Understanding That I Am In Control Of My Life
Priyal Taneja | January 2023 ☃️
It’s 3-2-1 Thursday, which means I just wrapped up my weekly read of James Clear’s newsletter. I’ve always appreciated how easy his newsletters are to read. Each word is of value.
That being said, this month, I wanted to be intentional about providing the same experience to everyone who reads my monthly newsletters. Rather than walking you through a chronological timeline of my month, this update has a different format and resembles James Clear’s 3-2-1 theme. I’ll provide you with 3 of my most insightful lessons from this month, 2 new content recommendations and a question for you to takeaway.
Welcome or welcome back to my monthly newsletter! I’m Priyal — a 16 year old quantum computing enthusiast who’s ambition revolves around working on solving complex problems to meaningfully contribute to the world.
3 Lessons From This Month 📝
1. Make It Real.
In my December newsletter, I shared my experience consulting for Walmart Blue Labs, where my team & I sent in an in-depth recommendation deck consisting of a 3-part solution to enhance a customer’s in-store digital journey through simple and scalable solutions.
Earlier this month, we heard back from Walmart Blue Labs and got the news that we were one of the five chosen groups (out of 70 teams internationally) to discuss our solutions with executives from Walmart! It didn’t take us much time before we started prepping for this meeting. Refining our slides, identifying what information is key to mention and learning how to pitch. You name it.
After presenting to the team, it was great to hear that they appreciated our breadth of ideas, along with the depth of thinking. Having the opportunity to learn from them and hear their insights on successfully scaling innovations was even better. I could go on-and-on and provide my key takeaways, but the #1 insight from this experience was to make your presentation feel real.
At the end of the call, the 3 judges picked 2 solutions that they could see being implemented in Walmart stores soon. Neither of our 3 solutions were one of those. When reflecting back on why the judges loved the winning ideas, it was because they communicated the primary research and idea validation that they had done.
During the iterative process of creating & refining our solutions, we made sure we prioritized external meetings with executives in retail innovation. It was a way for us to identify holes in our solutions and validate the impact of our ideas. We failed to show this during our executive discussion and made the assumption that it wouldn’t hold much importance, in-depth explanations of the ideas would.
Of course, it sucked to be in a position where we had done what the judges wanted, but didn’t show it. But, we made sure to put on our anti-fragility hats, and learn that a balance between the technical details behind our solutions and showing the authentic process to make it feel real is best. As of right now, we’re all more than excited to apply all of these learnings & insights onto our next challenge that’s starting this month… stay tuned ;)
I wanted to take a second to thank the judges, Colton Schwenk, Julia Perlotto & Juan Caride, for taking time out of their day to hear our ideas provide us with their valuable feedback. I’d also like to share my gratitude for all of Ian Lockhart’s work into providing us with this experience, and giving us feedback to perfect our pitch.
2. How You Respond To The World Is In Your Control
You’re in your car driving to work, and all of a sudden you’re stuck in a traffic jam. Are you going to complain or start cursing in your car? Or, are you going to sit there and wait because it’s rush hours and the roads will clear up in about 30 minutes. There’s not much you can do in this situation to speed up that waiting number.
In life, there’s things we can control and things that we can’t control. Stoicism is a philosophy that is the key to walking through challenging or uncomfortable experiences — the first step to reaching your ultimate potential is to become more aware of yourself and how you react to the things that happen to you.
Be conscious of what you’re reacting to. When you come across a situation that irritates or annoys you, quickly ask yourself, is it in my control? If it is, identify the steps to manage and improve it. If it it’s not, maintain your inner peace and accept what happened. Overall, be calm and rational, not annoyed.
"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius
Remember that stoicism is not equivalent to blocking out your emotions. It’s a way to rewire your brain to reduce unnecessary negative emotions.
3. Time Is Your #1 Asset
“If you had $86,400 every day to spend and it went away if you didn’t use it what would you do?”
Take a second to answer this question. I’m confident you would make sure you spent each penny every single day. You’re probably thinking of all the things you would buy right now. After all, why would you waste this large amount of money?
It’s not just you. At a The Knowledge Society session, we were asked this exact question. It didn’t take us long before we started naming all the investments and purchases we would make every single day, just so that we spend the full amount.
86,400 is the number of seconds in a day. If we’re so quick to not waste a single dollar that we’re given, then why is it any different for time? We should invest it in the same manner. We’re time-billionaires and it’s important to be intentional about how we’re spending each and every second in our day to reach our full potential.
Even though I find many of our mindset discussions extremely valuable, this was an eye-opener and really stuck with me. I went into January with a strong vision of the projects I wanted to build. It’s February 2nd, and even though I made some progress, I didn’t complete any of them. It’s easy for me to blame exam season, but ultimately it comes down to my decisions of how I spent my time. I’m in control of how I spent the 86,400 seconds in a day to achieve my goals.
2 New Content Recommendations 📖
Life is Short - Paul Graham
Paul Graham's essay "Life is Short" reinforces the idea of taking control of your time from a different viewpoint. It's a great read to reiterate Lesson #3! While you’re at it, I recommend checking out other PG essays, as his insights from his experiences as a start-up founder are extremely valuable.
Quantum Computing 101
Subtle plug lol. Anyways, after my more technical content on Grover’s Algorithm, I knew I wanted to sit down and write a very simple & basic walkthrough of Quantum Computing fundamentals for anyone who’s never heard about quantum physics to understand. What better time to write it than before the TKS Quantum Computing session…? Check it out to read more about the evolving world of quantum computers, and how they work!
1 Question For You 🙋🏻♀️
Identify your priorities. What aligns with your long-term goals?
And then ask yourself…
“Are these reflected in my days? … How can I make sure that I’m spending my 86,400 seconds working towards those goals I’ve set in place?”
Take control of your days. Invest your time, rather than spending it.
Thank you so much for reading my newsletter. I’m so thankful for each and every single one of you who keeps up with my progress and the supportive community I have around me. Make sure to subscribe, if you haven’t done so already, for future updates.
As always, any feedback you have for me is greatly appreciated! See you next month. 🫂
- Priyal
loving the new format!!
Super Interesting read!