.

Apart from these, I have worked on a few things:

• Better financial management (I’ve been too lazy, too irresponsible with money.)

• Repairing and modifying my watches.

• Running, health, and sports are okay. I had a minor ankle injury and it’s frustrating I am unable to hit my maximum potential.

That’s all I have for now. If you watch/listen to any of my recommendations, please tell me what you think. If you want to recommend me, you can reply to this email at any time.

See you next week!

Love,
Vikra.

I suffer from Start New Projects Syndrome.

Whenever I think of an exciting project, I immediately jump on it.

Last weekend, Aravind told me I should build products with code and AI as the possibilities are significantly higher in comparison to no code tools.

I understand the power of coding, but I was like, “Product is a product”, and that’s what matters: what people use over how it is built.

But I didn’t want to be a jerk who comments without trying.

So I did the obvious.

I love Paul Graham’s website and wanted to build a vintage space like that. No ads, No fancy formatting, just plain text full of value. It could be a good start because I like it and is simple to build.

I always start by asking my friends because I am lucky that way - my friends are way smarter than me.

Any text you don’t understand is in Telugu. Feel free to ignore it. It’s not relevant.

Once I got the basic idea, I played around with AI. I prompted my build plus learned the functionalities of HTML so I know what all are possible. It’s here if you wish to learn.

I did what I could and got stuck at deployment. I immediately called Sreekar and he showed me how. I could have asked Google or played around to figure out the platform, but it slows the execution - WHICH I ABSOLUTELY HATE.

When you have friendship perks to call any time and annoy people, take them maybe? This was at 11 pm by the way.

I planned my tasks for the next day and by evening - I finished building newslettercasestudies.com. It’s a website with all my case studies about newsletters.

Honestly this is too basic and I find it difficult to believe if someone says “Learning is hard” in today’s age.

So I built a project and launched it. It had 133 visitors in the first 24 hours:

So what’s the problem? Why this Start New Project Syndrome drama?

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Why this Start New Project Syndrome drama?

The problem is ROI. Building a hundred things simultaneously sounds cool unless you realize the time required to manage everything. Plus I should check for the money I make.

No doubt I make useful stuff. People like reading my newsletters. They listen to my Telugu playlist. Or discover newsletters on Newsletter Hub. And now, they read case studies on this website I built.

Newsletter sponsorships make money but it’s substantial when readership is high.

I could charge newsletter operators to showcase their content on Newsletter Hub, but I’ll have to drive traffic to the website for it.

These things make money but rely heavily on distribution, which I am confident I’ll get to one day.

But here comes the problem with start new project syndrome.

Every project I start takes time away from existing ones. It is not shiny object syndrome because I don’t abandon my previous projects, but allocating time becomes difficult.

Sometimes I look back and feel I could have picked only three projects and scaled them quickly. But that’s the downside - you don’t know what three projects to focus on.

The advantage is it lets you explore. I am okay with it. I am okay with starting hundred projects and shutting down 80% of ’em if it doesn’t make sense anymore.

But as I have said: ROI and Scale have been my roadblocks. The immediate money for the active time invested isn’t great, and the scaling of current products slows down.

It is what it is, I guess.

My newsletters, no code projects, communities, etc., are a result of me acting fast. By the time someone goes from an idea to a perfect plan, I’d ship the first version and show it to people. I get real feedback and insights.

Now I am in search of a method to my madness.

In fact, I can see progress. In the last 45 days:

• I’ve set up better systems

• I’ve rejected more ideas than I have worked on

• I look at alternatives before I decide

• I check for traffic, money-making possibilities, and how easy it is to automate

• Buy domain only after the project is completed and ready to show to people (Domain nerds will know what I am talking about)

Doing my best to develop a framework for myself before I work on a project. Something that saves me from wasting time and money.

Gautham once explained this even more deeply and called it Error Minimization Framework.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Vikra, over and out.

If you think your friends should read it, please share this link with them.

I attended a book fair in December. I went to the same fair in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

In the first year, I bought books like Sell Like Crazy, Corporate Chanakya, Hooked, No Rules Rules, etc.,—popular, business-y books anyone would know and recommend.

In 2023, the number decreased. I bought a Chhota Bheem comic, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a short story collection from Ruskin Bond, etc. It was the time I was exploring different formats.

In 2024, I bought only two books—Longitude and The Obesity Code. Both niche books on horology and insulin, which are otherwise boring if not for my interests.

The afterthought; and the Genesis

I was back home from the fair, disappointed I couldn’t buy many books.

I opened my Mac and tried to tweet:

“Hyderabad book fair is only worth visiting if you wish to purchase popular, mainstream titles at lower prices. You will be disappointed if you look for niche books.”

“Wait a minute. If I look at it closely, the book fair has been the same - more or less the same collection over the years. First year, I was a happy baby. Second year, I blamed local books overshadowing English ones. The third year, I was utterly upset.”

“The fair wasn’t bad. My taste has changed.”

I abandoned the tweet and digged into questions like

• What defines taste?

• Is it truly subjective?

• Is there a way to constantly and consciously improve our taste?

After a lot of YouTubing, Redditing, speaking to people and observing them, asking AI, and most importantly, looking inward at my own behaviour, I articulated ten traits of a person with good taste.

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But first, what the fuck is a taste?

Taste is one of those words you ask a thousand people and get a different answer each time. My first thoughts:

• Agreeability: Does a sizeable population agree what you say is good is good

• Rarity: Do people think what you share is not easily found?

• Notions or Stereotypes: Does your way of doing things tweaks existing notions for good or challenge stereotypes?

Take dressing up, for example.

You might think you donned the hottest pair of sneakers. But that doesn’t mean you have taste. The room thinking, “wow, that’s cool sneakers” makes you a guy with good taste.

The room is the jury. Not you.

The way I see things, I define Taste this way:

Allow me to press on three terms: Circle, Judgment, Prediction.

Circle:

A circle is a specific, clearly defined surrounding. It includes people, places, and culture.

If you speak at a conference, a room with a hundred people is the circle. If you publish film analysis on YouTube, the market that consumes entertainment content becomes your circle. If you recommend a book to one person, then the person himself is the circle.

Get this straight:

The entire circle need not like your opinions, but a sizeable, considerable chunk must.

Judgment and prediction:

Your taste (opinions on a particular subject) can be post-output or pre-output.

Judgment is post-output. It is knowing what movie, painting, book, app, etc., is good after the product is released.

Prediction is pre-output. It is knowing how a product’s final version might perform in a circle. Think of signing a movie after reading the script. Or picking a dress for a wedding three months from now. Or beta testing a product that launches v1 100 days later.

This line makes more sense now?

If this is clear, we will move on to the heart of this essay.

How to develop taste?

I derived a hypothesis that works for me. In my strong opinion, this is how you turn into a person with great taste:

1/ Get Strong at Fundamentals

Think sports, filmmaking, photography, app building, fashion, business, cooking, health, etc. All subjects have fundamentals; the traditional techniques that theoretically determine if you’re good at a subject.

You must know all the fundamentals but need not follow them blindly.

Because fundamentals talk about safe, proven approaches that minimize errors. But in no way ensure success or effectiveness.

If that were the case, Bumrah, Steve Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and MS Dhoni would have never been great cricketers.

To follow the textbook or be unorthodox is up to you. But you can only decide if you are a first principles thinker.

2/ Become a First Principles Thinker

from the FS blog

The gist of the first principle is to get at the why of everything. It empowers you to skip templates and build your own frameworks.

If a fundamental says you need to follow method A, first principles is asking yourself:

• Why method A? What makes it reliable?

• Why not method B, C, D… or Z?

• Method A is popular but is it applicable in my circle?

3/ Know your moral code

There is no right or wrong—only what you’re okay with and not.

Remember Poonam Pandey’s campaign? Some people argue using death for marketing is insensitive, while others say the campaign delivered the message it was supposed to.

What qualifies as insensitive is a line you draw for yourself.

It matters in taste-building because your moral code makes you take a side and find the right segment in huge circles.

Remember, an insensitive statement in a family setting is a dark joke in a standup show.

4/ Consume A LOT!

Exposure. If you wish to have good taste in music, listen to all you can. If you wish to predict marketing campaigns’ success, watch as many campaigns as you can.

The volume should be more than what an average person consumes. If you don’t know that number, keep consuming as much as you can, as long as you can.

5/ Analysis and Reasoning

Every time you consume, derive the ‘Because.’

I think X is good because of A, B, C, and so on.

Since you already know fundamentals and have adopted first principles, you constantly validate or search for alternatives.

Give maximum attention to details.

6/ Form Insights

Insight is your broadly applicable statement once you analyze enough cases to notice patterns.

Let’s say you want to develop taste in clothing, and you observe a guy wearing jeans and a black shirt. Then you keep observing multiple men.

Analysis: “He looks good in jeans and a black shirt because…”

Insight: “Jeans and a black shirt look great on men who [personality trait, skin tone, height, etc.] in a [circle.]”

7/ Openness to change

After all this, you will be wrong.

Don’t be a rigid person. Take a stand for what you believe while knowing you could be wrong, there is scope for improvement, or exceptions exist.

8/ Taste-Personality Awareness

You might judge a shirt is top-notch in design. But it might not reflect your personality. Even with the coolest shirt, there might be a mismatch.

Taste-Personality Awareness is handy when you use your taste to choose for yourself—books, clothes, and even dates.

Constantly seek feedback to bridge the gap between what you think suits you vs what the circle thinks suits you.

PS: This doesn’t mean you always choose keeping ‘circle’ in mind. Only saying you do things you like, but better.

9/ Have an Eagle’s Eye View of Evolution

Be it sports, politics, science, academics, anything - Know the timeline/history.

If you’re into movies, see how movies have evolved from the 60s to the present. Notice how industries differ traditionally.

You are better positioned to predict how things change when you know how things have changed historically.

10/ Hit the road

The more you talk to people, the more POVs your insights will have.

Join communities that passionately talk about your interests. I suggest Reddit. Spend time with people with better taste than yours.

Endnotes.

Even with this long essay and 100000000 other resources on the internet, great taste is only a result of high-volume exposure with active observation and iterative learning.

I have only articulated what’s obvious, hoping this essay will give you a starting point plus structure.

Good luck in developing taste.

If a friend shared this essay with you, please subscribe here so all my next essays will land in your email inbox.

Love,
Vikra.