By Suraj Chaudhary How my life goals have changed Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – When I was a high schooler, I wanted to achieve what society normally regards as success. In fact, I wanted to go beyond that. I wanted to create an impact at scale; I wanted to change people’s lives, give them jobs, build schools, and factories. I guess many of us might have had similar goals. But as I’ve grown up, my life goals have evolved. My goals might still continue to evolve, but this is...
9 days ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On writing on the internet Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – A couple of days ago, I was going through a friend’s blog. Until then, I had no idea he had a website and that he, too, wrote into the void of the internet. What got me even more interested was the authenticity with which he writes, his writing style. There’s this flow to his words, sentences, and to each paragraph. That’s something that I’ve aimed for myself. For me, however, reaching that flow has only...
16 days ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary How to be taken seriously Read on my website Dear Reader, Suraj here – For the longest time, my elder brother has told me to mind how I carry myself. "Others will treat you based on how you present yourself," he has said. This is something that I've struggled to get myself to understand. One implication of this is that if I don't have and share a preference/opinion on things, soon enough, people will stop asking for my input because they will assume that, as always, I...
23 days ago • 1 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On accountability Read on my website Dear Reader, I have been writing this newsletter for over two years now. During the same time, there have been other things that I’ve taken up and then given up on. I enjoy the feeling of having written, but, more importantly, what has helped me remain so consistent with this newsletter is because of accountability. This newsletter started with me occasionally sharing ideas in the void of the internet (which nobody read). But then,...
30 days ago • 1 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On options Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – Is having options a good or a bad thing? Any sensible person would say that it is a good thing because you get to compare and pick the better one. But is it really that simple? Most definitely not. Studies have shown that having too many options often leads to a person not picking any at all, and also that fewer choices result in more satisfaction. But this issue of Figuring Things Out is not about the difference...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On caring about what other people think Read on my website Dear Reader, Suraj here – I can, and I often do, come off as a very rude person. I’ve struggled for a long time to understand why it is that people misunderstand me so often. And by people, I’m referring to the ones I might call friends or those close to me. It’s something that I truly hadn’t been able to make sense of. When thinking about what others think of me, I’ve always considered: “Am I going to have to be...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On reference groups Read on my website Dear Reader, Suraj here – How does one determine one’s self-worth? How does one decide how to feel about oneself? One possible way of doing so could be: based on reference groups. Let me explain. As a kid in middle school, I only needed a Nokia 3310 to feel like I was on top of the world. However, with the introduction of newer phones and a new reference group (I had moved to the capital of Nepal), that didn’t feel enough. In the...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary On using AI in school Read on my website Hey Reader, Suraj here – I get this nagging feeling every time I use AI to solve problems. I’ve used it to get drafts for assignments, summarize large texts, solve difficult problems, and so on. This, on the surface, doesn’t seem that bad, but there is this uneasiness that compounds with every use. Almost all the students I’ve talked to, including myself, very rarely read a given material in its entirety. We mostly use AI or search...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
By Suraj Chaudhary Impulse Read on my website Dear Reader, Suraj here – All of us have certain quirks. Some of those quirks we are willing to accept, and others we are not. My being impulsive is the latter, or at least it’s something that I haven’t accepted so far. Now, however, it is time that I do so. I am impulsive. It isn’t just one thing that I’m impulsive at, either. I make most of my plans for going out at the last moment. My best friends can attest to that. Most times, I’ve just shown...
2 months ago • 1 min read