Gourav’s Odyssey #5

This is an edition type of The Curious Soul’s Corner newsletter where I share my free flowing thoughts, curations and life outside work.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

I know it’s been a while since I published anything—and I owe you that pause. But trust me, it was a conscious choice. More on that at the end of this article.

3-2-1

This story taught me multiple things which I’ll convey through 3-2-1 of today’s article.

3 Learnings (with action items)

The absence of proof is not the absence of truth.

The next version of you can’t be imagined from here. But it’s real. Just like the second baby believed in a life beyond the womb without knowing what it looked like, you don’t need to fully see what your ideas will become. These ideas still deserve faith, presence, and quiet preparation—because the next version of you already exists. You’re just growing into it.

✅ Action: Set a 30-minute block every week to work on an idea you believe in—even if no one else sees it yet.

It’s a full time job believing in yourself. No days off.

We are getting challenged in various ways, ranging from AI disruption and cost related downsizings at work to parenting at home — you choosing to slow down, switch careers, or spend time with family is resistance, not weakness.

✅ Action: Prioritize inner alignment over outer applause. That belief fuels longevity in tech careers and life.

Try again, but this time with gratitude towards everything.

The world feels volatile—whether it’s political chaos, economic swings, or personal instability. Gratitude won’t solve the chaos, but it will steady your steps through it.

✅ Action: Start each week by writing 3 things you’re thankful for—one from work, one from family, and one from yourself.

2 Pics

Just got back from an unforgettable trip to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon—here are two snapshots that barely do the beauty justice.

1 Epiphany

I’m still in the process of making my life better,
Still deciding where I wanna be in the future.
But I know—
I’m already living a life I once never imagined.
So good it feels unreal.
A life I prayed for—
And yet, I got even more.

So no—
I can’t, and I shouldn’t, complain.

Instead of chasing happiness in the future,
Maybe I should start cherishing what I have now.

I should live in the present.
Practice stillness.
Be mindful.

Because anything that steals away my now—
In return for a promise of future happiness—
Is just a bad trade.

It’s like selling today
For a version of tomorrow
I never even asked for originally.

And if I keep believing that life gets better only in the future,
I’ll keep moving the goalpost,
Forever chasing.
Never arriving.

I stopped ‘consistently’ publishing my newsletter articles.

On purpose.

Not because I lost passion or discipline in writing —
But because I found clarity.

I ‘too’ had big plans—growth, monetization, selling courses, maybe even a startup.
But I was trading time with my family, missing the very life I was writing to celebrate, but in the future.

So I chose presence over pressure.
I chose the joy of doing what I truly enjoy, rather than chasing a dream romanticized by others.

I’ve come to realize that I can do anything and everything—just not all at once.

I still write—consistently.
I just don’t publish until it feels true to share.
No pressure, no dynamics, just peace.

Writing isn’t my second job anymore.
It’s my sacred space.

🤝 Let’s Connect

Sponsorship | Collaboration | LinkedIn | 1:1 Mentoring | Twitter

Gourav Khanijoe

When I’m working…I think about going out.
I think about enjoying time with family and friends.

But when I’m enjoying…I often think about work.

Often stressed about where I am going.

Relatable?

Most of us have physical freedom.
We move, speak, and live freely.

But look closer, and you’ll notice the invisible bars:

Our fears.
Insecurities.
Overthinking.
The constant urge to do too much.
FOMO and wanting to be everywhere and know everyone.

Mental stress is on the rise.
Our attention spans are shorter than ever.

Our software engineering jobs have our brains wired to be logic machines.

The never-ending flood of “grind 24/7” productivity hacks online forces us to squeeze every last drop out of every second.

This is NOT what the human brain and body are built for.

And most importantly, most of us have forgotten how to live in the present.

Life Is Short.

The average person lives about 30,000 days.

If you’re 30 years old, you’ve already used 11,000 of those days.

Reflecting as 2024 winds down

So, while we are here, how can we get the maximum happiness ROI on life?

How can we enjoy the moment, feel less stressed, let go of unnecessary things, and make our limited time on this planet count?

How do we truly free ourselves?

As I relax amidst Christmas and the holidays, I’ve been thinking about this.

So today, I’m sharing how I am changing things up in 2025.

I’ll use ‘3-2-1 format’ and cover top 3 things I am planning to change, along with 2 books I am reading and 1 proven idea for you to pick up to live with charm.

Gourav’s Odyssey #4

This is an edition type of The Curious Soul’s Corner newsletter where I share my free flowing thoughts, curations and life outside work.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

3-2-1

3 ‘Things’ I am planning to do more of in 2025 (with pics)

A. Savor everyday moments

Remember when you were a kid? Summers felt long and exciting.

Everything was new. Everything was an adventure.

Now?

Same alarm. Same coffee. Same grind for 8–9 hours. Same food. A little Netflix. Then bed.

Here’s the problem: The human brain stops recording these repetitive moments. We’re constantly looking ahead—waiting for the next big thing.

And in that waiting, we lose time forever.

This is called the “paradox of time”.

When our brains experience something new, it slows down time. It savor those moments.

But if our life is stuck on rinse and repeat mode, time flies by, and we’re left feeling empty.

Takeaway:
Start adding new, exciting moments to your day—even small ones.
A random brunch with your partner.
Break during the day to walk and clearing up the mind.
Small Adventures.
Learning new skills?

I took a morning break from work to go out and have that awesome holiday brunch before the Christmas holidays:

B. Small movements = Big health gains

Micro workouts.

10 push-ups here.
A quick walk outside.
Under the standing-desk treadmill for walk-n-talk meetings (see the image below, comment or reply to this article if you’d like to get its amazon link).

Nothing fancy. Hitting the gym 3 times (at least) would then seem like cheery-on-the-top.

If you are already doing that, push yourself further.

Your body isn’t made to sit for 8 hours straight, and these small movements add up.

These also help clear your mind and even make problem solving easier.

Takeaway:
Treat these as mandatory breaks, not “nice-to-haves.”

Fun target: Quite contrary - I am setting a fun goal to “Walk to Toronto” from Seattle. Haha, that’s just an analogy to say I’d like to walk/run/sprint/cycle 2555 miles in 2025. That’s roughly 15764 steps a day. That’s because I walked an average 9k steps a day in 2024 and I want to push myself.

Here’s how I am already doing it:

C. Let Go of unnecessary stress

A lot of our stress is self-inflicted.

That vague message your manager or peer sent? Maybe it sounds vague because slack is tone-deaf. It’s probably not as bad as it sounds—don’t overthink it.

Here’s another reason we’re so stressed: We try to be good at everything at the same time.

Great people strategically choose to suck at certain things so they can excel at others.

It’s called deliberate amateurism, and it’s a cheat code for less stress.

For the things you suck at, show vulnerability. It’s not weakness—it builds trust.

Lastly, and this one’s huge: Limit your life.

Takeaway:
I will try to limit myself, so that I am forced to focus on what matters.

Fewer things to buy.
Fewer people in my circle.
Fewer projects to take-on.
Fewer thoughts to stress about.
Fewer commitments and meetings.

This is how we can escape lifestyle inflation—the treadmill of always wanting “more.”

2 ‘Books’ I am reading

1 ‘mindset’ to bring joy to life

Paying close attention to relationships and friendships.

A well-matched rhythm with partner and a few good friends will make your life way better than any meditation app ever could.

Relationships doesn’t mean celebrating just those big moments (the big party, the fancy anniversary dinner). They’re about daily deposits.

Checking in. Helping a friend move. Meeting often, chatting, and laughing.

If you are not doing it, you are missing a lot.
When was the last time you showed up for a friend? Or did something extraordinary?

I bought house in expensive neighbourhood despite working remotely because my friends also live in that area and I wanted to live nearby. It’s the most important investment I did in 2024. What’s your excuse?

This Week’s Praise

Hemant is a Senior Software Engineer at Meta and the author of The Hustling Engineer newsletter, which provides actionable career growth tips for software engineers. His journey through top tech companies like Tesla, SAP, and Salesforce, culminating in a senior role at Meta, showcases his strategic approach to career advancement.

From Hemant, I’ve learned the importance of personal branding and related presence on multiple fronts. He actively engages on platforms like LinkedIn and his posts taught me how to present relatable content concisely.

His newsletter is a treasure trove of insights for engineers aiming to accelerate their careers.

More praises in next editions.

New Year 2025 Gift 🎉

As we step into the new year, I wanted to give back to the amazing subscribers of this newsletter. As my gift to you, I’ve opened up a few free 1:1 slots to connect personally. Whether you’d like to chat about career growth, leadership, or explore long term mentorship, I’m there for you. Check out the options here.

That’s all for today! Wishing you joyful holidays and an incredible start to 2025. Happy New Year!

🤝 Let’s Connect

Sponsorship | Collaboration | LinkedIn | 1:1 Mentoring | Twitter

Gourav Khanijoe

This is an edition type of The Curious Soul’s Corner newsletter where I share my free flowing thoughts, curations and life outside work.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

Unpopular Opinion

Don’t listen to productivity gurus telling you to stick to a fixed schedule.

Why? Because you can’t control everything. Check this out:

Day 1: You start strong—wake up at 5 AM, feel great, and sleep on time, ready for the next day.

Day 2: Still on track. Wake up at 5 AM, feeling good… but then your kid gets sick that night, and you end up sleeping late.

Day 3: The cracks appear. Because you slept late, now you wake up at 7 AM instead, miss the gym and feel bad. Sev2 bug at work pulls you into stress during the day, unexpected guests came home in evening and you end up sleeping even later.

Day 4: You try to wake up at 5 AM again..but fail. Snooze till 6am, wake up with sore eyes, heavy head. Drag yourself through a challenging workday, get tired and sleep early.

Day 5: Because you slept early, now you are back to 5 AM.

Barely, but on track again. :)

The reality of routines is: life happens. It's nearly impossible to excel at parenting, attend to friends and family, build habits, and stick to a perfect routine all at once.

Life doesn’t adhere to rigid schedules, and sticking to one isn’t always practical. Emergencies happen—kids get sick, work demands spike, or unexpected events disrupt your plans.

And you know what? That’s okay.

Adaptive Routines

The goal isn’t to follow a perfect schedule every day. It’s to stay intentional and adaptable, so you can make progress even when things go sideways.

Instead of rigid schedules, focus on principles and systems that adapt to your reality.

Here’s what works for me:

1. Define the Success of Your Day and Embrace Uncertainty: I define one key task each day that makes it successful, even if nothing else gets done. If an emergency arises, I simply swap it with the task that took over. This way, I stay focused without stressing over unavoidable events.

2. Declutter, Don’t Overload: I constantly focus on removing and automating tasks rather than adding new ones. I prioritize heavily.

3. Leverage Intense Waves of Focus: Real progress happens during focused, deep work. I work in intense waves when my brain is at its peak performance, and rest when I feel exhausted. I don’t fight against your natural rhythms.

4. Downtime: I build in time for rest and downtime. Taking a break from the routine is just as important as following it.

5. Bounce Back After Slipping: When I break my routine, I get back to it as soon as possible to avoid breaking consistency.

6. Use Mechanisms, Not Just Intentions: Don’t rely on willpower—build accountability mechanisms. For instance, I moved my mentoring sessions to early mornings, which naturally pushed me to wake up on time for the gym.

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3 ‘Pics’ of life outside work

November is a month of memories for us. My birthday, our wedding anniversary and many more Indian traditional events occur in this month before we get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I don’t mind breaking my routine to cherish these moments. :)

Talking about interruptions in routines. A deadly 'bomb cyclone' hit the Pacific Northwest. It brought high winds and devastating damage. We had a power outage for more than 2 days in Bothell, Bellevue, Redmond and some parts of Seattle (Washington).

2 ‘Pieces of Content’ I am consuming to learn New Stuff

1. Million Dollar Weekend: A book that, in a simple, modern way, tells all about starting a business, without wasting time.

   

2. Data Engineering Concepts from dataengineer.io bootcamp by : Because AI and ML needs training data and I need to learn how its plumbed through. If you also want to learn it, use coupon code “GOURAV” and you will get 25% off. :)

1 ‘Black Friday’ deal I am buying into

Ninja Espresso & Coffee Maker & Barista System (25% off): Because Software Engineers deserve the upgrade :)

This Week’s Praise

Anton is an R&D Team Leader and the author of the Leading Developers newsletter, a must-read for engineering managers and team leaders. His content offers sharp, actionable strategies for leading dev teams. It's a valuable resource for folks looking to improve their leadership skills.

From Anton, I’ve learned the art of smart brevity—how to cut through the fluff and get straight to the point. His writing is a masterclass in delivering value with precision, a skill that has transformed how I approach my own newsletter. Anton’s work is a goldmine, subscribe to his newsletter, if you haven’t.

More praises in next editions.

Must Read Articles

1. Staying Calm When You Want to Disappear by and

2. Finding my joy by

3. Why and How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn by

4. 28 Year Old Staff Engineer @ Google by

🤝 Let’s Connect

Sponsorship | Collaboration | LinkedIn | 1:1 Mentoring | Twitter

Gourav Khanijoe

This is an edition type of The Curious Soul’s Corner newsletter where I share my free flowing thoughts and curations.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

The Anxious Generation

Wow, 90% of the surveyed public think there is a mental health crisis in the United States, with half of young adults and one-third of all adults reporting that they have felt anxious either always or often in the past year.

Tech companies are finding it as an opportunity and starting to monetize it.

The use of mental health apps continues to skyrocket.

What happened? What’s changing?

In 2020, interest rates were low and concerns about mental health were high.

Funding for digital mental health poured in.

In startup culture, funding based on potential rather than a proven track record is common and ongoing.

However, according to Stephen Schueller, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine - “Evidence suggests that people benefit most from digital therapeutics when the apps are used in conjunction with some form of human support.”

So, the question really is: How could Tech alone solve this?

My opinion

Caring for mental health will soon be as routine as checking emails or counting steps, with mental health features becoming integral to everyday tech.

But emotional health is trickier than physical health because recognizing the need for change is harder. While being overweight is a visible signal to adjust habits, many miss the signs of emotional distress.

Without a breakthrough to rewire the mind-gut connection, I believe, solving this remains tough, though apps can help bridge the gap by providing knowledge and access to human support.

What do you think about this new wave? Reply to this email or comment on the substack app.

3-2-1

3 ‘Pics’ of life outside work

Traveling boosts your mental health and slows aging—says a recent study 😄. That’s exactly what I tell my wife whenever she rolls her eyes at my ambitious road trip plans!

As a road-trip enthusiast, I recently embarked on a 5-day adventure drive (and back) from Seattle to Yellowstone with my family. Spoiler alert: the excuse worked, and we had a blast!

We got lucky as we were traveling on the night of maximum aurora activity. Captured this 50 miles shy of Spokane, WA

We did a short hike to this view of ‘The Grand Prismatic’.

curiosity_with_gourav

A post shared by @curiosity_with_gourav

Finally, this is an awesome video I captured with my wife’s latest iPhone upon reaching the ‘Artist Point’ at The Grand Canyon of the YellowStone.

2 ‘Quotes’ I read recently and liked

and

1 ‘Book’ I am reading

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness: The book argues that overprotection in the real world, combined with underprotection in the virtual world, has disrupted children's development, reducing their ability to handle risks, setbacks, and social challenges—ultimately fueling today's mental health crisis among young people.

This Week’s Praise

Jordan is a Senior Software Engineer at Pinterest and the creator of High Growth Engineer, a newsletter with over 75,000 subscribers. His content offers practical, real-world advice that helps software engineers fast-track their careers to senior level.

I’ve learned from Jordan how to turn complex ideas into actionable insights—he’s a master at making content both useful and engaging. His newsletter isn’t just text; it’s an experience readers can visualize. Packed with career growth tips, it’s no surprise he’s built a loyal audience on Substack and LinkedIn.

More praises in next editions.

Mental Health Resources to Read & Watch

1. Technology in Mental Health: Trends and Key Insights

2. 20 Growing Mental Health Companies & Startups In 2024

3. The Interplay Between Downtime and Depression | The Tim Ferriss Show

Must Read Articles

1. How to do 6 Weeks Worth of Work in 2? by

2. Don’t Start Coding Yet: Here’s What Great Engineers Do First by

3. Grow in your career by organizing an engineering guild by

4. Taking over the Tech Lead role in your current team by

5. How Small Teams Can Achieve Outsized Results inside Big Tech by

🤝 Let’s Connect

Sponsorship | Collaboration | LinkedIn | 1:1 Mentoring | Twitter

Gourav Khanijoe

This is an edition type of The Curious Soul’s Corner newsletter where I share my free flowing thoughts and curations.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

Starting this week, I’m experimenting releasing a curated article format once a month. If the feedback is positive, it might become a permanent feature in the newsletter.

Best Software Engineers do this

I experienced this for a long time..

Whenever I’d explain a concept, an issue, or a bug to a fellow engineer...

I felt an ‘aha’ moment. Suddenly, I knew the root cause of what happened.

Merely by explaining what I know, I find out what I didn’t know before.

I was fascinated by this and did some digging on this concept and found...

It’s a very simple but particularly useful technique used by some of the best software engineers for finding the cause of a problem by simply explaining it to someone else.

It’s called “Rubber Ducking”. This article explains it well.

The best thing about this technique is that you don’t even need a real human to listen to you.

If you are creative, it could be just a toy or... a ‘rubber duck’ to which you will be speaking out loud.

That’s how its name originated!

3-2-1

3 ‘Resources’ to Crack Tech Interviews

• shared resources he used to crack multiple Big Tech Interviews

• Tips that I shared to become 10x better in Tech Interviews in ’s newsletter.

• shared 3-Step Framework to never get down-leveled in Behavioural Interviews in ’s newsletter

2 ‘Pics’ of Life outside work

These two pictures shows growth progression and how we enjoy different phases of our lives outside the typical software engineering hustles.

Sept, 2024

My family and I attended a life-transformational spiritual retreat in Dallas, offering a break from the daily grind to reflect and reconnect with our purpose.

My toddler kept us busy, but that's how they start learning life’s key lessons early. They grow up so fast!

May, 2021

This 3 years old picture shows us as a carefree couple. No kids, No big house, No Car, just worries of weekend travel and material fun. We have ‘put up’ since then.

1 ‘Book’ I am reading

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity is telling me astonishing facts about the latest scientific research on extending both lifespan and healthspan.

This Week’s Praise

: He’s fellow Staff engineer at Meta and writes a newsletter called Techlead Mentor to help you grow in your software journey.

With generosity, he offered invaluable feedback on my writing when I was just starting out. I learnt from him the value of genuinely helping strangers on social media. That’s why he has earned a loyal following among new content creators on LinkedIn & Substack.

More praises in next editions.

Must-to-Follow Tech Career Content Creators

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🤝 Let’s Connect

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Gourav Khanijoe

👋 Hey there, fellow tech enthusiasts, professionals, and wanderers of the digital realm! 🚀

I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

In this edition, Let’s dive into our epic year-in-review, and decode the setting behind your best self in 2024. Let's make it a funky journey together! 🎉✨

Your engagement is what makes this community vibrant, so feel free to hit reply and share your thoughts, feedback, and ideas, or even just to say hello!

Today at a Glance

• Survey Question: What would you like to learn in 2024?

• Quote of the day: Prepare your Armoury!

• Main Topic: Year out, year in!

• Top 3 books I read in 2023

• 2 Fun-facts

• Did you know…?

• Must-to-read tweet storm before year-end

Survey Question of the Week

What would you like to learn in 2024?

I'm thinking about building a live, cohort-based course in 2024 to teach skills that I have learned in my life, the hard way. I have a passion for teaching and have mentored, taught, and consulted people on various topics. Now I’d love to teach you. Fill out this survey in under 1 minute, to help me understand the topic that you would like to learn.

As a thank-you for your contribution, those on the priority waitlist will be the first to hear when enrollments open, granting you exclusive access and discounts while securing your spot.

Your insights matter—let's create something extraordinary together!

Link to the Survey

Quote of the day: Prepare your Armoury

• Hard work is irreplaceable, however, reaching for ambitious goals needs a different approach. Prepare your Armoury, rightly catered for your battle - recognize the scale of your ambitions and equip yourselves appropriately for the journey ahead.

• For Software Engineering, this may mean pacing up with tech advancements like AI and learning the leadership qualities.

• In personal life, it could entrace advancing towards financial freedom, a healthy lifestyle, and cherishing relationships by enrolling under life-coach mentorship.

Main Topic: Year-out, Year-in!

A lot happened in 2023…

On a personal level for me,

A few Life changing events unfolded:

• I became the father to our first kid, a boy! 👨‍👩‍👧

  

• I became spiritual “while trying to understand the grand scheme of things” 🧘‍♂️

• I grew professionally by incorporating Emotional Quotient into my leadership style! 👑

• I started content writing and started this newsletter. ✍️

  
  All this materialized into reality, thanks to immense support from the most important person in my life - my wife! 👩‍❤️‍👨

But also there were some bitter-sweet moments:

• I got burnt out while trying to sustain a startup that I started at, as Engineer #1 and eventually quit because I prioritized other aspects of my life over it.

• Had to bid farewell to my closest friends - Sagar and Shubhangi, due to their visa issues in the USA.

• Sleep and health took a toll. I got out of shape. I also lost a lot of hair on my head! (This suggests that there might be many other silent issues going on in the body)

At the same time, World 🌎 spun crazily

• Tech World: AI took the main stage. Google launched Gemini. The VCs switched from Crypto to AI buzzword startups. Layoffs were the main villain for employees when CEOs pleased the deal for Wall Street.

• Finance: The stock market took a U-turn in the second half, thanks to the Fed’s shenanigans. Bitcoin at $42,000 now. Crazy huh? At least it’s not worth $1M as predicted. 😆

• Leadership: LinkedIn saw a huge inflow of great ‘leaders turned content creators’. Sam Altman and Satya Nadella created some show-ups for the world to watch in an already hyped ‘OpenAI space’.

• Geopolitical: The Israeli-Gaza Palestine war is giving heart-melting moments and an alarming signal to the world to rethink humanity.

Entering 2024…

What are you thinking as your goals for 2024? But, the first question is, Do you really need to think a lot?

While everyone would be telling you to think about multiple goals, I would say it’s a waste of time! You already know it doesn’t work that way.

The point is to avoid over-indexing on the quantity of “What”, rather focus on the “Why” and “How” parts of a few realistic goals.

For example, for the last 3 years, my New Year resolution as well as my goal for the whole year was to become and stay fit…but it collapsed like a house of cards. The missing link? Discipline and Tracking. Instead of obsessing over a laundry list of resolutions, this year, I am embracing a different approach. I am outlining broad aspirations, and my primary emphasis is on cultivating discipline, boosting accountability, and tracking progress, with a core focus on just two major goals!

Yes, just two major goals:

1. One major Professional goal - grow as a ‘Thought Leadership’ content creator with more than 10k subscribers across all platforms.

2. One major personal goal - gain control of my health by getting back in shape and lowering the shaken lipid levels.

If you are wondering what to choose as a personal goal, you can refer choose from this wheel of life (credits: Ali Abdal for the picture):

For tracking, and measuring progress, and feedback loop, I am following and would strongly recommend all of you as well to use Sahil Bloom’s Annual Planning Guide.

But why restrict ourselves to just one goal per realm? Why not entertain a few more?

Research attests that when confronted with multiple goals, our minds are prone to a multi-fold increase in the tendency to lose focus!

If the thirst for knowledge beckons, perhaps categorize additional pursuits as level 2 or minor goals. Yet, exercise caution not to over-index on them, for risking the loss of sight of our primary objectives.

Few more ideas for you:

• Aspire to ascend to a senior echelon in your software career by contemplating how you can shoulder more responsibilities, such as taking charge during on-calls, handling incidents adeptly, and contributing to the enhancement of system architecture and infrastructure.

• If your goal is to attain a state of profound health, consider framing your perspective around not merely shedding excess fat but eliminating ailments from your life.

• To cultivate flourishing relationships, embark on the journey of making deliberate "love deposits" — intentional acts that contribute positively to the emotional bank account of your connections.

In the end, acknowledge with a pragmatic outlook, that no single year possesses the magic to overhaul your entire life. However, adopting an approach marked by incremental steps, coupled with diligent tracking, accountability, and measured progress, can propel you steadily in the right direction.

Top 3 books I read in 2023

I’ve read over 10 books this year, but I want to share the top 3 books (click on names for Amazon links) that I loved reading the most.

1. Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data:
   Demystifying stats. It’s a stats 101 journey that's engaging and crystal clear. No need for a math degree—the book uses intuitive examples to highlight key concepts.

2. Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track:
   Being a fellow Staff Engineer, I personally resonated with its content. This was my second time reading this book after 2021. Even if you aren’t specifically targeting Staff+ levels, it’s a good guide on how to orient oneself as a leader.

3. Efficient MySQL Performance: Best Practices and Techniques:
   Bit of a niche skill to learn. Learn the internals of MySQL to run MySQL cluster in a cost and performance-efficient way. This book teaches you about indexing, query analytics, data access patterns, sharding, monitoring, and much more!

2 Fun-Facts

1. For every 1 million lines of GoLang code written, there are roughly 10,000
   error nil checks!

err != nil 

2. The year 1995 is further away than the year 2050.

Did you know..?

FAANG lost its luster, at least as per level.fyi 2023 report.

Must-to-read tweet storm before year-end

I am sure many of you have already heard, read, or explored the famous tweetstorm from Naval Ravikant on “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)“, but I still want to share it in case you have missed it somehow.

A lot has been discussed, podcasted, written, appreciated, and shared about this tweet storm. It teaches you what would it take to become wealthy if you lose everything that you have and start afresh.

I can guarantee you that it’s thought-provoking and would give you a new perspective on money, wealth, financial freedom, building and selling ideas & products, leverage, and much more.

In case you missed my previous articles…

Why did I start this newsletter?

Why do we fall short Despite Intelligence and Skill Excellence?

The Art of Empowering Others with Influential Leadership: Spreading Joy and Happiness

Dispelling Career Advice Myths in the Tech World

How to apply Bhagavad Gita teachings to succeed at Work (without Stress)?

Let’s Connect

If we haven't crossed paths previously, I'd be delighted to receive a message from you! Don't hesitate to reply to this email and introduce yourself. I make it a point to respond to every direct message, email, and comment. You can also find me actively sharing on LinkedIn—let's connect:

🤝 Connect with me on LinkedIn

💪 Connect for 1:1 mentorship

Best regards,

Gourav Khanijoe