Welcome to Everyday People, where people balance work and life every day.
Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast with your friends. 😄
What’s new with you, TxU?
The blogs have started coming in for the year. This past week, I published the system I use to make New Year’s Resolutions actually useful. I also made a worksheet for you to use to make the system your own!
I’ve been making weekly to-do lists for a while, but it’s been on-again, off-again. This year, I’m trying to do it weekly, and I thought it’d be interesting to share insights from that here.
3 things I learned from Week 1:
Trying to do 2 list items a day works well for me. This is on top of daily habits.
Accounting for everything you do makes it easier to fit new items into your schedule. You can’t do new things without cutting out something else you’re already doing, even if what you’re already doing is unproductive.
I’m very satisfied with a 68% completion rate. That’s 11 items that I may not have done without my plan. Lists are there to help me, not to make me ashamed of myself for not meeting arbitrary standards of productivity.
Everyday People with Benoy Stephen
Benoy Stephen is one of the founders of Y-Ultimate, a non-profit organization that proliferates the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. Benoy himself is an athlete in the sport, and his organization works with communities to give children and young athletes another platform to grow. We had this conversation towards the end of 2022.
Highlights from this conversation will be posted on Instagram.com/thoroughandunkempt.
This blog post will be updated with highlights shortly.
Benoy’s Recs:
Follow @yultimate_org on Instagram to see the latest from them.
Benoy recommended this Malayali rock song as something that helps him reflect on what is important. The title translates to “Who am I?”
From the band’s soundcloud: Njan Aara (who am I?) is a song about ones identity, in this case, while introspecting matters of the heart. In the rhythmic beating of the heart one understands hidden thoughts. When one’s dreams are warmed by love, the mind wishes to awake to all things new. Old thoughts are burnt away like senescent leaves as a fire spreads rapidly through one’s senses.
Keep the flame burning. Even when there is no hope and dark thoughts threaten to loom and build a fortress around the mind, even if sunshine is but a distant memory; know yourself and you will be able to find a way to accept a crown of thorns and swim tirelessly in troubled waters.
Letters to Myself
Hello Vaibhav,
There’s a very real meta-thread that runs in my head about everything. I think about the way I think, and the energy that I attribute to this show and other things I create takes up a non-zero number of hours every week.
I realize that I want to be more specific and share stories here, because even though these are letters to myself, they are out there for others to read, so let’s reflect on a couple of specifics.
On Christmas day 2022, I was in Pondicherry on a vacation with my best friend. I got to go into the ocean no less than three times. It was everything.
I am a beach guy, always have been. There is nothing as beautiful as the ocean - an infinite expanse right in front of us. The stars are far away, the water is at our feet, calling us in.
When I stood in the water, with every retreating wave, it felt like every slight, every emotion, every thought was being pulled away from me, one by one. The Infinite laughs at your problems; it takes them and turns them into salt crystals.
At some point in my life, I want to live in a beach city. I want that sometime to be in my thirties, and I think I’m going to start working towards making that happen. I want to let the ocean pull everything out of me. It’ll be exciting to see what emerges afterwards.
Oceanchild,
Vaibhav.
Benoy Stephen | Everyday People 118