When you are not practicing, someone else is. And when you meet each other, they will win. 

This paranoia drove me in 2016. I double down-ed on the practice. To prepare for the right time, not knowing when it will come. Not worrying about it either.

This list is a compilation of the content pieces that stood out for me, in 2016. That helped me in the practice.

All this content was discovered by me in 2016. They could be (and most likely are) from an earlier year

Books

Sapiens – A brief history of humankind

One of the best books of 2016. Suddenly a lot of the things you observe everyday, but never question, start to make sense. Loved the parts about money and religion, particularly.

Shoe Dog – A memoir by the creator of Nike

Hands down – the book of the year for me. It came at a time when I needed to read about this journey. Absolutely brilliant – a must read for every entrepreneur.

Better Under Pressure: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others

During Feb-Mar this book explained to me a lot about why I was feeling what I was feeling, and more importantly how to deal with it. Entrepreneurs – do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

Stumbling on Happiness

Explains the science of happiness better than anything else I have ever read. Much needed read, especially in today’s world of instant gratification and endless distraction.

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

The genius of this book cannot be expressed in words. If you believe in numbers and naturally gravitate towards them, this is the first book you should read. Hopefully the last you will ever need.

Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

This book is like the matrix. No one can be told what the matrix is. One has to see it for themselves. Read this book. Please.

The Magic of Thinking Big

The title can be misleading – this isnt your run-of-the-mill self help shit. This book made sense – every page of it.

The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti

The simplicity of this much recommended book truly moved on. I haven’t read a lot of philosophy in life, but can argue that this book gives good reason to read more about life.

A Sense of Urgency

Brilliant book on how to drive organizational change, why its so hard and how you can effectively measure. For all managers and founders – this is a gem!

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

When in doubt, refer to the bible! Read this book almost everyday – a random page opened before I started my day. And each time it answered a question, as if it knew what I wanted an answer to.

Videos

2016 was the year of video for me. I consumed video like a maniac – shunned TV completely.

THE LAB: DECOY – A portrait session with a twist
Something I have always believed in, as a photographer – the actual subject is behind the lens

Why we should go to Mars
This is my prescription for whenever I am down. These 4 minutes defined a lot of my sentiments for 2016. Its nout about today – everything is about tomorrow.

10 ways to have a better conversation | Celeste Headlee
The simplest way to describe human conversations. So forgotten in today’s era. I am firm believer that in the future the single biggest success parameter will be the ability to communicate. This video starts that inner dialogue.

Paper Boat presents Rizwan
This video became the benchmark for storytelling – at a brand level and at a personal level.
People relate to individuals, not to news.

Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace
Simon Sinek strikes again. And he is even more brilliant than before. If the Golden Circle explained why organizations are successful, this one explained how individuals can be.

Grace VanderWaal: 12-Year-Old Ukulele Player Gets Golden Buzzer – America’s Got Talent 2016
I was addicted to “Got Talent” youtube videos – recall watching every single golden buzzer video one random weekend. But this one stayed. It just stayed.

Elon Musk almost crying
Fuck, this broke my heart. And told me the honest truth. No change was ever brought about by keeping everyone happy.

Sachin A Billion Dreams | Official Teaser | Sachin Tendulkar
Just for that one line in the trailer. Just for that – this video will always stay with me. Just for that.

What Will You Stand For? – Motivational Les Brown Tribute
10 mins of absolute motivation. Loved every second of it.

Dasht-e-Tanhai. Meesha Shafi
This video defined music for me – the lyrics, the voice, the melody, the rhythm – everything is magical.

Articles

Am not going to describe them – instead strongly encourage you to read all of them

Be a bit f*cked up. People will like you for that

Do you take yourself seriously?

The 7 most unconventional thoughts happy people have

10 Surprising Things Our Brain Does And What We Can Learn From It

Want to Become a Billionaire? Solve “I want X but Y”

Thoughts on Building Weatherproof Companies

“Are my songs literature?” Bob Dylan’s wry, gracious Nobel Prize acceptance speech

Barack Obama And Doris Kearns Goodwin: The Ultimate Exit Interview

35 Things You Should Know Before Becoming “SUCCESSFUL”

The Ivy Lee Method: The Daily Routine Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity

Blogposts

These are the most popular blogposts of mine for this year