LinkedIn does this lovely thing, where it sends you unsuspecting timely reminders about consequential life events. I got one such notification yesterday. I have now completed five years building Network Capital.
For someone who loves and studies history, this is not even a blip in the larger scheme of things. No one looks at five years. For someone who is twenty-five, it’s one-fifth of my life.
Utkarsh has some interesting writing on work anniversaries —
When are people most likely to quit their job?
Turns out, it’s about a year after they start. Some people might attribute this to the myth that we have to spend at least one year in a role before moving on to something better (at least if we want to look like responsible human beings to future employers). But if you dive a bit deeper into the data, you will find a more fascinating pattern.
Job hunting actually spikes on work anniversaries, along with milestone birthdays, major life events, and oddly, high school and college reunions. Researchers believe this happens because what we consider “the end of an era” or “a momentous life event” inspires us to reevaluate our present situation and consider a fresh start.
I suppose, I did not necessarily think of my work anniversary like that. To be honest, I did not think about it at all. Till the eventful LinkedIn reminder
I am writing this newsletter from Lyon. I am here for the Taylor Swift concert with my childhood friends. I have reached a day before them, and spent my day writing and sipping on coffee with this view.
It is interesting to look back and think, I only started to write for NC two years into building NC. The first piece I wrote was on Kant and the War in Afghanistan.
How Philosopher Immanuel Kant Might Explain the Afghanistan Situation
In our newsletter on We Are What We Tolerate, we explored the idea that doing the right thing isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes perfect business sense in the long term. But how do we do think about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’? We live in a world of unintended consequences. The ‘means’ and ‘end’ rhetoric is a quintessential example. It is an example that …
Since then, of course, I have done a lot more working and writing. My favourite one continues to be —
Thinking about process versus outcome
My consumption strategy is the following; I keep the heavy, complex and intellectually intriguing content for books and essays, and binge on non-sensical light heartened content through movies and shows. This strategy has served me fairly well. It provides variety, entertainment and escapism in the perfect combination, and is decent at keeping me engaged.
One part of this newsletter is selfish. It is me using my writing to make sense of the five years at NC. If I think about the person I was at twenty when I started, to the person I have now become, I would say it is surprising and predictable in equal measure.
It initially started as ‘fun thing to do’, and gradually became something that consumed most of my thinking hours. It was never a conventional choice. I have never had a the vocabulary to explain why I do this. It’s always been an intuitive realisation — I have to do this. If you’re thinking through something like this — I am always there to chat.
Thankfully, beyond this selfish-narcissist part to the newsletter, there is also something I stumbled upon that I thought might be helpful. I have always been vary of ‘career advice’ and ‘life lessons’. It is funny how you often end up becoming what you don’t like. So in the spirit of reflection and honesty, here are my three lessons from the five years at Network Capital.
[Full disclaimer, you will see more advice from me in the near future. The book comes out in December 2024. I hate it and I take no guarantee of it.]