Pace, Pressure & Peaceful Money Moves: A Little Life Lately!
We cover: Slow Sundays, The thrill of Fast Cities, SIPs & Sanity
My Weekly Explorations
When Life Hits Pause (But Only For a Moment)
Last Sunday, something strange happened.
I woke up before my alarm. Not because I had a meeting or an early flight, but because there was silence. The kind you can actually hear. No Slack notifications. No calendar pings. Just light filtering in through the curtains and the distant hum of the city still waking up. For once, I didn’t rush to check LinkedIn or swipe through emails with one eye open.
I walked to the balcony, made myself a lazy cup of chai, and just stood there holding the mug like it was a warm reminder that I was alive and didn’t need to do anything for the next ten minutes. And for the first time in what felt like months, I noticed how good the wind felt. And how the world keeps spinning even when you pause. How rare it is to not be productive and yet feel fulfilled.
It hit me later that this was the first real moment of rest I’d had in weeks.
Not sleep. Not scrolling. Actual rest. And it made me wonder how many of us are mistaking constant motion for meaning.
How Fast Is Life Going? And What’s It Doing to Us?
Living in a city like Bangalore, Gurgaon, or Mumbai is like watching your life on 2x speed. The energy is electric. Opportunities feel endless. But so does the exhaustion.
You wake up, and suddenly it’s Thursday. You finish one project, and another is already overdue. You reply to one email, and five more land in your inbox. Somewhere between performance reviews, weekend plans, Uber rides, and quick bites at your desk, you start living in a rhythm that’s more algorithm than emotion.
We talk a lot about hustle. About ambition. About making the most of our 20s and 30s. But no one really warns you about how this pace chips away at your sense of presence. You start measuring life by deliverables, not experiences. By calendar slots, not conversations.
Sometimes I think about how cities are brilliant; they give you access, freedom, and space to reinvent yourself. But they also make you forget what stillness feels like. You meet hundreds of people, but rarely do you connect. You cross thousands of paths but seldom pause. You gain the world, and yet… you’re out of breath. Constantly.
So maybe the real flex now? Creating pockets of slowness inside the chaos. Ten minutes. A walk without AirPods. A phone-free dinner. Saying “no” to a fifth Zoom call, reclaiming your pace before it becomes your personality.
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari 📚
If you’ve been catching yourself switching between 17 tabs and 5 apps in under 60 seconds, you’re not alone, and this book explains exactly why that’s happening.
Last week, I read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, where he doesn’t just talk about how our attention spans are shrinking; he lays out how they’re being systematically hijacked. Social media, work culture, tech addiction, and burnout are all connected. And he doesn’t stop complaining. He gives actual, practical ways to reclaim your brain.
One thing that stayed with me?
“Focus is not just about productivity. It’s about living a full life.”
Since reading it, I’ve started doing one simple thing: keeping my phone in another room while working. Sounds basic, but the clarity it brings is wild.
If you feel like you’re constantly distracted, half-present, or living in response mode, this one’s worth your time.
Podcast with Sachin Jain 🎙
This week on GrowthCast, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Sachin Jain, one of the most grounded, no-nonsense investment advisors I’ve ever met. We unpacked the entire mutual fund ecosystem in India and broke it down in a way that even someone investing for the first time in 2025 can fully grasp.
What I loved most was Sachin’s clarity. He doesn’t believe in hype. He believes in habits. He spoke about how the mutual fund space has changed since 2003, from high entry loads and paper forms to zero commissions and SIPs that can be started with ₹500.
He also broke down the psychology behind why people fall for NFOs (New Fund Offers), the difference between SIP and lump-sum investing, and how real wealth is built not by chasing returns but by staying consistent.
One thing he said has stayed with me:
“Don’t get tempted by new flavours. The vanilla funds are boring, but they work.”
If you’ve ever felt lost about where to begin with investing or overwhelmed by market jargon, I really recommend giving this episode a listen. It’s not just about money; it’s about mindset.
Watch here → GrowthCast ft. Sachin Jain
That’s it for this week! 🤍
I hope these thoughts and insights resonate with you as much as they did with me. Life’s a journey, and it’s the little moments and reflections that make it meaningful. Keep exploring, stay curious, and most importantly, keep being you.
Also, if you know someone who might like this newsletter, forward this to them.
Please write to shashank@salaried.club if there’s anything you’d like to share with us.
See you next week :)
Regards,
Shashank Srivastava