First Issue of the Year (#1)
Yash Jain / January 09, 2022
3 min read
Heyya. Happy New Year!
I’m finally back.
I’ve to admit. I’ve been very inconsistent with the newsletter. Last 4 months were so dynamic, and so many things were happening, I didn’t find time to write and polish what I learn. But this year I’m starting different.
I’m going to commit to send a newsletter every Sunday. I would be summarising and sprinkling my insights on the things I learned that week. It would be a good way for me to know what I know, and learn what I didn’t know. Plus, you guys would be getting my lessons from the whole week, simply in your inbox.
Let’s get started. Here are few lessons I learned last year. I'm definately taking them with me to the next year.
1. Launch first and then iterate
The way you create something good is by launching it, and iterate it over time. Most people try having a perfect masterpiece from the beginning, and they eventually fail. It is Because most of the things that you need to improve on - reveal themselves only after it goes into the hands of people.
Write you first draft, whatever comes to your mind. And then keep making small edits. Launch the basic version of the product and let people test it. Then slowly improve on feedbacks and iterate.
Launch first and then iterate.
2. Start Today
People never start “now”.
I’ll start writing from tomorrow. I’ll start reading books from tomorrow. I’ll start working on this small business idea very soon. I’ll start posting my poems on Instagram very soon.
This is a big lie we tell ourselves. Start today. The amount of progress you could have made by starting the very day you got the idea, can be astronomical.
A year from now, You will wish you had started today. Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: regret or results.
A year from now, you will never be sure of the results. But you can certainly be sure of regret, if you don’t start today.
3. The Gap and the Gain
When thinking about our goals, we should measure how far we have come rather than - how far we need to go/improve.
If we compare yourselves with our ideal outcome/goal, it can feel demotivating and not inspiring. But if you change the story a little bit, And think that you’ve actually come this far and you are more closer to your goal, it can be inspiring.
Yes, it is important to make progress, but we also need to acknowledge how far we have come.
Another thing I learned this year, right in the beginning, is how deep of an impact hormones have on you. Specially dopamine. I’ll write about it in a small article, because it deserves. I’ll send you when its out.
That's it. Have a great day. See you next Sunday :)