My mission / north star / guiding principles
Date: 9/5/25
Preface
I hate being wrong. I want to be correct, respected, and not embarrassed. I hope to be the smartest in the room and to understand everything.
I believe that is my weakness; I am unable to take criticism and feel spread thin on my subjects and often only have a surface-level understanding before jumping to another topic.
Why am I writing this?
My dad had met with the company Stripe during his time in New York in August 2025. He had told me about their founder, Patrick Collison. He tried to instill some advice from Mr. Collison's portfolio in me, but I didn't really care and played it off. I never cared for finding a "north star" or a guiding principle, but I start to understand the value behind that principle.
When we look at why most companies fail, it is often due to people disagreeing. Disagreeing on what? Often disagreeing on the mission of the company. It is not the minute details like the disagreement between colors or fonts, but the mission statement and what impact is meant to be made.
Socialism worked.
I watched the following video, How Amazon Built The Soviet Dream . and it had a lasting impact. Socialism did not work in government, as people had alternate motives, but it worked in areas where singular goals were the common interest. Specifically, Stafford Beer had observed how war room meetings functioned as socialistic societies, as everyone had the common goal to "win."
I would like to implement that in my own life and try to find my guiding principle to follow. I want to have some lasting impact... but what is that? What is my phrase to live by?
My life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
life
Purpose is hard to pinpoint for life; I go back to nature and its own purpose. I am not just talking about animals that can independently think, but also plants. All living creatures on Earth are biologically programmed to further one's lineage. I wrote college essay on this topic that goes into more detail, but in short, I understand how the dandelion growing through the concrete crack in my driveway has a mission to spread its seed by land, sea, or air to get its own "kids" a better future in another place. The octopus makes thousands of eggs to give hope for its lineage, even though most of those eggs will not make it and the octopus is harming itself by creating so many eggs.
It sounds strange, but I hope to further the complex symposium of cultures I am. I am an ethnically South Indian and Singaporean mix but nationally an American. My father's side is 100% Indian, and my mother's side is 100% East Asian. I believe it is my life mission to further my lineage and give even more opportunity to my own kids, as my parents did not come to the U.S. through land, sea, and air for me to waste away on shareholder value.
Liberty
Following my previous statement of "wasting away on shareholder value," I hope to be free. Not free in the sense of being on a beach in the Bahamas sipping on a margarita 😋. Though that does sound nice, I hope to be free of worry, specifically in social, health, and economic aspects.
I hate being lonely; everybody does. It is torture to be alone, and I would only wish it on a few enemies... I just hope to have a vent, a person to discuss and debate with.
I am predisposed to worse health; I understand that, yet I am not willing to eat healthier due to my mentality of kicking the can down the road. I drink Monster, Red Bull, and soda. I eat candy, chips, fatty foods, salty foods, and basically any highly processed foods. I do not agree with everything Bryan Johnson has to offer, but up until him selling products, I liked his message of "DON'T DIE." It resonates with me, and I hope to take a few lessons from him: that I should be healthier and do everything in my freedom to NOT DIE.
Pursuit of Happiness
What gives me happiness? I enjoy going on walks, talking with friends, and learning. These are very simple topics, which I hope to live by. I can go more in-depth, like "playing video games," but that falls under "talking with friends." My mission for happiness is to live without regrets. I will have regrets, but those are just awkward interactions or missed opportunities, but at the end of the day, they are in the past.
I hope to move forward without looking back, but that does not let me see the blind spot that I had missed in that situation. In moments like those, I would like to reach out and ask someone to see what my blind spots are, as that is often the underlying problem. In the moment, you believe you are correct, but an outsider sees the toilet paper stuck to the back of your pants.
Short-term
Those reasons are a bit too psychological and long-term; short-term, I don't know what I want to do. I want to do computer science, finance, algorithmic trading, quantitative finance, trading, and so many more. I need to set a goalpost to kick off my career with. My career goal is below.
Closing
I have big ears, yet I don't really listen... The best time to start was 19 years ago, and the second best time is now. The overall mission for me is written above in too many words, but in short,
I am not religious and have never felt the need for it, but why close the door off? I hate being critiqued, but why shut out other opinions? Reading is the best source of this. I may not be able to play basketball at the professional level or be on the trading floor, but I know someone in that position has written about it.
If anything changes, I will try to add an update to this blog as soon as possible.
