Who says New Year resolutions don’t work

Neera

1st of January is no ordinary date.

I have been keeping tabs on my New Year’s resolutions for the past four years, and I have not only met them but exceeded them.

Here is an interesting study to prove why.

Katy Milkman was hired by Google to find out why their employees don’t take advantage of several perks offered to them, at significant cost, to exercise, eat better, learn new skills, stop smoking, save for retirement, use social media in moderation.

She found since those incentives were available all year round
employees were less motivated to avail them.

She wrote in her book, “How to Change,” most people start a new project or a new habit on a Monday, or on the 1st of a month, or at the start of the year. When they want to make change happen, people instinctively gravitate toward moments that feel like a fresh start.

A New Year typically exerts a far more significant influence on behavior than a typical Monday. So do other landmarks such as birthdays or anniversaries. The more prominent the landmark, the more likely it is to help people take a step back, regroup, and make a clean break from the past.

Surveys might say 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail, but they fail to take into account that 20% of goal-setters make a successful change, thanks to a flip of the calendar.

Set your resolution with confidence. Be one of the 20% to make whatever change you want to make in your life. Today is the day to start a new chapter in the book of your life.

How was your first day of 2024?

Neera

Mine was relaxed and productive.

I meditated first thing in the morning to set the intention for the whole year.

I wrote and published my first Twitter thread.

I had just a banana for breakfast and started two days of fasting routine to follow in 2024.

Then I started a new challenge. To draw a sketch a day and to post it on Instagram.

I drew my friend’s house, who lives in my street.

What ‘one thing’ you did on the first day of 2024?

10 Astonishing Places I Visited in 2022

Neera
Image by the author

After two and half years of being stranded at home, my husband and I took full advantage of the uplifting of travel restrictions and traveled extensively. I went down memory lane (more precisely, the Photo folder on my iPhone) and reminded myself how many places I had visited this year.

It would take me months to capture all the memories I formed, the cultures I have experienced, and the unique places I have been to. In a true end-of-the-year style recap, I am going to list ten places (I have been to more than ten places this year) and one thing I liked the most about the place.

Tasmania

In March, my husband and I visited Tasmania, the island state of Australia. Even though we have been living in Australia for thirty-five years, we had not been there. How unfortunate! Because Tasmania is beautiful.

We spent a week there. Drove through the whole Island practically. But one thing that sticks to the memory was the walk around Dove Lake in Cradle Mountain. It was just a 6km walk and took us two hours to complete it, but it was so much fun because we were racing to complete it before clouds drenched us completely or the park got closed, and we were stranded there for the night.

Dove Lake in Cradle Mountain — Image by the author

Ireland

Ireland was not what I expected it to be (cold and miserable), and everything I didn’t expect it to be. Laid back, relaxed, fun and full of history. We spent seven days there, and each day was full of new revelations about the people and places. I loved the places, but I loved the people much more.

My favorite part of the whole trip was the visit to Kylemore Abbey. After half a day of driving through the wilderness, when the property came into sight, it blew everyone away. And it had a history to match.

Kylemore Abbey — Image by the author

London

London is my favorite city in Europe so far. Not because my daughter lives there and not because I have been there twice and spent most of the time exploring it, but because, being a history buff, I love the stories associated with each landmark, street, and nook & corner.

That is why my favorite place in London is the museums. All of them. I had been to the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum on the previous visit. On this trip, we spent a day each in the Natural History Museum and Tate Modern and loved them both.

We went back to the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum again and spent half a day each in both. But the standout memory was sitting in the Victoria and Albert Museum and sketching.

Photo of the author

Brussels

Brussels was not on my bucket list. I had never thought of visiting it, but when my daughter and son-in-law suggested that since we were going to Amsterdam, we should include Brussels in our itinerary, we agreed.

I am so glad we did. I loved the city. I loved the people. I loved the festive vibe of the whole place. And, of course, I loved the chocolates and waffles, and fries (I didn’t try the Belgian Mussels).

But most of all, I loved the architecture. That’s why the Grand Plaza is a standout in my memory. I couldn’t close my mouth, which opened with awe when we reached there through a small alleyway. While there, we visited it three times and saw the golden light from the sun make the golden building glitter even more.

Brussels Grand-Place — Image by the author

Amsterdam

Everybody loves Amsterdam. So I was told. When I got there, I found out why. The city had a different pace of life. I don’t know whether it was because of the particularly hot days we were there, or the city had too many tourists after the pandemic, or because the Dutch like to have fun, the whole city center was having a big party.

We spent the day roaming the city streets, catching the trains and buses to go anywhere we wanted and get there in time (we never had to wait for a train or a bus for more than five minutes). The stand-out memory was a visit to the windmills in Zaandam.

Windmills in Zaandam — Image by the author

Bruges

Who would have thought that this tiny little sleepy town was the gateway to Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries? Just a couple of hours train ride from Brussels, its UNESCO-listed city center, was worth spending the day in.

We had two walking tours and a boat ride, and I loved it. We went underneath several low bridges, bridges so low that we had to duck our heads. We went past the lover’s bridge, the house Monet rented to paint, and World’s oldest hospital.

Bruges by day — Image by the author

Alicante

We happened to be in Alicante (Spain) on the day the famous Saint Juan’s festival started. We watched the opening parade where girls, young and old, dressed in elaborate costumes in the midsummer heat, walked through the city streets. Men too were dressed to match.

The whole city was at one big party.

Three days later, we went back there to see the bonfires of the massive statues they had erected. So much music, so much excitement. Even though every second shop was a restaurant and they had set up hundreds of tables and chairs on the street, it took us four hours to get a place to eat lunch. I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

San Juan parade — Image by the author

Ladakh

In Ladakh (India), I drove on the highest motorable road in the world and visited the highest saltwater lake in the world. At 4350m above sea level, this turquoise blue was so big that we drove for half an hour to get to our campsite.

Extending to almost 160km, only one-third of the lake lies in India and the other two-thirds in China. But my favorite part of the visit to Ladakh is the drive to Turtuk village, a small village on the Indo-Pak border. The drive beside the Shyok river was breathtaking.

Visit to Ladakh — Image by the author

Pelling (Sikkim — India)

We spent a week in Sikkim, the newest state in India. Sikkim used to be a separate country until it merged with India in 1975. There is a lot to be written about the Sikkim trip, but what stands out is the view of Kanchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world, from our hotel in Pelling.

What is intriguing, the peak is only visible early in the morning. When the first sunrays hit, it turns golden, making it look divine.

The Kangchenjunga is considered a sacred mountain in Sikkim, and climbing is not allowed.

Kangchenjunga mountain — Image by the author

Khajuraho (India)

The temples of Khajuraho need to be seen to be believed. Built between 950 AD — 1050 AD by the Chandela dynasty. There is an interesting story behind these temples.

The Moon God, while bathing in a river, saw a beautiful young daughter of a priest. He seduces her, and a child was born of their union. He was called Chandravarman — the son of the Moon God. The boy grew up to find the great Chandel dynasty.

When he was an established ruler, he had a visitation by his mother in a dream. She implored him to build temples that would revere human passions and, in doing so, bring about a realization of the emptiness of human desires.

Chandravarman began the construction of the first temple. Subsequent rulers followed his vision, and in an amazingly short span of 100 years, 85 temples were built. Today, only 22 of those have survived. The rest were destroyed during successive attacks by Muslim invaders.

Today the temples are a symbol of how advanced architecture, sculpture art, philosophy, and spirituality were at that time. Below is the most magnificent and intact temple of Khajuraho, called the temple of Kandariya Mahadeva.

Kandariya Mahadeva temple — Image by the author

That’s a glimpse of places I visited in 2022 and what stood out in my memory. I am hoping 2023 will surpass 2022, and I will get to share more stories with you.

100 Things that made my year (2022)

Neera

I am taking another leaf out of Austin Kleon, an author I admire a lot, and creating a list of 100 things that made my year. I think it’s a good way of keeping a tab on all that happened in the year.

Here is my list:

  1. Creating my negative manifesto where I listed the things I will NOT do in 2022. I did stick with them, to some extent.
  2. Creating an Author Business Plan for 2022 and setting ‘Growth’ as the theme of the year and “Make sure my creativity injects hope in this world,” as my guiding principle for the year.
  3. Creating an Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal and using it throughout the year to keep a tab on the projects, yearly and monthly goals, and daily To Do list.
  4. Developing the habit of going to the gym in the morning and attending group classes 5 days a week.
  5. Making two trips to Melbourne, the city I call home, to attend our friend’s son’s wedding.
  6. Spending two nights in Yarra Valley with friends.
  7. Attending Zoom meetings with other Substack writers in the pacific region.
  8. Having dinner with my writing group.
  9. Taking part in 30 Days LinkedIn sprint and publishing on LinkedIn for 30 days in a row, making hundreds of friends all over the world.
  10. Picnic in Weston Park to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 40th Anniversary.
  11. Learning that I am a rebel and I will always break rules.
  12. Doing a course on Amazon advertisements.
  13. Hiring an office space for a month to work on my next book, Productive Writer (Still not finished).
  14. Publishing my third book ‘Dare To Create,’ my story of ditching the competitive life to lead a creative life.
  15. Learning to tell stories with dots and lines from Oscar Alonsa of 72kilo and creating a story with 30 sketches.
  16. Starting a newsletter on LinkedIn which grew to 750+ subscribers in a matter of a few weeks.
  17. Devising the leggo block technique of writing 250 words in 25 minutes.
  18. Recording my intro on video and publishing it on LinkedIn.
  19. Joining the rhythm class at my gym and learning basic dance moves.
  20. Upgrading my computer and buying Mac Air.
  21. Developing a file structure based on PARA Method and organizing the digital clutter I have accumulated over two decades.
  22. Using Zero Inbox Strategy to get rid of 7000+ emails from my inbox.
  23. Going to the Blue Mountains, and visiting Eco point, Katoomba Falls, and Dinosaur Valley.
  24. Learning about the Four Zone of Competence.
  25. Announcing a book writing sprint on LinkedIn and had 16 people join in.
  26. Recording the course in two days flat.
  27. Running the three iterations of the ‘Write Your Book In 30 Days,’ course.
  28. Starting a testimonial page.
  29. Opening a Stripe business account.
  30. Watching Season 6 of Crown, and Seasons 1 and 2 of Succession on Netflix.
  31. Writing a cookbook for my daughters, and all those who what to learn north Indian cooking in an easy way.
  32. One week holiday with friends and family at Launceston and Hobart in Tasmania.
  33. Doing an exercise in slowing down and paying attention.
  34. Having all-day-writing days with my writing buddy Fiona.
  35. Making up for not being able to travel for the past two years and traveling to Ireland, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and Spain.
  36. Starting travel diaries on Procreate.
  37. Doing a course on LinkedIn.
  38. Getting ten reviews on my book How To Write and Publish an eBook in One Week.
  39. Starting a new hobby, urban sketching.
  40. Starting using Obsidian as my notes-taking tool and devised a method to link notes.
  41. Writing a mini-guide on How To Create Your First Digital Product (in three hours) and making it available for FREE.
  42. Doing courses on Domestika (Tell Stories Through Recipes, The Art of Sketching, Draw Your Inner Universe, Urban Sketching, and Architectural Sketching with Watercolour and Ink).
  43. Updating my website and turning it into a repository of my published work.
  44. Learning a simple framework for non-fiction storytelling and using it to improve stories in my articles and books.
  45. Attending a wedding in India.
  46. Traveling to Ladakh, Chandigarh, Khajuraho, Sikkim, and Darjeeling and writing stories about them.
  47. Visiting the place of my birth, Amritsar, and meeting my childhood friends.
  48. Heartwarming comments on my articles, newsletters, and books.
  49. Shopping in India.
  50. Working on my novel and taking it to the next level.
  51. My younger daughter and son-in-law’s visit.
  52. My elder son-in-law’s surprise visit from UK.
  53. Doing a course ‘Speak Like A Leader’ and improving my skills to speak to a camera.
  54. Buying a ring light, tripod, and mike for making videos.
  55. Learning and using Notion for planning.
  56. Several catch-ups with friends and family.
  57. Reading Lynda Barry’s books.
  58. Walking in the afternoons and meditating on a bench in the park.
  59. Starting the paid version, Behind The Scenes, of my newsletter and writing 16 issues of it.
  60. Realizing I am a multipotentialite, which means I have many interests and creative pursuits and I want to pursue all of them.
  61. Starting My Commonplace Book, a new publication on Medium.
  62. Growing my subscriber numbers on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn.
  63. Ilona Goanos writing a post about me.
  64. Reading Helen Garner’s diaries.
  65. Sketching with pens.
  66. Publishing my short stories on A Whimsical Writer.
  67. Making an income from my writing.
  68. Getting my ABN number as a writer for tax purposes.
  69. Adding another income stream, Gumroad to my portfolio.
  70. Winning NaNoWriMo and Writing a book in public. Published Adventures of An Online Writer, as I wrote it, one chapter at a time.
  71. Learning Dean Wesley Smith’s single draft and cyclic writing method.
  72. Going to Bateman’s Bay with my writing buddies and writing for the whole weekend.
  73. Writing and publishing the second book of the year, Writer’s Toolkit, and making it available for FREE.
  74. Playing cards till late at night with friends (with money and winning).
  75. Playing with my niece’s daughter.
  76. Designing my own book covers.
  77. Adopting Heinlein’s Six Rules of Writing.
  78. Sharing my friends’ courageous survival story on Women’s day, which also was her 85th Birthday.
  79. Sending food to this friend of mine every Monday (for the past 3 years).
  80. Attending two of my nephew’s daughters’ first birthdays.
  81. Celebrating my birthday in India.
  82. Reading 30+ books.
  83. Drawing 300+ sketches in my diary.
  84. Writing 98 Medium articles and 52 issues of A Whimsical Writer newsletter.
  85. Writing 300+ posts on LinkedIn and categorizing them in a Google Doc.
  86. Buying Tesla, our first EV car.
  87. Teaching. Helping five writers write their books.
  88. Joining Mindvalley and learning the Silva Method to work less and produce more.
  89. Getting rid of sugar addiction for ever using Silva 3 Scenes meditation technique.
  90. Learning Segment Intending exercise to get rid of stress and anxiety from my day.
  91. Starting noticing magic in my days.
  92. Using the 3 Questions technique to set real goals for next year.
  93. Joining Ship30for30.
  94. Finding my niche.
  95. Mending clothes.
  96. Cleaning cupboards and getting rid of junk.
  97. Working with another creator of a project to be launched next year.
  98. BBQ on Christmas day with friends and family.
  99. Writing 100 things that made my year.
  100. Creating the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal for 2023.

It took me a long time to compile this list, but it was well worth it. If forgot everything I didn’t achieve this year and said Goodbye to 2022 with 100 things that put a smile on my face.

To make the exercise easy for next year, I have included them in the Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal. It is available for FREE at Gumroad. Download it here.

Want to take your writing to another level? Subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

James Paterson’s Formula For Success (Stop boring your audience)

Neera

​“James Patterson is a terrible writer who became very, very successful.” — Stephen King.

Could this statement be true?

How can a terrible writer become so successful that he has sold over 400 million copies of his books? Today, out of every 100 hardcovers sold, 6 are his. Is James Patterson really a terrible writer? And if so, how did he hoodwink the world to buy his books?

Is there something he knows and others don’t?

After all, James Patterson sells more books every year than any other living writer. Even more than Stephen King.

But what made him a success?

Patterson always wanted to become a writer.

Even when he was working as a copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, he would find time in his busy schedule to write every day. He would write during lunch breaks, or on flights during his business trips, or at midnight on a busy day.

His first book was rejected 31 times before it was published. However, when it was published, Patterson won the prestigious Edgar award for a best debut novel from the Mystery Writers of America. The Thomas Berryman Number was critically acclaimed, but it sold less than 10,000 copies.

Patterson wrote 6 more books after this, all of which were duds.

It was only during the process of writing the 8th book that he stumbled upon an epiphany — his writing process.

Patterson’s writing process

James Patterson had a unique writing process.

First of all, he wrote with a pencil on paper.

And before writing a novel, he would first create a long outline.

He would outline all the scenes in detail.

He would outline the protagonist and the antagonist’s backstories in detail. Sometimes, his outlines would be 50 pages long.

He would know the beginning, middle, and end before he started writing the book.

But it was only while going through the outline of his 8th book, he realized, he had already written the book. The short scenes in his long outline seemed perfect. It kept the pace of the book. Why flesh it out with more boring details only to add length to the book?

He recalled a story his editor had told him. While writing Nebraska — Bruce Springsteen picked up his guitar and created a rough demo. But he eventually realized that the demo was the record — just him and his acoustic guitar. Nothing else was needed.

Write the outline. Keep everything else out.

Patterson realized that his outline made a better book than a book filled with long, detailed scenes. And so, he made the whole book full of short chapters just 2 -3 pages long. Each chapter had just one scene, one thought.

The book, Along Came A Spider, became a page-turner. It hit the second spot on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Unknowingly, Patterson had found the magic that video game makers chase. Give quick wins to hook the readers. Readers would get satisfaction with finishing chapters, which makes them keep on turning the page.

The Magic is in the pacing

Patterson’s quick pacing and two-minute chapters hit the perfect spot for the attention-deficit population.

And Patterson realized that what he is best in the world at is not crafting stories that were memorable, or writing prose that is quotable but in pacing the stories in such a way that gave quick wins to the reader. He wrote stories ‘okay’ stories but made them fast-paced.

When he realized that, he parlayed that a step further. He focused on only writing the outlines. And then finding co-writers to flesh out his 50–80 page outlines to form a 250–300 page book.

Writers he collaborates with had to follow his rules:

  • Keep the chapters short and sweet.
  • Make the book dialogue rich because dialogues are quicker to read.
  • End as many chapters on cliffhangers as possible, even if it feels ridiculous. Because the goal is to keep the reader hooked and give them a sense of accomplishment.

That’s how, each year, James Patterson releases close to two dozen new books. Because of this strategy, Patterson has published over 350 books so far.

Librarians all over the world recommend his book to turn non-readers into readers.

This is how Patterson outsells Stephen King by a huge margin.

How can you implement James Patterson’s strategy?

The idea is to give quick wins to your audience.

Why?

Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer once set out to study the lives of 26 project teams in 7 companies. They wanted to see what leads to the highest levels of creative output in a workplace.

They asked all the folks in these companies to write a daily journal of their work and thoughts. They also asked these people to rate their work days: was it a good day or a bad day?

After reading 12,000 journal entries, they found people were most motivated on the days they had made progress in their work.

Motivation followed the progress, and not the other way around.

Even more surprising, the type of progress made didn’t matter. Minor progress had an outsized impact on people’s moods and motivations.

Win quick, to win more.

Don’t bore your audience. Give them quick wins. Break progress steps down into smaller units.

The scope of the wins didn’t matter as much as the speed of the win.

Just like Patterson broke down a big chapter into six small chapters to give quick wins to his readers so that they kept on reading, you’ve got to plan your writing in a way that secures quick wins.

Because that’s what will keep your readers coming back for more.

Notes on Mental Models

Neera

A mental model is simply a representation of how something works.

Mental models are how we understand concepts and, through them, the world. Not only do they help us understand complex theories, they help us make connections with what we already know.

Mental models are great tools for learning. They help simplify complexity. We cannot keep all the details of the world in our brains, so we use models to simplify the complex into understandable and organizable chunks.

In 1990, in a famous speech, Charlie Munger, a billionaire investor and the vice chairman of Warren Buffett’s investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway summed up the approach to practical wisdom through understanding mental models.

“Well, the first rule is that you can’t really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang ’em back. If the facts don’t hang together on a latticework of theory, you don’t have them in a usable form. You’ve got to have models in your head. And you’ve got to array your experience both vicarious and direct on this latticework of models. You may have noticed students who just try to remember and pound back what is remembered. Well, they fail in school and in life. You’ve got to hang experience on a latticework of models in your head.”

Metal Motels are tools for thinking

The quality of our thinking is proportional to the models in our head and their usefulness in the situation at hand. The more models you have — the bigger your toolbox — the more likely you are to have the right models to see reality. It turns out that for improving your ability to make decisions variety matters.

Here is a list of some useful metal models:

  • Pareto’s Principle — “For many outcomes roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes.”
  • Murphy’s Law — “Anything that can go wrong, will.”
  • Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) — “A pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.”
  • Butterfly Effect — “The concept that small causes can have large effects.”
  • Parkinson’s Law — “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
  • Hofstadter’s Law, “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you consider Hofstadter’s Law.”
  • Eisenhower’s decision matrix — “what is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”
  • Imposter Syndrome — “High-achieving individuals, marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud.’”
  • Deliberate Practice — “How expert one becomes at a skill has more to do with how one practice than with merely performing a skill many times.”
  • First principles thinking — Breaking down a problem into its fundamental building blocks, and then reassembling them from the ground up. It is one of the best ways to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibilities.
  • Second-order thinking—Thinking farther ahead than just the first level. Not only the immediate consequences of an action but the subsequent effects of those actions as well. Like a chess player thinking many moves ahead.
  • Inversion — Solving hard problems by inverting them or addressing them backward. For example, spend less time trying to be brilliant and more time trying to avoid obvious stupidity.

There are hundreds more mental models. Do you have a favorite one? One which you use a lot.

I used it quite a lot in my writing. I have written about them in an article Mental Models For Writers.