You may have heard the term - “His investment portfolio is beating the market” 🤔.

Let’s break this down.

“Beating the market” often refers to beating the performance traditional indexes like S&P500, Dow Jones, or BSE/NSE in India 🌍. These indexes, simply put, are average of top ‘X’ number of funds included in their tracking umbrella.

So, the dreamers dream about investing in right set of handpicked stocks such that that portfolio beats the standard indexes.

You may be surprised to learn that 75% of all the smartest money managers in the world, working 20-hour days, with huge research staffs 👩‍💻👨‍💻, powered by the most advanced computers 🖥️ and tools 🛠️, have NOT been able to consistently beat the market. Of the remaining 25%, most were just able to keep pace with the market.

Only a handful of the rest, like Warren Buffett or someone possessed with uncommon common sense like Peter Lynch, have been able to do that.

In short, you can’t consistently beat the market.❌📊

That's why, for long-term investing, index and mutual funds are best. Unless, of course, you enjoy gambling. Or, you have skills to book profits every time.

The difference between two? Mutual funds are actively managed by humans. Index funds are cheaper, as they are passively managed.

So, next time someone asks you: “Which stocks should I buy?” 🤷‍♂️

Drum roll 🥁… please…

You can answer: “All of them…or at least most of them…by investing in Index Funds.”

Investing regularly in index funds using dollar-cost averaging is key to long-term gains. Start early and hold your investments for the long haul.

Gentle Reminder: There is NO financial advice offered here. Gourav is neither a financial expert nor an advisor or promotor of anything. He’s sharing his own learnings and experiences.

But…there’s always a but…Your friend became a multi-millionaire by investing in the right stock or by staying put in the company’s RSUs and not by investing consistently in Index Funds 📊.

The thing about long-term index fund investing is that it should be like watching the grass grow. It’s boring and takes a long time for compounding to work. For a fast wealth generation path, you need to be ready to take some risks ⚠️ and invest in aggressive strategies and growth stocks 🔥..

Wait a minute, in the start, I told you that it is almost impossible to beat the market . Yes, it’s almost impossible - over a long period of time.

But a large number of people have done it on a short-term basis, and some people are doing it every second. I will cover this in the next set of articles. Stay tuned! 🎉

That’s it for today 🙏. If you are wondering, “What’s a Reflection Short?” read here. Access the full series here.

References

• Multiple Streams of Income

• The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

• The Intelligent Investor

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

It’s because only a few folks discuss actionable steps, making it hard to start. That’s where the "Money Playbook" comes in. Let’s break down the basics today and we will build solid grasp and derive actions over the course of this series!

Hiking for Mountains and Trees

I love hiking and marveling at the unique shapes of mountains and trees. It’s amazing how a few scattered seeds grow into such stunning sights.

Just like that, we can grow our own Money Trees—not just one, but many! Let’s explore the 3 wealth mountains you need to climb and how to grow Money Trees on each.

1. The Investment Mountain

This is the most familiar mountain, where you invest in stocks, index funds, mutual funds, or other traditional assets.

Growing a Money Tree here requires patience and consistency. Use this Three-Step Process:

• Screening and filtering (finding the right seeds, aka, growth stocks)

• Timing in (waiting for the right weather, aka, when markets are low)

• Timing out (harvesting at the right time, aka, when enough profits are made)

The Investment Mountain is the easiest to start but demands a long-term, disciplined approach.

2. The Physical Asset Mountain

Owning Real Estate; Gold; Expensive watches too (??) that grow in value over time.

Building wealth here requires some upfront knowledge and effort. Use the 80/20 principle—focus on the 20% of strategies that yield 80% of results. Your Three-Step Process:

• Finding (the right seeds, aka growth potential areas)

• Funding (watering them with the right resources, aka maintenance)

• Farming (using the right amount of compost to nurture growth, aka nice tenants)

It’s a tangible and rewarding way to grow wealth but takes some groundwork to get started.

3. The Business Mountain

This is the hardest mountain to climb, but it has the most potential for exponential growth. Growing a Money Tree here requires skills, grit, and a strong foundation and the success formula isn’t a 3 step process. Instead, it deserves the full expansion of the MONEYTREE acronym:

• M - Build multiple income streams for safety before starting your business.

• O - Create an outstanding business that generates value and income for life.

• N - Start with nothing or negligible expenses—focus on action, not lavish setups.

• E - Be employee-resistant—small, agile teams minimize costs and risks.

• Y - Choose a business idea with yield potential, even while you sleep.

• T - Trend and timing matter—pick a business relevant to today’s world.

• R - Aim for resilient income, not just linear returns.

• E - Build something for everyone’s daily use, ensuring consistent demand.

• E - Stay fueled by enthusiasm—if you hate what you sell, you’ll never succeed.

In future episodes, we’ll explore exact actions to take to grow your wealth in each of these categories.

That’s it for today 🙏. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. Access full series here. Stay tuned for more episodes and subscribe now!

References

• The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

• Make Epic Money

• Multiple Streams of Income

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Paul wants to travel the world. Sam wants to build his dream startup. Sara wants to go skydiving. Rajesh want to spend time with his kids.

One common denominator?

You’re want to have freedom to control your life the way you want to do what you love.

That’s what toddlers do. They’re free all day and can control what they want to do—play, poop, sleep, eat, whatever. Sure, parents set some limits for their safety, but you get the point.

To gain control of your life, you need time. That’s why even if you have a lot of money but no time, you’re not rich.

Gentle Reminder: There is NO financial advice offered here. Gourav is neither a financial expert nor an advisor or promotor of anything. He’s sharing his own learnings and experiences.

We’re taught that full-time jobs make us rich. It gives us money, not time—because you’re trading time for cash. To truly grow, learn to earn with your mind, not hours.

Key Learning: Ultimately, you want to have money and the time to spend it wisely, giving you true control. That’s when you’ve truly bought happiness with money—by having the control in life.

Here’s How to Do It:

1. Stay in your current job and use that time-for-money trade to invest and build safety nets and assets.

2. Use extra time—early mornings, nights, weekends, holidays—to build your business.

3. Optimize over time to make it more efficient, so you no longer need to spend a lot of time on it. That’s when you shift from active to passive income.

Passive income is a system that earns you money with minimal effort once set up. Start with these ideas now:

1. Creating Content

   • Active: Create YouTube videos, newsletters, or Instagram reels. Earn via sponsorships.

   • Passive: Once published, views, ads, and affiliate sales generate income continuously.

2. Online Courses

   • Active: Build and market your course. Earn from live sessions.

   • Passive: Record and automate it to generate long-term revenue.

3. Selling Products

   • Active: Market and sell handmade goods like carpets, managing every detail.

   • Passive: Automate your business with the right hires and systems to focus on decision-making.

Start small, stay consistent, and let your efforts pay off while you sleep! 🚀

That’s it for today 🙏. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. Access full series here.

References

• The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

• Make Epic Money

• Multiple Streams of Income

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Reports of Wall Street speculators committing suicide were spreading across NYC.🤐

Abraham Germansky, a multimillionaire real estate developer and trader, lost everything. His wife reported him missing.🪦

Meanwhile, Jesse Livermore, another millionaire at the time, made $3 billion in one day because he bet stocks would decline.

“You mean we are not ruined?” - his wife asked. 🫣

“No Darling, I have just had my best-ever trading day”. - Jesse said. 🎉

4 years later. Jesse was full of confidence after his 1929 blowout, made larger bets backed by increased debts, and ultimately lost everything in the stock market. ❌

His wife reported him "missing," and later they found that he took his own life. 🪦

Common trait? Both Jesse and Abraham excelled at accumulating wealth but struggled to maintain it.

Making wealth is one thing.

Keeping it is another. 🫨

Gentle Reminder: There is NO financial advice offered here. Gourav is neither a financial expert nor an advisor or promotor of anything. He’s sharing his own learnings and experiences.

What does it mean for Techies?

Fast forward almost a century. Today’s Big Tech Software Techies are one of the most elite groups, earning millions of dollars in a relatively short period. 🚀

That’s why they must manage their wealth rightly. They must learn to keep and grow their monies. We must not let emotions and greed destroy it. 😈

Personal Example: I learned this lesson the hard way. When the crypto market was going down in 2023-23, and my Coinbase shares were tanking 📉, I sold a whole lot of my old RSUs at a very shitty price thinking it may become a penny stock. No one can time the market, but it was a fearful sell that has cost me $1 million at today’s price. 🔪

Skill to learn: 👉 Be both optimistic and paranoid about money. The hardest skill to master is staying consistent and thriving on steady growth, as wealth-building is more about managing emotions than analyzing charts and patterns. 📈

Do this:

1. ✅ Be paranoid in financial planning: “You plan for good, God laughs..” - Plan for the worst. A great financial plan can only work if it can survive the worst reality. Save for 12 months of expenses and put it in High Yield Saving Accounts.

2. ✅ Control Emotions: “Buy low, sell high” - Tough thing to do despite being so intuitive. We should not sell when the market is going down, but we often also don’t sell when the market is going crazy high, thinking

   1. We’d lose the opportunity of “more growth”.

   2. We don't know what to do with the cash after selling.

   3. But remember this: if that cash helps you avoid selling during a crash, you'll save much more.

3. ✅ Be Optimistic: Don’t panic by downturns. Embrace them. Use Dollar Cost Averaging during downturns. Sticking around during hard times and giving time for compounding to work is the key.

That’s it for today 🙏. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. Access full series here.

References

• The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness

• The Total Money Makeover Updated and Expanded: A Proven Plan for Financial Peace

• The Intelligent Investor

Interesting Reads

• My Investment Rebalancing Process by

• Break Society's Money Rules If You Want to Be a Quiet Millionaire by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Without further ado, I’ll pass the mic 🎤 to Jay. 👏

For the last few months, has been posting key elements regarding being an effective communicator.

He’s approached it from the perspective of writing, speaking, leading, and managing. Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to implement many of those ideas in your daily interactions.

How do you hang on to that growth and not slip back into bad habits?

Focus on one skill at a time. 🎯

If you practice one approach for two months, it will become your new habit. Then you can move onto the next skill.

If you are working on your speaking skills, prioritize maintaining eye focus with one person at a time for a full thought. Deliver one sentence to one pair of eyes and the next sentence to the next person.

If you master that skill, many of the other delivery skills will fall into place.

Slowly master effective communication across the full range. 🔑

Think instead of a “spectrum of effectiveness,” with less effective on one end of the scale and more effective on the other.

• The impact we have as communicators is not based on the single instance of a behavior or a single behavior trait. ❌

• It’s based on the cumulative effect of different behaviors - a combination of our delivery skills, overall sense of presence, the clarity of our message, the structure of how we share our details, and the specific language we use to describe our main points. ✅

• For instance, perhaps you’re like a lot of people and use a lot of filler sounds, like “um” or “ah”. If you say “um” two or three times in a meeting, who cares? It’s irrelevant. No one even notices. 🤷‍♂️

• But if you say “um” in between every sentence, it becomes a distraction. You sound like you came into the meeting unprepared, and you start to slide down the scale of effectiveness.📉

Go back through Gourav’s posts and select one trait regarding oral communication skills and one skill applicable to your writing.

Focus on those skills until you own them, and move on to the next.

It’s all about incremental growth. 🚀

It’s Gourav again.

Thank you, Jay, for sharing this path of incremental growth—mastering one skill at a time and transforming into an exceptional communicator. That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. 📖

Jay writes about communication skills and leadership every other week for Forbes.com. He posts those columns on his LinkedIn page. If you’d like to receive them, please feel free to connect with him.

Interesting Reads

1. Why techies leave Big Tech by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

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

Once you land a management or leadership role, you must:

• Bring in business. 💼

• Talk to customers. 📞

• Lead the teams. 👥

• Hire and grow people. 🌱

• Delegate work effectively. ✅

• Set an example for others to follow. 🌟

In all these cases, the buck stops with the leader. It’s crucial that you can influence others with your communication to meet these expectations.

To become an open and communicative leader, do this:

1. During 1:1s or business meetings with stakeholders:

   1. Avoid vomiting information; instead, try to gather as much information. 🧠

   2. Set a positive tone to help solve others’ problems and build relationships. “I know we had a setback, but that’s business as usual. I have a plan that will solve it for you…Let’s create success….”.

2. Assign work in a manner that maximizes productivity. 🚀

   1. Delegate the work to either most experienced or interested person.

   2. Explain the role to the person to whom you are delegating.

   3. Set clear expectations, quoting specific, desirable outcomes.

   4. Portray the project as in how it benefits them. “I believe this will help bring your visibility in terms of leadership”.

3. Give actionable feedback:

   1. Ask for permission to give feedback. In most cases, it will be a yes.

   2. Use the sandwich framework: “You did well; however, you could have avoided…”. "But you are on the right path for…”. 👍

   3. Establish clear next steps. “For next time, would you like to practice…?"

4. Inspire and Influence:

   1. Talk less, do more, so that others learn to imitate by seeing rather than hearing you.

   2. Don’t strive to be a hero: “I don’t know everything, and that's fine." Speaking about this creates an environment of psychological safety.

   3. Speak with data-driven inputs and customer empathy in mind. 📊💡

   4. Use simple, short sentences inclusive of humility to influence without authority.

5. Be authentic:

   1. The more people know the “authentic you," the more they can relate to your speech.

   2. If you fear failure, be open about it, but show confidence in your plans. “I am afraid that there are unknown and we may not succeed, but without trying, we lose immediately.” 💪

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. 📖

We’re nearing the grand finale of the "Win that Communication" series! The next and final article will be a special collaboration with none other than the author of "Simply Said," - whose insights have been a huge inspiration throughout this series. He’s generously agreed to share an exclusive, game-changing endnote on this series, just for you! 🎉

That’s not all! With next chapter closing, our Reflection Series is gearing up for a brand-new series on an exciting topic. Curious to know what’s next? Stay tuned! 😄

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. Regression Towards the Mean - Mental Model by

2. 5 Keys to the Hiring Manager Interview from a Meta Senior Manager by &

3. How to Stay Calm Under Pressure? by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

• Shock: 😱 OMG, so long of a document?

• Denial: 😩 Do I really need to read it?

• Anger: 😡 Why didn’t the writer make it easier for me to read?

• Bargain: 🤔 Can I skim or skip a few sections?

• Guilt: 😓 Why am I not reading it effectively?

• Acceptance: 😌 Oh, geez! I need to just read it, but this is the last time I will do it.

If you are a writer, why make someone go through all this? 🤷‍♂️

There is a reason we tend to do this. We all experience events sequentially. So, we naturally want to explain things in the order we experienced them. It's called a "timeline" way. 🗓️

The system isn’t scalable because…<para1>
I checked logs and found…<para2>
I then tried monitoring stuff with…<para3>
I added the bug fix, it didn’t work so..<para4>
Finally, I realized I should do this. And finally it worked because..<para5>

We pour over many paragraphs, hoping that the reader first needs to understand the whole context to grasp the key point. 🧐

This may work for storytelling, but rarely is it appreciated when writing a business document or email. 📄✉️

But in reality, readers lose interest and are looking to save their time and “grasp” the key point ASAP. ⏳

When writing a business document or writing professional emails:

Adhere to these tips to maintain professionalism in your writing of business documents or emails.

1. Bring the key message in the first two sentences. 🔑 Use this format:

   ---

   1. Key Message: What readers should know and can stop reading afterwards.

   2. Background: Brief context to support the key message.

   3. Expanded Message: Only if needed, add explanation or additional context.

   4. Wrap up: Quick conclusion reinforcing the key message.

      ---

2. Write sentences of varied length: For example, one sentence of 17 words, followed by a bit longer sentence in the next line. Repeat a mix and match. 🎯

3. Don’t overwhelm the reader; move extra context to the appendices. 🗂️

4. Use bullet points so that your main line and each bullet point make up a complete sentence. 📋

5. When emailing someone to do something, use “Please” and “Thank you” 🙏, and curate sentences to meet the attitude of the reader.

If you need to provide additional context that is essential for persuading the other person, arrange a call with them, whether by phone, Zoom, or in-person meeting. 📞💻

Make it easier for them, not for you! 💡

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here. 📖

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. Why your job search is failing as an engineer or a manager (and how to fix it) by and .

2. How Google Search Works 🔥 by

3. 3 Keys to Onboarding by

4. Can We Please Avoid Over-Engineering by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Similarly, you would want to write a minimum of words to convey the most and ‘to the point’ information in written texts.

Unfortunately, we are so used to having clutter in our writing that it impacts our ability to land impact.

🌟 We need to challenge every word in our document.

🌟 A word should be present only to convey either content or tone.

🌟 The goal is to make it effortless for our reader to understand our ideas.

Use these tips to make your writing effective, crisp, and fluff-free.

1. Drop ‘Zero’ words and lengthy sentences.

Zero words are those that don’t add any value most of the time.

❌ “Currently, we have 40 staff members” —> ✅ “We have 40 staff members”

❌ “During the course of…” —> ✅ “During…”

❌ “At the conclusion of this talk” —> ✅ “After this talk”

2. Avoid confusing constructions

❌ Former and later: Avoid it. The problem is that you have to look back into the sentence you read to match former and later.

❌ And/or and using “/” in general: Pick one. It’s confusing when we say “easier/simpler” or “Let’s say Joe and/or Nick would do it." Do you mean easier and simpler, easier or simpler, or both? Would Joe and Nick do it together or would one of them do the task?

❌ Mid-Sentence Parentheses: If useful, move the sentence towards the end. Parentheses in the middle create diverging ideas.

3. Use the best possible shorter words.

Cut ‘-tion’, ‘-ment’, ‘-ance’, ‘-ing’, ‘this’ like words, and other weak verbs.

❌ “He made a statement that he was dropping out of the race” —> ✅ “He stated that he is quitting the race”

❌ “The process for reviewing documents is flawed. It doesn’t meet out needs” —> ✅ “Our process for document review fails to meet our needs”

❌ “The report missed one key number. The department didn’t report error. This led to poor decisions”. What does this refer to? —> A better line is ✅ “This inaccurate number led to poor decisions.”

4. Active and passive voices done right. Missing Actor is also valuable

Nike:

Active voice: “Just do it!” ✅

Passive voice: “It needs to be done” ✅

Missing the actor, a person or thing, when writing is also acceptable for legal writings:

“No admittance is permitted without authorization." ✅

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. What the world's #1 YouTuber can teach you about being a badass software engineer by

2. How I Almost Didn't Become A Staff Engineer by in collaboration with

3. From The Challenges - Cut by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

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

You prepared so hard for it, but someone asked a question that you don’t know the answer to.

How to effectively answer it?

Use this mind trick:

• Gain time to think about it by speaking random yet meaningful stuff. It’s called "lead-ins."

• Use lead-in phrases like:

  • “Great question. Let me take a minute to discuss that”. 

  • "I appreciate your concern about timing.”

This works because your subconscious needs a moment to prepare a made-up answer. The lead-ins help it do this.

But be careful to NOT use this technique when answering the question directly is better.

As an example, if someone attacked:

“Aren’t you ripping off your customers with this gimmick?”

Give a direct response to this:

“Absolutely not. Instead, it will add value by…”

Imagine if you would have answered: "Oh, we are ripping them off. Thanks for asking. Let me think of it."

You would have lost credibility with it.

If someone asked a question filled with feelings and emotions that you don’t have a good answer to. Use ART:

A: Acknowledge 

“I appreciate that you are concerned about the budget."

R: Relate and ask for permission.

“I also felt it."

“Would it be helpful if I provided you with….?”

T: Transition and Answer

Now that you have gained time, deliver a good tactical answer. “Budget needs some thought process; all I know is that we have done it in the past within constraints. We will be able to repeat that."

Don’t use “but” or “however” in ART because that will negate your acknowledgement and relativity.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. How to Unlock Critical Thinking? by

2. Become the engineer everyone wants to work with by and

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

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People present from slides having complex bullet points, graphs, visuals and say: “As you can clearly see…”. Well, they might not be seeing or understanding anything at all.

Use these subtle tips to enhance how you deliver your content to your audience so they can get the most out of it:

When presenting complex graphs and visuals:

Use RIDE

1. Read the heading - “I am showing you sales numbers”

2. Identify the type of graph: “ This bar graph/this chart/this pie chart shows..”,

3. Define parameters like “ The X axis shows..”

4. Explain what it means:" “This conveys that sales are increasing because..”

When presenting complex scenarios using sentences on slide:

First tell people what they are looking at before you tell them why they’re looking at.

1. When you move to a new slide, read its whole content "word-by-word." This seems counter-intuitive. Why read something already on the screen?

2. Well, the issue is that most humans can process only one thing at a time.

3. If you move a slide and then start speaking more information about it, your audience might still be reading the slide while you talk and no one hears you.

4. They will get lost if you don’t read what’s on slide first.

When explaining concepts:

Leave-Behind your authoritative key message beyond slides

1. Think of your slides as a "delivery tool" to engage your audience. After shifting the slide, and reading it verbatim, most of the valuable content that follows must come from you.

2. It should sound like you are the authority over the topic. This means you need to prepare details about each topic beyond just reiterating the slide content.

3. Possibly tell a story and use graphics that your audience will remember after the session ends, because no one remembers words on the slides.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. 3 genius marketing tips for software engineers by

2. Paying down tech debt by

3. Complaint Filed About People Complaining by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

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I always wondered how people maintain eye contact with their audience when presenting quality content from their notes..

I mean, when they have to look at their presentation slides or notes to see what to say, and then actually speak about that... how do they manage to not roll their eyes back and forth, making them look weird and unprepared?

Well, the reality is that good presenters do roll their eyes, but they do it so gracefully that you don’t notice it. They make it so effortless for the audience to receive the information that the audience doesn’t get distracted by their momentary eye-rolling.

The framework they use is:

1. Take a ‘short’ pause that doesn’t end up being awkward.

2. Look at your notes, read next ‘Spot’ word, and bring out the context in your mind.

3. Choose one person from the audience and make eye contact with them.

4. Now that you know what to say using a hint from the notes, speak with confidence.

In short, “see it, save it, say it”.

In practice, follow this process:

1. Embrace the silence: While delivering presentations, a momentary silence between sentences or topics works wonders. Optionally, you can use filler words like “Ummm,” “Ya know...”. It gives the audience an opportunity to digest what you just conveyed. It also helps you maintain your composure and keep a mature posture while you read and prepare your next point.

2. Refer to your notes: To keep the silence short and get the best out of your notes, you need to make sure your notes aren’t full sentences. Rather, they should be bullet points centered on a page, divided among 4-5 key ideas or themes. Each bullet point should have a key word, also called an ‘anchor’ or ‘spot’ word. The idea is that you know your content well, and the notes are just providing you with a hint of what to say. Using this layout, you can refer to the next point within a second or two.

3. Demonstrate using eyes and hands: Now that you are ready to speak, bring your attention back to the audience, choose one person to maintain eye contact with, and start speaking. While you do so, also use hand gestures to help visualize your content. It’s important because no matter how fascinating your content is, people’s minds are often busy with other things, and all these tactics will help you bring their attention back to your presentation.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. Replace All Staff Engineers with Multiple New Grads! by

2. How to be a 'SOLID' Programmer by

3. The impossible task of engineering managers by

4. Latest Innovations in Recommendation systems with LLMs by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

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

“Do you want to share something at today’s meeting?”

“No. I’ll just sit and listen.”

Many of us view listening as a passive activity—a chance to check our phones, emails, or Instagram memes while someone else is putting their wholesome energy into conveying meaningful information. But how do you feel when others do that to you?

Effective communication isn’t just about sharing-out information; it’s also about truly absorbing-in what’s being shared with you.

A speaker feels valued when the listener responds with a simple "ah-ha," "hmm," or "okay, I see." No one wants to talk to a blank slate, wondering, "Are you still there?"

Why is this so important? To be a good leader, you must make others feel included. Giving them your full attention and being fully present in the conversation makes you memorable in their minds. They’ll feel comfortable sharing openly, and you’ll earn their respect because your active listening will help you understand the details better and make better decisions.

So, how can you become a better listener? Practice the following:

• Take Notes: Jotting down key points not only helps you remember but also shows the speaker that you’re fully engaged. Listen to the full sentence, then capture the essence in a few words. Note-taking should enhance, not distract from, your listening.

• Listen to Understand, Not Compete: Often, we’re eager to jump in with our thoughts, turning conversations into competitions. Break the cycle by saying, "That’s interesting; tell me more." You’ll gain more by listening fully.

• Ask Probing Questions: Once the speaker finishes, ask thoughtful questions. Open-ended questions like "What do you think of...?" encourage deeper discussion, while closed-ended questions like "Did you finish the memo?" help clarify specifics. Both types are valuable depending on the context.

• Confirm and Clarify: If something’s unclear, don’t assume—ask for confirmation. For example, "If I understand correctly, you’re saying it should be delivered by X. Is that right?" This ensures you’re on the same page and reinforces your understanding.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. How to propose an impactful improvement to the codebase and own the implementation by

2. From Meh to Wow: How to Answer “Tell Me About Yourself” in an Interview by

3. Following Industry Trends Can Be a Career Trap by

4. Why does Big Tech enter Gaming? (Netflix Games, Apple Arcade, Xbox, Tencent and more) by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

To look confident, we need to emit positive, easy vibes. Let’s understand this:

• Your body is an energy store. To stand out as a great communicator, you need to manage how your body emits that energy.

• Most of the time, it is dissipated via your Body Language and Voice. Watch out for that! These are the only natural tools you need to work on.

Make the following positive changes to these two aspects of your personality, and you’ll be amazed by the results.

Body Language:

1. Avoid Closed body Language: If someone walks into a room with their arms folded, it may be perceived as negative, angry, or upset. Even though they may not be, maybe that’s their comfortable position. The goal with body language is to minimize the audience’s ability to misperceive you.

2. Sit Straight: If you sit all the way back in your chair, you risk being misperceived as bored or disengaged. It’s not a rule, but a weird observation. Slouching isn’t good for your back as well. Try to keep your spine vertical.

3. Use hands for gesture while standing straight: Why keep your hands apart? Upon contact, they will likely fidget, like massaging and wiping sweat. The same goes for standing on one leg. You will keep shifting your body weight and look foolish. Instead, use your hands for gestures that add positive emphasis to your expressions and reinforce your words.

4. Keep a charming face: When presenting information face-to-face, one of the keys is to smile. Many salesmen forget this fact and are then not trusted for their jobs because their faces look terrible when conveying a point. If you are told that you look angry while talking, a simple trick is to open your lips slightly, which helps soften the face.

Voice:

1. Slow Down your pace: Speak slowly and take pauses in between. When you speak too fast, you sound like you are apologizing for taking the audience’s time. When you don’t take pauses in between, you aren’t giving folks time to digest what you just said, and they will lose their train of thought.

2. Adjust Volume: Always speak at the volume needed to reach the person farthest from you. Be just loud enough. Beyond that, raising your voice will add urgency. Do it only when needed. Use modulations in volume.

3. Speak with Positive Tone & Clear Inflection: If you speak with a smile, your voice reflects that. That’s why teams with customer service folks have mirrors or “Smile” signs in front of them. Along with smiling, use sharp, clear, and definitive hand gestures. Together, this makes your tone positive.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

• How I grew this newsletter from 0 to 18K in one year by

• Going Slow Is the #1 Sign of a Truly Successful Person Living a Badass Life by

• Is Consistency Hurting Your Sustainability? by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Here’s the catch: Most people are okay talking to one person at a time. Even if that one person is a stranger, we often feel confident talking to them. The key is to apply the same technique when talking to the masses.

But we all know that’s not easy. Have we ever enquired ‘why’?

The main reason is that in a one-on-one setting, we can maintain eye contact — a key element used to maintain connection and convey a sense of commitment to the person we are talking to.

When talking to hundreds of people, we tend to lose that connection with the audience as we aren’t able to scale up talking to and maintaining eye contact with so many people at the same time.

When you enter a room full of people you have to present to, your brain takes in too much information to process. You notice someone is judging you, another person is yawning, and someone checking their phone. The brain, just like a computer, freezes when taking in so much information and kicks in a “fight and flight” response.

Your heartbeat increases, and you enter a panic mode, leading to a bad presentation.

Here is a solution and key-takeaway

Look at one person at a time for a complete sentence. And then move on to another person for the next couple of sentences and so on.

This works because then you aren’t talking to 200 people, you are just talking to one person, same as your one-to-one setting.

You look composed, and confident and immediately build rapport with the audience, increasing your confidence further.

But take care of a nuance here: Just don’t focus too much on one person, especially when in a small group. Imagine if, in a board meeting, you spend your whole time talking and impressing the CEO, and afterward, the CEO turns to the CFO: “What do you think?”, the CFO would have lost you already. In general, it takes less energy to be nice to everyone than to figure out whom you have to be nice to.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

1. Premature Abstractions by

2. Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) via Job Hopping by about

3. 12 Ways To Tell If You’re A Difficult Engineer (And What To Do About It) by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

“WIIFM - What’s in it for me??”

When you are inviting folks to your presentation or actually presenting slides to them - They are screaming this question in silence.

Most of the time, when we are presenting something, we want others to do something like buy a product, adopt a framework, write better code, or something else.

If your hook, invitation pitch, and format and content of your presentation aren’t strong enough, many of the folks won’t attend it or may get bored in the first few minutes and start scrolling through Slack or Instagram posts.

And your audience isn’t wrong. They are not sitting in an olive garden waiting to hear the whole human psychological theory from you and solve the mysteries of your content.

Key-Takeaway

Make sure that your main key content or action item comes out immediately and let the rest of your content be a validation of the main point.

Adopt this Presentation format that works

The Hook

• State the problem in a clear and actionable manner - “Sales are going down compared to the last year and we need to solve this immediately to keep the business running”.

• Use Statistics - Benjamin Disraeli once said: “There are lies, damn lies and then there are statistics”. The point is to have at least one graph or just make one out.

• Ask Rhetorical questions - “In this regard, what can we do?” - No one is gonna answer that other than you, but still ask it anyway.

The Recommendation

• Because you stated the problem and grabbed their attention, now tell them the solution. - “We need to reimplement XYZ marketing campaign via CRM”

• Don’t drag the interesting part till last. Just tell them what you want them to do.

The Benefits

• Tell them what’s the benefit of doing what you are suggesting.

• The benefit often boils down to three things: saving time, saving or making money, and feeling good - “Because we have preexisting deal with the CRM company, we will save money by not reinventing the wheel, while improving our revenue and have some good time off afterward”.

Prove the benefit

• Use some rough calculations or anecdotes from the past. - “Last year, this same strategy saved us $3M per month”.

Tell them the Next Step

• Clearly define action items, who will do what, and when - “Jon will help us re-instantiate the contract and trigger brand recommendations. Mike will measure growth and provide weekly updates”

With this, you would roughly end up with 8 slides presentable in a 10-minute timeframe.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Interesting Reads

• The End Of Investors’ GenAI Honeymoon by

• Strategizing Your Preparation for Machine Learning Interviews by

• How Meta Achieves 99.99999999% Cache Consistency by

• Are You Getting the Most Out of People by

• Making of a Million Dollar Staff Engineer by & :)

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

“I want to give you a status update about Project Kepler which is to implement green carbon emissions tracking software. You know we have been running this project just fine. We have done many things like…XYZ. It was going smoothly until we found scaling issues in service X. The problem needs expert advice on the TCP layer from a seasoned engineer. We want more resources to bring the project back on track and hence I request the leadership to help us here”

This update is misleading on multiple levels:

❌ The first sentence focuses on the writer's “wants,” not the reader's needs.
❌ Saying you’re giving a status update within the status update is redundant. By now, readers have spent 2-5 seconds reading and gained nothing.
❌ The write-up includes too many unnecessary details, causing readers to lose interest due to their short attention spans.
❌ What does "seasoned engineer" mean here? Seasoned in TCP, networking, or just an experienced engineer?
❌ Finally, readers are left confused. What’s in it for them? Should they be worried or happy? Is this an update or just details? Is there an action item for them or the leadership? The term “leadership” is too broad.

Here’s a better way to present the same status update:

On Project Kepler, we have hit a snag.

Action Item: I request Jon to please help us evacuate this situation by providing a seasoned network engineer from the SRE team.

Details of the issue: We hit an issue with dropping packets when making cross-region calls and …

Project Context (for new readers): Project Kepler which is to implement green carbon emissions tracking software. We have been running experiments with…XXX. We have done many things like…XYZ

Why is this status update effective?

✅ It highlights the core issue and grabs the reader’s attention in the first line.
✅ The action item is clear and immediate.
✅ The remaining details are discretionary and placed at the end.

Bonus point, if you want to share good news, it would look like this:

On Project Kepler, we are on track and the good news is that we are running smoothly such that there is no action item on anyone right now.

Context: Project Kepler is to implement…

What’s so nice and great about this update?

😀 It sets up a positive and relaxing platform for the readers.
🕺 Readers won’t even read the rest of the message after the first line. You have given them the power to forget about this and move forward with their work.
🚀 Them not reading the rest of the message is not a failure on your end. Instead, it’s a huge win because you saved them and your time reading and writing long messages.

That’s it for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Shoutouts

• 6 proven ways to ask better questions by

• How I became a VP of Engineering at Box by

• How to Memorize a Complex Codebase? by

• Congratulations on one year of Dev Leader Weekly!

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

You must have heard this before:

“A great way to explain or present something is telling an engaging story about it.”

This works because people listening can relate to stories, remember those for a long and can share them with their friends and feel smart about it :)

🏰 So, next time you write a document, newsletter, book, or even talk casually to someone, try portraying information in the form of a story. 🏰

But telling a story is an art, which only few cracks well. Here’s how to do it:

1. 🍰 Tell short meaningful stories. Telling long stories just messes up the whole point of it. Think when your uncle Henry starts to say: “That reminds me of…” and everyone’s eyes would start to roll and you know it would take an hour for him to finish - that’s not worth it.

2. 😄 The second point is about adding humor to your stories. Humor makes it easier to remember and multiplies laughter. But there as well, you need to be cautious:

• Don’t make fun of other people.

• Don’t make fun of yourself multiple times, otherwise you’d lose credibility

• Don’t make it funny forcefully. It should come naturally.

A good story starts well, delivers the peak point, and ends with a smile on the listener’s face.

An example of a good story goes like this:

Key Takeaway

📜 Tell bounded stories that deliver the key message with humor sprinkled over it carefully. 📜

That’s the ‘Short’ for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

Shoutouts 🔊

• How I Aced Machine Learning Interviews by

• Traits of a 10x engineer by

• Data Modelling Using Complex Data Types by

• How to fix slow loading apps by

• How I plan my week as a Senior Engineer in Big Tech by

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

• I’m a Staff Database Engineer at Moonscale.

• I’m a Private Wealth Manager at Fixo.

• I’m a Real Estate Attorney.

Unfortunately, that is similar to a high school kiddo saying: “I’m a class mentor in 8th grade.”

When you introduce ourselves using these phrases, you are telling people that you see yourself based on the title and levels you’ve achieved. Does that help the other person in any way? Probably NOT.

Instead, try this:

• I fix broken databases so that company stays reliable.

• I make sure people have enough money for retirement and they become financially independent.

• I help building dream homes.

Did you see the difference? It will make the listener ‘want’ to work with you.

This is especially important in business when you are trying to sell something.

How?

Because contrary to our belief “our product is best and so please buy it”, businesses thrive on the ‘Rapport’ you have build for the company, product or yourself.

Once you have started off with that intro, you have built the rapport. Next steps become easier.

Now, do the small talk to build the relationship - “How’s life treating you?” - believe me, this open ended question would open up ‘Friendship doors’ pretty fast.

Now, jump onto business by telling a relatable story and you will feel the difference.

Even if you don’t end up making the deal today, they will remember you and probably call you back when in need.

What’s a Reflection Short? Read here.

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

• Managing Client Relationships as an Investment Banker, Lawyer or Consultant

Shoutouts 🔊

• Writing Tactics by

• Communicate like a Senior: Use clear deltas by

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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

Most probably, Yes! Here’s what I can tell you to save some guilt: “It’s not you, it’s the speaker.”

Key takeaway

It’s your responsibility as a communicator to make the audience understand what you want to convey:

1. in a short, simple yet engaging manner,

2. such that the audience has gained some value.

Keep it Short, Simple yet Engaging

“Everyone participating in these activities would develop cohesiveness, the pursuit of inclusion, and help us develop quality decisions to make meaningful progress towards long-term goal of shooting for the moon. Who knows you may see some bombshell gifts!”

could be simply said:

“Please attend as many activity sessions as possible to contribute towards a long-term goal and get surprise gifts.”

Get to the point, your goal isn’t to be smart, cute, or clever. It’s to communicate clearly. No one has time to read ‘long BS jargony’ messages in their busy lives.

Focus on the needs of the Audience

Most of the time we have a tendency to communicate what we understand. Bummer, that doesn’t necessarily mean others understand what you want them to know.

Give them a clear action item, key takeaway, or something valuable to apply in their lives as a gift in return for the time they spend reading or listening to you.

For example, the message below is confusing, sending mixed signals and conveying feelings rather than action items:

“ok Josh, I think adding logs to the service is the right move, but we need to wait for logs to make progress. Our goal remains the same to meet the deadline, I am feeling it’s gonna drag a bit and that might be bad, isn’t it?”

and could be simply said:

“I am worried we won’t be able to meet our deadline. I am concerned about us waiting on added service logs to debug this. Josh, can you please find an alternative to make progress?”

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

• How I Learned to Speak With More CLARITY

Let’s Connect 🤝

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

Use the below links if you want to connect with me.

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