Ridwan's Rough Notes

Macro Thoughts & Meditations on Intentional Living

This is my new favourite song on repeat. Madan Karky has done an excellent job bringing in Mani Ratnam's filmography in the lyrics. Soulful melody by Hesham Abdul Wahab. Love It!


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It has been a long time since I have published here. I have no explanation. I have procrastinated and waited for the perfect time to draft and publish a post. The time has come now for it.

The intention is simple: To publish 100 posts by the end of 2023.

I was thinking of sharing one thing that moved me with my commentary. It is a great way to remember the one thing I learned from the day and reflect on why it resonated with me.

At the moment, I have started a collection of draft posts that I want to expand. It will be an excellent way to keep track of post ideas and create a queue of posts for publishing.

I look forward to this journey and hope to see you along.


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Apart from being an incredible actor, I found that Margot is a voracious reader.

The books recommended may not be my cup of tea, but it is always fascinating to peek into other readers' bookshelves.


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“If we expect to be leaders, we must see that thankless service comes with the job. We must do what leaders do because it’s what leaders do—not for the credit, not for the thanks, not for the recognition. It’s our duty.” — The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman

Leadership roles are indeed thankless jobs. However, great leaders are the ones to take up leadership roles to serve others and for the greater good. And true leader dares to act on their values and principles even when it might not be a popular move.


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I have seen “Word of the Year” pop up on the Internet. It is a neat idea to bring some focus and clarity during the year's decision-making processes.

Based on my 2 Values, I have chosen Good Enough as my word of the year.

I tend to obsess over getting everything right when just “good enough” is acceptable to complete that thing. Using my values and the chosen word(s) of the year, I intend to let go of perfectionism and embrace the philosophy of “good enough”.

If you want to explore and choose yours, check out Strategic Edge's blog post.


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Values. They affect every part of our lives.

I stumbled upon a blog post by Critter based on Brené Brown's Values exercise.

Brené recommends choosing two values from a list of many. It was easy to whittle it down to 4, but choosing 2 took some time.

The Final Four values were:

  • Discipline
  • Freedom
  • Growth
  • Joy

These four were interlinked.

Without discipline, there's no freedom, growth & joy.

Without joy, what's the point of having freedom and discipline?

To grow, you will need to enjoy the discipline and the freedom that comes with it.

To have freedom of time and money, you need discipline, a growth opportunity and enjoy the freedom that comes with it.

So, my Final Four values were interlinked.

After some thought, I have chosen DISCIPLINE & FREEDOM.

I intend to use my chosen values to guide decision-making and navigate the new year 2023.

Give it a go. If you did, do let me know what your chosen values are.


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May God Almighty bring you and your family an abundance of joy, prosperity and goodness to live the good life in this world and the Hereafter.

Happy New Year 2023.


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I enjoyed this fascinating conversation on how to stand up to a dictator and how social media stifles free speech.

We need to be aware of how we are getting manipulated by politicians and social media companies.

#freespeech #socialmedia


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My day never passes without your thoughts.

I’m yet to learn how to handle your loss, my beloved Vappa.

What a huge loss it is!

By the grace of Allah SWT, your good deeds and the legacy you left behind will always comfort you.

May Allah SWT grant you the Jannat Al Firdouz and may we have the blessing to see you there. Ameen!

Happy 67th Birthday, my dearest Vappa. 💔

#vappa


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Getting Things Done 2001

I just remembered I purchased the original Getting Things Done book back in 2013 and never read it until the new 2015 edition came out. I do fancy reading the old version now, to find out how much we have changed since its first publication in 2001.

#gtd #journal


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