This is part 2 of answering a list of question. Part 1 is here.
You can find the full list of questions here.
- Why is the market capitalization of facebook, founded 15 months prior to yc by a 19 year old, larger than that of all yc companies combined?
- That’s not the smartest question I’ve read recently.
- Why not take a pen and a piece of paper, go offline for 1 hour and resolve one of them?
I do. And I’ve always loved the analog version outside the digital world. Look at my notebook. - What are the key questions?
- Righteousness: Do I think what I’m doing is the right thing? I should ask this for every action I do.
- Growth Mindset: Where can I grow the most? Even if that means I’ll have to do things I’m not comfortable with or face my fears.
- Course-correct in smaller scale. I shouldn’t wait for things to go completely sideways. Daily and weekly checkins are tools for that. That’s why I journal.
- Am I following the herd or the values that I believe in? I’m a muslim. And I believe I should do good in the world. That’s essential for me and for my identity. Do I follow my own virtues and values? Am I a hypocrite asking someone else to follow virtues, values, or customs I don’t follow my self? Daily and weekly assessments are essential to correct my faults. That’s why I try to journal daily or at least once or twice weekly.
- What do you want?
- Do what I believe is the right thing to do. This is harder to do in practice that in theory. Some can do it. I can see my sister, Noor, has done it. And she is an inspiration.
- Is self eternal?
- I can obviously not say. Since I can’t remember what’s been there before I was born (but who said it is), nor expect to know what will be there in the future.
- What’s slowing you down the most?
- Staying up late.
- When was the last time you took 3 months completely off?
- Never.
- What’s your destiny?
- I can build
- Is 1 week 2% of the year?
- No. Not all weeks are created equal.
Mohammad Shaker 
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