Our identity, micro-habits and interpreting wealth

The High Five - Edition #25

Mar 7, 2021

Hello everyone,

First things first: I missed sending 'The High Five' for the last 2 weekends as I was travelling and I wanted to truly unplug from consuming content. Regulating information diet is something that I practice now and then.

With that, let me share what I have in this 25th edition of ‘The High Five’:

Our work is not our identity - An interesting article that reminds us that what we do is not who we are
Micro-habits for efficiency - 20 small habits that can have big results
A different way of looking at 'wealth' - some non-monetary indicators that signify wealth
A quote on how the world wants to know about us
Failing and Failure

Career and Identity: What you do is not who you are

One of the many ramifications of the social media explosion is this increasing emphasis on a life characterized by the hustle and the perception of success. I am reminded of a quote (source is unknown): On Facebook, everyone is happy. On Instagram, everyone is pretty. On Twitter, everyone is right. On LinkedIn, everyone is successful. Identity is such a powerful thing. It is important for us to truly understand our own identity and it’s dimensions. And it is also important for us to project the right aspects of our identity, onto others. In this grand game of perception management, somewhere we tend to associate our identity to what we do.

There have been some articles, from the US, that came up recently which discussed this phenomenon. I believe that the phenomenon is not limited to the US; this is a global phenomenon and we need to constantly remind ourselves that there could be ways to delink our sense of identity to what we do as part of our daily work. This article by The New York Times makes an interesting read on why compartmentalizing work and identity separately is extremely important.

Habits: 20 Micro-habits With Possible Big Benefits in The Long Term

The publication Mind Cafe on Medium produces some good articles on happiness, life and habits. This article piqued my interest because of the way it framed some ways of doing things as 'micro habits and the benefits they entail.

Ever wondered about doing things like brushing with the non-dominant hand? or work-shutdown ritual? or dipping head in cold water? This article has 20 such suggestions. I have tried only 3 of them so far but I cannot write about them as I need to try them consistently for more time. Yet, this is an article worth saving so that you can pick some of them and try them out for interesting results.

Reframing our thinking: 10 Indicators of Wealth that have nothing to do with money

The only interpretation I have always associated with the word 'wealth', aside from health, is money. Well, money and it's various convertible forms such as real estate properties, gold, stocks, expensive things and lifestyle etc. This tweet thread I came across recently provided a totally different interpretation of what wealth could be. The essence of all these tweets points at our ability to control our time and choices. I liked the way the author of these Tweets looked at wealth because his interpretations throw light on a few things that we might already have but do not value or feel grateful about.

A quote that resonated with me this week: “We all like to think we’re more complex than a two-sentence explanation, but a two-sentence explanation is usually what the world wants from us.” - Austin Kleon

Something I highlighted in the book I’m reading: Failing and failure are different things. Don’t mix the two. Fail often. Just don’t fail twice on the same stuff.

I am reading a book called ‘As you life it’, which is a collection of various articles written by a corporate leader and a blogger - Ayon Banerjee. This book has been a compelling read so far, primarily because it has a lot of practical wisdom relevant to mid-career professionals, articulated in a no-fluff style.

The album I was listening to while writing this edition is Anoushka Shankar’s Traces of You, which is one of the underrated fusion albums in the last decade. Almost every track is beautifully composed.

If you liked reading ‘The High Five’, do share it with a friend who might like it too.

Before I sign off, here is a picture from Kerala, where I travelled recently.