Things I Never Realised Until This Day…

I finished Atomic Habits 2 days back and picked up “Show Your Work!” yesterday. It was a fantastic but short book. It taught me a lot, but I still don’t know if I understood it. And when it came time to write today’s article, I was confused about what to write.

Every time I read Atomic Habits, I had an internal motivation and, more importantly, things to compare and analyse the author’s sharing. But in the case of “Show Your Work!” that’s not true. I was confused. Why didn’t I have much to think about here? What was different between “Atomic Habits” and “Show Your Work!” ?

I realised that they inherently speak to different aspects of people. The Atomic Habits talked to the part of me focused on improving myself, i.e., my personal life. But Show Your Work targeted that part I had neglected a lot in my life. My social life. And that’s when everything clicked.

The problem with my wiring

I have always wanted to be a good writer, but I don’t know any other writers. I always wanted to share my stories with other listeners, but I am pretty sure I am not a good listener.

That became more and more apparent as I read the book. But to put it bluntly, I was half-heartedly doing everything I was a part of. Of course, it’s not against my work. I have written each article after careful understanding. I have done my duties as a data scientist with utmost diligence. But all the things I did, I did alone. I was wired like that.

That backfired when I wanted to do something social. I was trying to do everything alone on a platform not built for individuals. Take Instagram, Threads, and other major social media; they are built for communities. Instagram encourages communities and related features to improve the post’s engagement. YouTube’s engagement is dependent on the comments on the video as a key metric. Heck, even Medium’s major metrics are the responses to an article.

Doing things alone on social platforms doesn’t make sense.

The delusion.

Even when I mentioned that I was fine doing my duties as a data scientist, I was wrong. I was never doing things alone. Countless people worked hard and published articles for me to read. Countless amazing people recorded lectures to share their insights. Things were never based on any individual. It was always a community.

That’s why the blind idea of doing things “alone” makes no sense in this era. In the old era? Maybe. But now, it’s not an option.

Things I change

After I realised this, I started doing things differently. I never stopped doing my work. But now, I am also investing my time in social interactions. Speaking with different colleagues, joining different book clubs, discussing different topics with medium authors, responding to interesting articles and even mailing to authors whose works I’ve loved. I did many new things that I never wanted to do before.

Many of these things are expected from people living in society. But I was not ready to face them and was insecure about everything social. Now, though, I have taken the first step forward.

I’m glad that I kept reading books even when I felt lethargic. I returned home after a hard day at work, and I had to choose non-fiction instead of fiction. But I’m glad I did that. That’s what made me realise this. It might not seem much outside, but it’s a huge qualitative shift in my thought process. I’ll keep sharing what I find and how I change with you; that’s the beauty of this platform.

Please share any tips or suggestions you have for me in the comments!

Thanks for staying till the end! I hope you found something interesting here! I’ll meet you again in another article in the On What I Read series! ✌️