Hey friends,

This week, I want to talk about a way of life that has unintentionally guided a lot of my thinking and actions over the year. I like to call it the ‘lightweight philosophy.’ The idea is this: Most things in life ought to be light, just like a feather.

I like this idea because a feather is the most accurate description of something that blends with its surroundings, and does so, without any qualms. For some things in life, I’ve adopted this lightweight philosophy. With Roam, my notes are lightweight. With Substack, this newsletter feels pretty light. With effortless relationships, my relationships are easy. With the daily balance sheet, my life is cool too. And as I write this, I’m in the process of making my wardrobe fully lightweight, having a few specific articles of the same color.

This lightweight approach to everything opens up new avenues of possibility because it lifts off the cognitive overload of information around you. You become flexible to change, and rather, look forward to change. You focus on the crux of every situation, and abstract away everything that does not matter. You create more mind-space for yourself, even as the time you have stays the same.

I find this lightweight, minimal approach to life to be super useful. In this video, I explain how 80% of the value of anything is embedded in 20% of the things; being lightweight, then, allows you to cut through the noise and catch the signal straight away…

Being lightweight also allows you to adapt super fast. I like the common saying of having strong convictions held lightly, and the lightweight philosophy is a clear extension of this idea. High-conviction, lightly-held views allow you the freedom to change yourself, your views, and your surroundings super fast, which is immensely valuable. I won’t go into the details but you’d get the general idea.

Simply, then, a lightweight approach to most walks of life will just lift the cognitive burden of those areas, making you feel ultimately happier.

Until next time,

Abhinav

The Podcast

This episode really touched me. Catch it here on Spotify, Google, Apple, or the website.

Here, Ali takes a trip down memory lane and shares a few stories and defining events in our friendship of the past 3 years. Nostalgic, eclectic, and straight from the soul, this episode would go down as one of the few that touched me. Grateful to have such a brilliant co-host and friend :)

The Channel

Our Commonplace Book

• I’ve always been a Leonard Cohen fan — just his voice is absolutely amazing. Pico Iyer’s book on the art of stillness draws on the album Old Ideas and shares some interesting things about being still, a must-listen and a must-read. See here.

• Two podcasts I highly recommend are Yuval Noah Harari’s podcast with Tim Ferris and Tristan Harris’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast.

• One quote that really struck me:

  “He who works all day has no time to make money.” — John D. Rockefeller

• While we’re at minimalism and lightweight thinking this week, I thought this article on the principles of Uniqlo would be super interesting.