Your Sorting Hat: On your MVU - minimum viable upgrade, a better scoreboard and the happiness habit
Career Tuesday
Careers, Life and Questions (Aug 19, 2025)
Wish you a Happy Career Tuesday!
3 Career Ideas
I.
"Minimum viable upgrade - MVU
Don’t overhaul your work system - just tilt it slightly to improve.
Change one environment item (default app, desk layout, bedtime alarm) and let that nudge you to do quiet, daily work."
II.
"Design your scoreboard better.
Choose three leading indicators (inputs you control) instead of lagging outcomes (results). e.g. hours of study instead of exam scores, calories eaten instead of weight.
What you count, compounds; what you ignore, dies."
III.
"The bottleneck hour.
Block 60 minutes each week to attack the single constraint slowing you most. Treat it as a critical meeting. Reschedule other commitments before you cancel it."
2 Life Quotes from Books
I.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese monk, on happiness in the present moment in You Are Here:
"In daily life, you are in the habit of running because you think happiness is impossible in the present. This is a habit handed down to you by your ancestors. Happiness does not seem possible in the here and now, so you look for it in the distant future. The practice consists of stopping that habit of running."
Source: Book: You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh
II.
Octavia E Butler, American science fiction writer, on sustainable results in Bloodchild: And Other Stories:
"First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not."
Source: Book: Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
1 Question
If the internet disappeared tomorrow, what part of your daily routine will you miss the most - and what part of your day will actually improve?
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Until next week,
Devashish Chakravarty
Author of YourSortingHat
Columnist for Careers at The Economic Times