Steve Jobs was a zen student. He studied under Kobun Chino for a long time. The interesting thing is that Kobun Chino was a calligrapher and designer himself who turned to Zen Buddhism. Some guys from Jess3 productions put together a comic book that illustrates the life of Steve Jobs during the time he was ousted from Apple and made a return.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs. This book is available on the Kindle now and while you watch the trailer, i’ll download the book.

Yours truly had an interview with an Indian gaming website called GamesOrbit recently along with my good friend Elroy Pinto.

Here’s a snippet

Game Orbit: Lastly, Talking particularly about Starcraft, where and how do you think India is lacking behind? As an individual gamer, what measures can be taken to bring this game up? And probably adding up to the question, how exactly can E-Sports in India rise?

Karthick Gopal: Elroy wrote it well in the thread. We are not serious. We don’t have a single top tier competitor player that can compete with the best in the world. We thus have no exposure to anything in tournaments. As Indian or south Asian players, we need to unite the community participate in foreign tournaments spread the word among friends, make it a mission to bring one new person into the game and spread the joy of gaming together. This is a social sport, just like you play cricket and compete, we should infuse that same spirit. As an individual I think we should learn to become better at the game and strive for excellence. The highest league is Grandmasters which no Indian player has reached, if we have 15 grandmaster players, and then we have a good competing field and a pool of talent to help other players come in as well

For E-Sports to rise we need an ecosystem of gamers, organizers, marketers, players and support from people to take it to the next level. We don’t lack talent, we lack unity and organization. For those people that have passion the means to do this are currently very hard because of the lack of support. Once this picks up though, I see no reason why we can’t be world level or elite. But it starts with professionalism, social cause and then unity to bring people together for a greater good, uniting people through gaming not just winning tournaments.

 

is now a movie!

On Mark Zuckerberg’s profile and many interviews, you hear him mention “The Ender’s Game” as a book he took inspiration from. Well now according to Variety Magazine it’s coming to a movie with a stellar cast.

Harrison Ford stars in it. The director of Xmen and Wolverine are in it. I’m particularly excited about this because this talks about colonisation of a race vs the humans led by tactical geniuses (a colony led by power hungry intelligent group of humans against another colony of insectoid beings). This is like Terran vs Zerg in Starcraft 2 made into a movie!

The story according to Wikipedia is

Set in Earth’s future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind who have barely survived two conflicts with the Formics (an insectoid alien species also known as the “Buggers”). These aliens show an ant-like group behavior, and are very protective of their leader, much like Earth ants protecting their queen.

In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, an international fleet maintains a school to find and train future fleet commanders. The world’s most talented children, including the novel’s protagonist, Ender Wiggin, are taken at a very young age to a training center known as the Battle School. There, teachers train them in the arts of war through increasingly difficult games including ones undertaken in zero gravity in the Battle Room where Ender’s tactical genius is revealed.

I don’t think you should make resolutions because they are designed to fail by being too stringent. What you can do, however, is take steps towards reevaluating the self and have personal goals.  You can have goals that would take a year or so and have some end in sight.

A goal I had back in 2008 and 2009 was to read one book a week. That’s 52 books a year (52 weeks in case you are wondering). In 2008 I read one book every week for 44 weeks. I slacked on the rest because some  books were just really boring and some just took too damn long.

This year I want to change things a little bit by tweaking the system.

I want to read 52 books that are non fiction only. The fiction thing I can read on the side (I highly recommend the GRRM Song of Fire and Ice series) to help me sleep but that doesn’t count. These are books that’ll help me with insights into business, management, gaming, photography and other areas of interests.

I’m not going crazy here, the whole idea is to increase my knowledge and help my blog develop with sharper opinions by reading more. The book I’m starting with is an autobiography by Gordon Ramsay, that loud chef, called Playing with Fire. I will still post the learnings I get from each of these books and my notes like Derek Sivers does so well.  You can find them starting next week here.

And if you are looking for book recommendations, here’s a good list.

5 years back, in 2007, I shifted to Gurgaon. One of the biggest reasons was to get away from the claustrophobic social compression that I was facing in Chennai. I know too many people there, I had a rough breakup and I wanted to seek greener pastures in finance and opportunity.

I did some research on where I wanted to go and it was to be back in the North. Mostly because it was harder to access for most people and also because there were very interesting developments in the place I decided to look into. That place was Gurgaon tucked in the middle of Haryana, India.

The reason I chose that place was seclusion and the betterment of my self. Perfect candidate for a Self Help dose therapy. I started reading tons of Seth Godin, Steve Pavlina, Zen Habits and books like Allen’s GTD etc. I wasn’t insecure, but I was in need of direction and help. I read Brian Tracy’s eat the frog (the best among the lot) and wrote down tons and tons of notes on productivity, eliminating distraction and the hoopla.

Turns out that I was doing less and reading more. No guesses on how productive I was then. I didn’t realise it then but overall I have come to realise the following about Self Help.

You don’t need it. Most authors that put forward the knowledge do the following

1) Rehash popular content that is rehashed from common sense.
2) Talk about what worked for them.

The problem, and danger with point 2, is that you are unique. You don’t have the same environment or motivations that the author had, so his advice makes for good reading, it’s not necessary it’ll save you or even help you. Take inspiration, not direction or focus from them.

So what did I do and what worked for me? I started with throwing all of the books out. I learned to develop my own system. I took inspiration from ways others did things and tried to incorporate that into my routine if it was helpful. I stopped following the hoopla and praising the second coming of Jesus in productivity too.

I thought I was the only one who thought this way during the immense asskissing everyone was doing and it was nice to see 2 others that thought the same.

Here’s Jeff Atwood’s take.

Reading self-help advice from other people, however well-intentioned, is no substitute for getting your own damn work done. The sooner you come to terms with this, the better off you’ll be.

Get out there and do stuff because you fundamentally enjoy it and because it makes you better. As a writer, as an analyst, as a techie, whatever. Learn to love practicing the fundamentals and do it better each time. Over time, quality does lead to success, but you have to be patient. Really patient. Turns out, “overnight” success takes years. Maybe even decades. This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Plan accordingly.

Here’s the awesome Derek Siver’s take on this.

I like being reminded that nobody’s going to help me - that it’s all up to me. Itputs my focus back on the things I can control - not waiting for outside circumstances.

The hardest truth, one that I was told by my mentors then was this, “Only you know”.  What does that mean? Aren’t you asking in the first place? How can you know when you don’t really know.

The answer is a hard one, it could be summed up in one word: Intuition. You have to learn to trust yourself, better yourself and work with yourself more. Sometimes you know when things are right or when there’s a very strong appeal to something. You learn to trust it and go with that path. It is very hard, I hated getting answer, but I have come to realise it’s because I was looking for the easy way out. I wanted someone to tell me, I didn’t want to listen and put in the effort to find out myself.

Listen to your being. Put in the effort but remember, this worked for me. It doesn’t have to for you, but it’s important to listen more, talk less and start doing the things you love. So what are you getting started on?

An industry that’s bound to explode is the Mobile one. This is not rocket science. Compare your own usage of the mobile phone to what you did 4 years ago. I bet you don’t leave the house without the phone. I forget to take the house key at times, but almost never the mobile. 2011 was a good year for the mobile.

The most interesting statistic, that I found,  from a post on that by Chetan Sharma Consulting is that it took us 19 years to activate the first billion phones on the planet. But we have activated the last of the 6 billion phones that are active. Meaning 5 billion phones were activated in 15 months. Amazing!

Here are some things I find particularly interesting for the year and look forward to following us

1) Amazon’s entry into mobile.

Shifting the landscape from a communication only platform that the device currently is to a consumer packed ordering unit. I personally think that if amazon can pull off a phone that I can show around and get readings (social mined data about things I wish to buy to get an opinion) it would be a huge hit.

2) Google/Android vs Apple/iOS

The fight will continue. More activations, more of this closed-open bullshit but a whole lot of improvement from both ends. I doubt Android can reach the sweet spot of consumer satisfaction like Apple has done, just like I don’t think Big Bazaar is going to compete with places like Walmart. The blackberry is dying. Nokia is not picking up gear and the Windows phone is just too damn late.

3) Faster Data Connections

India is pretty much effed in the broadband space. I’m paying obscene amounts to maintain a net connection that my friend pays 1/3rd the rate for. So what’s my relief. 3G and 4G connects. Sure, Japan is miles and miles ahead with it’s 5G connect but I hope we get there soon and this year seems promising. We have to kill people like Raja from blocking our entry to be leaders in the mobile space.

4) Mobile Payments

I have used services like Mobikwik and paid via mobile. How cool would it be if every shop went the Google Wallet way? I can’t wait to use the one device I carry everywhere as a wallet, communication platform AND workstation. Just like we had tons of websites crop in the e-commerce space, the m-commerce space is coming. I think in flights, cleartrip would do really well as well since they are early adapters.

5) Location based services will finally reach maturity

Foursquare and the gang can finally hit an important part where they populate content with more activations. Once they stop the gamefication business and focus on adding value to consumers by offering tips or connecting people at a certain location, I think foursquare will be awesome. Also discounts/deals activated by finding out my location. So if I go to Bangalore Central, I should know what’s the latest deal there and which of my friends just visited.

I would urge you to read the whole post as well. There are some fascinating things there. I’ll add up a post on what I see in Mobile gaming in the future as well.

When you are in any environment that is challenging, you will have people better than you. Sometimes they are far better than you. In an environment like IIT, where I had my undergraduate studies, this feeling multiplies itself to the point of pushing you to insecurity.

So how do you cope up with such talent and intelligence? By telling yourself, you have no talent. I wish someone told me that it was ok to not be the smartest guy in the room.

What you do and can have is an unbelievable tenacity to work hard. That is the single thing every human being is born with. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

This has been reiterated by my brother, who went on to learn CSS when I had a headstart on him.
This was reiterated when my friend, who is now part of a band, was far behind in learning the guitar.
This was reiterated when  someone flew with the same idea I had of commentating and made it a daily tv show.

The lesson here is well summarised in this post I read recently where the author says he has no talent, but hardwork and therefore wins.

 It is true. I have no talent. What I do have is a lot of practice. And I am not talking about occasionally dabbling in on weekends. I am talking about the kind of practice where I beat it into submission (though often times the code wins).

The kind of practice where all of a sudden I realize that it is 2am and I’m exhausted physically so I should go to bed, but mentally I feel on fire so I let the code have me for another hour or two (I imagine this state to be like a marathon runner or ironman near the end of their race).

am also not very smart. I have a good memory (though my wife will tell you it has some missing pieces) and I work really hard. Really hard. I get that from my dad. He is also not very smart (his words, not mine), with a good memory and works really hard.

I am sick of hearing people say, “Oh, I love your code, I wish I could do that.” You can. The only reason you can’t is because you don’t practice enough. I used to think that I wasn’t smart enough. I was jealous of those that did crazy code stuff that I couldn’t even comprehend. Then, one day, I ran into something I did not understand and instead of giving up, I pushed through. I sat there in front of my computer for hours and wrestled with class and class instance variables.

That day was a turning point for me. It was the last time I thought that whether or not I was successful depended on my talent or intelligence. It really comes down to hard work people. Ever since then, I have attacked each thing that I do not understand until I understand it.

For a long time I kept wondering about the niche business.

It goes like this

1. Pick a niche

2. Become obsessed about it

3. Start writing about it

4. Become an expert

5. $$$$$$$$

This worked great for professional bloggers. People who do ONLY this and have no other job to call their own. What happens to people who have a job that sustains them and still want to nurture the dream of becoming a great blogger?

We start with a blog, write about some random topics. Try to pick niches. Then we have too many interests and we ponder about whether writing something you’d like or post something about a topic that’s not your niche would be accepted or refrained.

I was in  a similar confusion yesterday on deciding niches. I like Social Gaming. I like reading about people in Business. I like being a productivity nerd. But, I also love photography, chocolates, cooking, coffee, social media, starcraft 2, gaming, curios items, books, magazines, music and many other things. So where does my niche lie?

Then I saw Marco’s post today on the blogging trap. Marco is a co founder of Tumblr and one of the best tech bloggers I have seen. He also made the Instapaper app on the iPhone that you MUST get. He writes here

I’m not just about technology, just as John Gruber’s not just about Apple products and Merlin Mann isn’t just about index cards and Steve Yegge can speak briefly and Jeff Atwood enjoys Rock Band and Paul Graham is a great cook and Ted Dziuba likes stuff and pretty people take shits and maybe, just maybe, there’s an area of Michael Arrington’s life in which he isn’t a dick.

People aren’t so one-sided. Everyone has a life that goes much deeper than the topics on their blogs.

I never wanted to work for a big company because it increases the likelihood of being pigeonholed, and I don’t want to be “the ______ guy” for any one thing.

I don’t need to be an authority on anything. I don’t need you to agree with my arguments. I know this is probably too long, too broad, and too egotistical for the mass market to read, and you most likely skimmed over it. I wrote this just now, and I’m going to publish it now, even though it’s Sunday and it won’t see peak traffic. I don’t want to write top-list posts 10 times a day. I don’t want to be restricted to my blog’s subject or any advertisers’ target demographic. This site represents me, and I’m random and eccentric and interested in a wide variety of subjects.

So, as the new year dawns in, I’m not going to ask you what your website is about. What are you about? What stories are you going to entertain us with?

Write awesome and stay awesome and have a wonderful new year 2012.

“We suffer one of two things. Either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. You’ve got to choose discipline, versus regret, because discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons.”

- Jim Rohn from “Conversations with Millionaires

How do you get into a startup with no experience in that field? I have often wondered about this question. I have been a part of a few startups, but I’m a generalist. I work at different things and do different things together. There’s no one area or niche where I’m the authority on decisions. This could be good, I could be considered to be like water, but this can make it very hard to get into a startup unless you have relevant experience.

Justin Kan, founder of Justin TV has some great tips for getting into startups where you have no skill sets. Some of them are before you get into the startup, but all useful to note in the end.

I’m not going into the existential question of why you should join a startup, if at all, that’s for another day.

First, consider looking at startups where you can get in on the ground floor;generally, companies with less than 10 people. These companies are unproven and won’t likely have throngs of experienced people banging down the doors.

Second, consider applying for a job in an area you have experience in, and then once you’re in, work your way into the area where you want to be. Join Sales if you know it, then work your way up.

Third, spend much, much more time and effort on your “application” than you would for a traditional application. Do everything outside the book if needed.

Lastly, try to give yourself some experience. In your spare time, design something.

You can get your dream job at a startup and get into the tech world, even if you have limited experience. You just need to expect to go above and beyond, and be flexible in where you are starting out. No one is going to go out of their way to make it easy for you.