Take the next step, and the next shall be clearer. 🧗
TL;DR -> Solutions to improve digital literacy (w/ the UN), publishing articles and videos, and learning about efficiency vs. effectiveness. Dig in! 👇
March was, for all intents and purposes, insane.
Along with helping the UN improve female digital literacy, I also 10x-d my data science skills and went way harder on content creation.
Let’s get this 🍞.
Female digital literacy x the UN 🌐
We kicked this month off strong with a consulting challenge - helping improve female presence in the digital economy by 2026.
Together with Anuraj Shah, Kevin Liu, and Jibraan Kadri, our team settled on Rwanda as the place ripe for most impact - poised to become the Singapore of Africa.
Looking deeper, we found some interesting patterns - rural Rwandan teachers were struggling with teaching and learning technology, and often left class to work second jobs (due to lower pay).
The solution? A 3-phase pilot project that improved the quality of life for 3700+ people if scaled.
Here’s our full recommendation deck if you want know more:
All in all, this gave AMAZING insight on building real world solutions for real world people.
Lessons Learned: 🔑
Real problems are way more complex than what meets the eye. A simple, surface level issue usually has many underlying causes that compound to create the end problem.
The ultimate resource is human time and attention - just because something can be implemented, doesn’t mean it should be implemented.
Long-lasting and impactful change comes from inside-out - not outside in. In this case, impacting Rwanda’s teachers directly helps reduce dropout and inspire the Rwandan populace.
Now, let’s get into content creation 🙌
The art of creation, and the creation of art. 🖼
Realization - making any sort of high-quality content is hard as hell. Like, really hard.
That’s what I found myself thinking as I spent 60+ hours making a video on my behavioural cloning project and simulating a self driving car!
At the end of it all, here’s the final product:
If you thought that was all, we aren’t done yet. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been going really deep into reading self-improvement content.
And, despite the different strategies and tips mentioned in each one, there was one common trend I couldn’t shake off:
Your goals, and the amount of time you put into achieving them, mean little compared to the approach you take to get there.
Let’s run a little thought experiment. Person A spends 50 hours and achieves 100% of their aspirations. On the other hand, Person B spends 8 hours and achieves 80%.
Who has the better approach?
Rather obviously, it’s person B - they make 10% progress every hour. On the other hand, Person A makes around 2% progress per every hour spent.
And it’s this concept that I break down in the following article - as well as some ways to 10x your current approach:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 💪
Let me ask you something.
What is the difference between being efficient, and being effective?
“Wait - Aditya, aren’t they basically the same thing?”
Efficiency is focused on the process - doing the most things, in the least amount of time possible. This creates a sense of productivity, a sense of busy-ness.
Effectiveness on the other hand, deals with the outcome - whether doing something will have the intended effect, whether it’ll impact the end goal.
Here’s the kicker: It’s possible to be efficient, without being effective.
Think about it. Your job might be to clear a path in the midst of a jungle. To increase your efficiency, you might decide to sadly cut down more trees, move faster, etc.
But effectiveness, is asking whether you’re in the right jungle - something which I’d argue is more important.
This is one of the main principles in probably one of the most legendary books of all time: The 7 habits of highly effective people.
That being said, here are the 7 principles mentioned in the book:
Be proactive. What happens in our lives might not be our direct fault. But ultimately, it’s our responsibility to put up with and overcome it. By being proactive about our relationships, goals, and health, we allow ourselves to hold the pen of our own books.
Begin with the end in mind. You’re at a funeral. The funeral, is yours. What would you want people to remember you as? Who do you want to be? Make a personal mission statement and decide a set of values, and live by it every single day.
Put first things first. If we give all our time to what’s urgent today, we’ll never have time for the things that are important, but not urgent. And often, those activities have the most impact - working out, learning a skill, building a network, etc.
Think Win/Win. Not Win/Lose or Lose/Win. Try to truly seek third alternatives, different solutions that benefit both parties in a tremendous manner. This is not a compromise - it’s an effective solution to a difficult problem.
Seek first to understand - then, to be understood. Listen not for arguments, but for emotions. Genuinely learn to put yourself into someone else’s shoes, to truly understand their reasoning and own battles. Then and only then, seek to be understood.
Synergy. Seek differences - don’t avoid them. Together with the other habits, work effectively with other people with interdependence.
Sharpen the Sword. The act of renewing the 6 habits, to constantly seek improvement in oneself.
Together, these 7 principles combine to truly deliver a meaningful live.
Must read - 10/10.
GOALS ✔
Publish another video (teaser - David Goggins).
Publish an Article about the Chess AI project (update - I got creamed by my own creation 😭)
Release episode 1 of the 3 Bucket podcast (:D)
Start another project 💪
And, what do you know? You’re at the end of another one of my newsletters. That’s all from me - see you guys in a month!
Aditya
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