os.me Digest: Interesting You in 3 Steps

In just three steps, you can become a more interesting person. It only takes an hour. 

Just three profound steps. You are now waiting for the catch to be unveiled. The only catch is that you commit an hour every day to these steps.

You read that right.  

Equality is a myth. Each of us has varying amounts of talent, wealth, opportunities and so on. However, there is one thing I can immediately think of that we all have in equal amounts — hours in a day. 24.

No one has more than or less than 24 hours in their day. And dedicating just one hour out of it to the three steps will vastly improve you. I first came across these steps in an article by Jonny Thomson, who teaches philosophy at Oxford. And I have tried to follow his advice.

What are the three steps to becoming more interesting? 

1. Learn
2. Experiment
3. Reflect  

Take an hour every day to learn something new. Educate yourself through any media that appeals to you. Read books or blogs, listen to a podcast or an audiobook, read blogs that are educational, informative, and enlightening.

We have all heard that reading a bit daily makes a big difference to our perspective, mind, thoughts and personality.

However, simply reading is not enough. It requires more than just learning.

New knowledge stimulates the brain, broadens your perspective and adds a dimension to your viewpoint. But consumption alone is insufficient.

You must put it to the test in order to reap the full benefits. In the book Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, Tim Harford suggests, ‘When trying something new, do it on a scale where failure is survivable’. When you experiment with that knowledge, you will certainly discover gaps in your understanding of that new information. Testing on a smaller scale allows you to fill those gaps without much damage.

Reflect on the cracks and chasms. Fill those with knowledge and experience. Reflection doesn’t demand a grand philosophical gesture. Writing a blog about it, journaling, discussing it with a friend, or just immersing in the thought all by yourself are valid ways to reflect upon the subject.

And then, experiment again. If you fail again, you’ll fail better. Thomson quotes Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett, the Irish dramatist and novelist, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better”. 

When you fail better, you get a step closer to success.  

Consuming knowledge is a great pursuit. However, this endeavour is worthwhile only if you experiment with it and then reflect on it.

This exercise will add depth to your conversations, improve your analytical thinking and overall personality and mental health.

Three steps in a total of an hour every day will render you a more interesting version of yourself.

Transformative Ideas

Mother Divine’s Love: You will nut… err… not… believe what Satish Bhattarai recently did! He received a big parcel from a nuts company. The parcel had his address, but it bore someone else’s name. He found out who it belonged to and went miles to deliver the package. He received another parcel from the same nuts company a few days later! Read the blog to know how that unfolded. I’d just say, nut-thing lasts forever except kindness. Interesting wordplay, haina?

Today You, Tomorrow Me: ‘But you know who came to my rescue all three times? Immigrants. Mexican immigrants. None of them spoke a lick of the language. But one of those dudes had a profound effect on me. He was the guy that stopped to help me with a blowout with his whole family of 6 in tow. I was on the side of the road for close to 4 hours.’ This heart-warming story will teach you what ‘Hoy por ti, mañana por mi’, truly means. Oh! You can learn what this Spanish line means in English and life. Read the blog now! 

Defeating Our Most Negative Addictions: ‘One day, when my friends insisted I try beer for the first time, I almost vomited. I could not withstand the sharp fermented smell of grains. It was a big no for me. I thought, how can someone like the taste of beer? But the irony is that the next day I developed a strong urge to drink beer again.’ And it was all downhill for Khakchang Debbarma from there. He became an addict. However, he is back to being a teetotaller. He captures his ups and down in this blog.  

Zero: Screenwriter and actor Prarthi Dholakia lost her well-paying freelancing gig recently. It was a rude shock to her. “I wanted to be the number 1 writer in the film industry. But it was as if my hard work of many years had come down to ‘0’,” she thought. The moment she felt she had become zero, she had an epiphany.

What We Repeat We Become: Bhavana decided to challenge her brain. She heard the hymns of prayer for a Goddess and she fell in love. She thought it’d be great if she could memorise it. The problem? She does not comprehend the Sanskrit language, and it was a Sanskrit hymn. Was she able to do it? How long do you think she pursued it before she chose to see it through or drop it?

Go, Fly a Kite: Akshay, Rashmi’s husband, often boasts of his kite flying skills. He is an expert at it, he claims, until it is Makar Sankranti. That’s when his wife and son drag him out for a kite flying session. And that’s when he observes that the wind is not really in their favour — it’s a ritual. However, this year, their kite flew! Her ten-year-old, Satyam, and niece discovered an ingenious method. This delightful blog will remind you of the jolly song from Mary Poppins, ‘With tuppence for paper and strings/You can have your own set of wings/With your feet on the ground/You’re a bird in flight/With your fist holding tight/To the string of your kite’. Yet to hear the song? Don’t worry, she has shared the song and a video of a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson about learning, creativity and progress!

The Shearing: Timothy, the lamb, thought his shepherd was a god. And the sheepdogs were his guardian angels. As for the shepherd, he raised the sheep for their wool. This fable is all about having faith. Go, take the big step. It will leave you lighter and happier.  

A Trial by Fire: A few minutes into talking about her little one, she suddenly said, “Ma’am, can we start an Early Childhood Intervention Center at our institution?” These centres cater to infants and toddlers at risk for delayed development. Doctor Sowmya writes about her colleague whose older child has autism. Raising a child is tough and raising a child with a developmental disability is unimaginably tougher. Her colleague knows the challenges and she wants to help other parents with kids who are at risk for delayed development. Isn’t it moving to see people rise above their pain to help the world?  

Watch it Now!

Wisdom from Om Swami

Heaven and Hell: “Do we really go to heaven or hell after we die,” someone asked spiritual leader Om Swami. “No,” replied Swami. “Are you saying the scriptures are false?” Here’s what Swami said.

An Attitude of Happiness: We have all heard that happiness is an art or that there is a science to happiness. Did you know happiness needs an attitude? Let spiritual leader Om Swami tell you all about it and how to develop it. Happy reading!

This or That?

Click on one of the options above, what would you rather have — money or time? Make a choice on the poll.

I was wondering, if I could master one thing, what would it be? I have so many things, still figuring out the answer. But you tell me:

If you could master one thing, what would it be?

Until next…

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