Thinking while spinning
Cycling is a recent passion, though my wife refers to it as an obsession :). Like many i rediscovered the joys of cycling over the last couple of years, and now head out with friends at odd hours of the morning 3-4 times a week. It works for me - its outdoors, you see a lot of the world that you wouldn’t normally, its social when you want it to be and gives you solitude when you dont. And there’s only one rule for those 1-4 hours - “keep spinning!”.
And while spinning away on some highway or country road, I discovered a meditative “flow” state:
With the prefrontal cortex temporarily quiet and your monkey mind on a little vacation, you enter the Flow State. Elite athletes know this as “the zone”…
In Flow, your neurochemistry is altered. Dopamine (the neurochemical of inspiration) gets released…. And serotonin (the neurochemical of pleasure) kicks in.
-Robin Sharma
So that’s where most of these thoughts in this blog start, on the bike, spinning and in the flow. Penning them down so I can come back to them, and sharing so others can improve on them for collective learning.
“Thinking while Spinning” also fits my day job as a VC at Matrix Partners India investing in early stage startups and as a parent (25-49% contributor of a team with my wife) to our two boys 8.5 and 6. In both these roles, I find my head spinning - with the frenetic pace of activity, ambiguous data and noisy signals, and no decision that seems truly right or wrong. And I have to constantly remind my self to slow down to think, get in the flow, frame distinct choices and then pick one.
So here goes - thoughts in the flow about cycling, startups, VC, life. Think. Spin. T.. S..