The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! | Episode 11 | Everything is Everything

The road from desire to action is long & painful. How can we make it a smooth journey?

Welcome to Episode 11 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit shares his learnings on productivity, beginning with the inspiring story of a young Goan boy, speechless in a grand hall in Lisbon in the 18th century, finding his wits when his father hisses at him -- and at us -- the greatest productivity mantra ever: Kaator Re Bhaaji. Amit explains what this means, and shares a set of productivity tips. Ajay zooms out and talks about the importance of purpose. He also delivers a passionate tribute to Unix!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00 Teaser and packaging
01:01 Introduction: Kaator Re Bhaaji
01:49 Chapter 1: The Incredible Adventures of Abbe Faria
05:50 Chapter 2: Just do it
16:02 Chapter 3: Don't do it. Just be it
20:34 Chapter 4: Don't be it. Just do it
28:55 Chapter 5: Habits are Everything
33:56 Chapter 6: All Roads Lead to Roam Research
45:40 Chapter 7: What is Your Purpose?
54:10 Chapter 8: Amit's Recco
55:13 Chapter 8: Ajay's Recco

USEFUL RESOURCES:

1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSeenAndTh...)
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 250: Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narend...  
8. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 314: The Life and Times of Jerry P...  
9. Abbé Faria on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abb%C3%...
10. Abbé Faria: The Hypnotic Story of A Goan Son -- Carol Lobo: https://www.peepultree.world/livehist...
11. The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas: https://amzn.eu/d/3v0n46X
12. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati):    • Ep 202: The BJP Before Modi  
13. The Parable of the Pottery Class -- Ali Abdaal:    • The Parable of the Pottery Class #shorts  
14. How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers — Ali Abdaal:    • How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers  
15. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal:    • My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers  
16. India Uncut: https://indiauncut.com/
17. Song of Myself, 51 -- Walt Whitman: https://poets.org/poem/song-myself-51
18. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance -- Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-0...
19. How to Enhance Performance & Learning by Applying a Growth Mindset -- Huberman Lab Podcast: https://tinyurl.com/3w5ddkxp
20. Doing better than a competitive exam -- Nitin Pai and Ajay Shah: https://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/MEDIA/...
21. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma: https://indiauncut.com/our-unlucky-ch...
22. The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins: https://amzn.eu/d/1lFSsOg
23. Atomic Habits -- James Clear: https://amzn.eu/d/4UlBkYz
24. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything:    • How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes | E...  
25. Getting Things Done -- David Allen: https://amzn.eu/d/5ifBcyG
26. Roam Research: https://roamresearch.com/
27. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab):    • Ep 216: Being Muslim in India  
28. Born a Muslim -- Ghazala Wahab: https://amzn.eu/d/02lQ2NT
29. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia -- Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah):    • Ep 335:  A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs ...  
30. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything:    • Why Freedom Matters | Episode 10 | Ev...  
31. Notion: https://www.notion.so/
32. Zettelkasten: https://tinyurl.com/3jru6w98
33. Obsidian: https://obsidian.md/
34. Building a Second Brain -- Tiago Forte: https://fortelabs.com/blog/basboverview/
35. GNU Emacs: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
36. Org Mode: https://orgmode.org/
37. Final Draft: https://www.finaldraft.com/
38. Scrivener: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/sc...
39. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Karthik Muralidharan: https://tinyurl.com/y4wt65wa
40. Ali Abdaal on YouTube:    / @aliabdaal  
41. Thomas Frank on YouTube:    / @thomasfrank  
42. Tex: https://tug.org/

Produced & edited by Vartika Singh:    / @vartikasingh7  .
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter images by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina