Prayag

Bad at directions. Map Enthusiast.

[Shane Parrish @shaneparrish]

One of the most powerful moments in this episode.

At 28, @markpinc finds himself unemployed (fired by John Malone, Bain, and others), with few prospects. He had big dreams, but the world wasn't cooperating.

This is how he turned things around.
what
"I realized I had nowhere else to fall from this because I just felt like I’d made a lot of bad career decisions and I was washed up early and I just sat there in this temple."

It was a good place to sit and think because he didn't know anyone and didn't understand anything.

"And I just started writing in a notebook about why my life sucked so badly."

This book, a journal he's kept every year that he calls the book of life, allows him to take an accurate accounting of his life and change his mindset through reflection.

After writing for hours about how bad his life sucked and all the mistakes he'd made, he focused on one small thing.

"I just ended on this one thing: that I smoked cigarettes. I didn’t even smoke smoke. I smoked like one or two a day, a pack a night if I was at a bar on weekends, but I hated it ... I didn’t want to do it, but I kept doing it."

He felt like his life was out of control, but this was one thing he could control.

"I just was like, if I could do one thing to know that I’m making some positive change in my life, I’m going to quit smoking.

So on October 19th, 1994, I did a lifetime quit on cigarettes and then every day for that year after that, that I didn’t smoke, it was something I could feel good about. So I was like, okay, I did something for myself today by not smoking."

The wins started to stack.

I asked him what he was writing about. What was his process?
"At that point, I had no structure or process. I was just writing, and there was so much in me."

Was it anger?

"It was. I did feel angry and frustrated and I was like, I had all these dreams. I wanted to be an entrepreneur from early on and I was an achiever. I thought I was an achiever, but I was not achieving."

He's done the same technique every year:

"What it’s done for me and I think it could do for a lot of people is just be strategic about your life, like be thoughtful about, I like to say, what would your future self thank you for doing this year and what wouldn’t?"

And that question is the one that really matters. What can you do today that your future self will thank you for?

What the book of life did was hold him accountable and force him to make tough decisions that his future self would thank him for.

[Kevin Dahlstrom @Camp4]

I recently read a biography of the Wright brothers and one obscure fact blew my mind:

In the midst of a highly competitive race to first flight, Orville and Wilbur took multi-month breaks to travel the West.

🚨 It’s a narrative violation.

The guys who invented the airplane had unlimited PTO, but you and I can’t unplug for a week of vacation. Because…

EVERYTHING IS SUPER IMPORTANT.

It’s false urgency.

We live in the weeds, but when you zoom out and gain perspective, you quickly realize…

Over the course of a year (let alone a decade), a week or two of downtime makes zero difference in the outcome.

Intensity looks sexy. Consistency is boring. But over time, it’s consistency that wins.

I’m talking about playing the long game.

On January 2nd, gyms are full of Very Committed People going hard… but the crowd quickly dissipates.

Few keep going month after month, year after year.

Here’s another mind-blowing founder fact:

Phil Knight started Nike as a side hustle and kept his day job for SEVEN years. In his epic memoir, Shoe Dog, he concludes that the only advice anyone needs is:

Never stop.

Persistent bits of effort compound in a way that heroic acts simply can’t match. You’ve probably heard the saying:

“We overestimate what we can do in a week and underestimate what we can do in a year.”

Most people live in a constant state of short-term urgency—cramming for the test instead of learning the material.

To be clear, there’s a time to sprint. But remember, sprints only cover short distances.

If you want to go far, pace isn’t as important. You can even stop for a while like the Wright brothers. You can meter it out like Phil Knight.

What matters is that you keep moving and never stop.

[Prayag @prayagpan]

@StatmanDave How much is a premier league title worth?

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

17-year-old Sarthak Sidhant has exposed how CBSE manipulated its own selection process to benefit COEMPT, using CBSE’s own documents.

The details in his blog reveal how CBSE changed the RFP to unduly benefit COEMPT, at the cost of TCS.

He has revealed the hollowness of Dharmendra Pradhan ji’s denials. The PM remains silent, as usual. The question is simple: who are they protecting, and why?

An independent judicial inquiry is now essential to uncover the full extent of this scam.

Sarthak’s work shows that India’s Gen Z is brilliant and fearless. And sooner or later, they will find out the full truth.

[babu bisleri @baabuOP]

Mock foodpharmer all you want but a part of this change has to be credited to him for making people aware of what they are consuming. Else nobody would have given a rats ass about consumer benefits

[Prayag @prayagpan]

Obvious thing to do if you wanted fair and citizen friendly taxation

[Radhika Gupta @iRadhikaGupta]

Two valuable suggestions here @VijayKedia1. Will take the liberty to make one more @FinMinIndia and respected @nsitharamanoffc. This is around the taxation of ESOPs.

One of the biggest problems with ESOP taxation in India is that employees are often taxed before they actually make money, or in other words we treat paper wealth as real liquidity.

Today, ESOPs are taxed twice:

First, at exercise, where the difference between exercise price and fair market value is treated as salary income and taxed as a perquisite.

Then again, at sale, where any further gain is taxed as capital gains.

The bigger issue is not even double taxation in principle. The bigger issue is timing and liquidity.

In listed companies, at least there is a market price and an ability to sell.

But in unlisted companies, employees are often asked to pay tax on a notional value determined by a valuation exercise without liquidity, without certainty of eventual value, and sometimes without any exit timeline at all.

Imagine paying lakhs in tax for shares you cannot sell. Or worse, paying tax on a valuation that may never fully materialise.

This creates a strange asymmetry:

- founders and investors are rewarded for long-term risk capital,
- but employees are sometimes taxed upfront on unrealised outcomes.

And this matters. Because ESOPs are not just compensation anymore. They are increasingly the bridge through which employees participate in wealth creation.

If India genuinely wants to build an ownership economy, deepen startup talent, and create long-term alignment between companies and employees, the tax framework has to evolve with that ambition.

A more sensible system would tax employees when liquidity is created not merely when options are exercised.

[Kapil Sharma @kapil_saytrees]

While #Bengaluru's trees cover was reducing, @saytrees_ind was slowly and steadily planting saplings across many parts of the city. 700,000+ saplings have been planted in last 19 years by SayTrees in #Bengaluru.
This year, Saytrees is joining hands with Bangalore Development Authority in their initiative to plant 1.5 million trees in #Bengaluru.
Inviting corporates to Join hands under their #CSR initiative and bring back the lost greenery. Mail to : [email protected]

[Merriam-Webster @MerriamWebster]

You may have noticed that the word for ‘night’ in many languages appears to be that language’s word for ‘eight’ with an ‘N' in front of it.

English: N + eight = Night
German: N + acht = Nacht
French: N + huit = Nuit
Spanish: N + ocho = Noche
Italian: N + otto = Notte
Portuguese: N + oito = Noite

⬇️

[PmAmTraveller @pmamtraveller]

"Urban Development" by Christophe Vorlet

[Prayag @prayagpan]

@JayPrashanth Nice review!

[Prayag @prayagpan]

@supriyasahuias @tnforestdept @UNEP @IUCNRedList Brilliant!

[Prayag @prayagpan]

Wow! Andhra is beautiful.

[Rakesh Pulapa @rakesh_pulapa]

Andhra’s most beautiful drive.
Over 10 years of shooting📸

🧵 Thread with locations

[Prayag @prayagpan]

@signulll Lord? Activation Phrase - My Lord

[Prayag @prayagpan]

❤️
The website is a treat for Mechanical Engineering & Car Design lovers!

[Mike Matas @mike_matas]

After many years of development, I’m excited to share the interior of the first electric Ferrari designed by LoveFrom. Tactile controls and digital interactions blend into one cohesive interface, shaped through deep collaboration across engineering, interaction, graphics, typography, sound, and industrial design. So incredibly proud of the thoughtfulness and care the team brought to every detail.

https://t.co/JZCleflfu7

[Prayag @prayagpan]

RIP test prep startups

[Josh Woodward @joshwoodward]

🇮🇳 Good morning India! A lot of you asked for full-length mock JEE Main tests in @GeminiApp at no cost - done! Good luck on your prep!

Last week, SAT. This week, JEE.

What other global exams would be most helpful?

[Prayag @prayagpan]

Banger!

[Tim Urban @waitbutwhy]

@elonmusk Update:

[Prayag @prayagpan]

Godspeed! You were great.

[Casemiro @Casemiro]

Knowing when stages come to an end.

Knowing when to say goodbye when you feel that you will be remembered and respected forever.

Four months to give my all for this badge and for our goal.

Eternal respect and affection for Manchester United and its wonderful fans.

Forever Red Devil.

[Prayag @prayagpan]

Somebody wake me up #ManUtd

[Supriya Sahu IAS @supriyasahuias]

This Pongal, let’s take a pledge to stop plastic pollution. A cleaner sea means a safer future for turtles and all marine life. Do visit the beautiful sand art installation at Besant Nagar Beach, created on this theme by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
The artwork is crafted by the immensely talented sand artist Thiru @sudarsansand bringing this powerful message to life @Tnpcbofficial @tnforestdept #stopplasticpollution @UNEP @UNEP_AsiaPac