Summary

The Technicolor Concept

Creative Career Balance

Health and Consistent Exercise

Meaningful Relationships

Looking Forward

Notes

Transcript

me to upload these notes afterwards, both the transcript and the actual summary that I will cover. And yeah, that will be the notion part of it. So first, let's get into the title. Why I Want to Live My Life in Technicolor. Why is that the sentence for today's

So, I'm sure many people do this. I've yet to meet somebody who does it as specifically as I do, but I feel like every Sunday night around 8pm, Usually termed the Sunday Scaries, as most people might know it as, and I'm basically just trying to figure out how to relax before the week starts, even though I'm already thinking about the week. Again, probably.

Probably a pretty common feeling. And something that really helps me is watching Oscar acceptance speeches, because it's literally so glitzed up. It's people in the acting industry at the peak of their powers, and hopefully within that one or two minutes that they're on the stage, they can impart some wisdom for the rest of us peasants who...

We'll never be on that stage. And yesterday, or two nights ago on Sunday, I was watching Emma Stone's Oscar speech from 2024. Emma Stone is an actress. She has won two Oscars, the first one in 2017 for La La Land and the second one in 2024 for her performance in

poor things. And she's going through a speech and listening, listening, listening, and then she ends her speech by talking about how her daughter, who was about to turn three at the time has just really, really impacted her and her husband's life. And she uses this very specific.

She says that her daughter has turned her and her husband's lives to Technicolor, and I saw a few comments under the video that praised her for using that word, because it's a very beautiful sentiment. And Technicolor is one of those words where I feel like most people know it, but haven't really thought that intensely about it.

And I was among that group, so I went into a little internet rabbit hole and just basically tried to understand this word better because it was so gripping. And Technicolor is essentially using the three primary colors of red, green, and blue to hit all the other colors on the color spectrum that humans can see. And it was credited for shifting black and white films into the color films that we now, of course, know. And some of

The most famous examples of films first using Technicolor include The Wizard of Oz, and the bright colors there are a reminder of when films stepped into being Technicolor. And I think that just felt like a very apt way of saying something is enriching your life to the extent that.

It's making you see the world in literally a more colorful way, and I think that segues into the first of the three categories, which is jobs, and what I've seen in the past year or so of... how jobs can enhance that or detract. I am among friends who primarily are in, I would say, more conventional careers at this point, whether that's consulting,

finance, in law school to become a lawyer, tech to an extent, and I have seen how quickly they have learned a lot of I would say ready-made professional skills in this day and age, such as how to talk to clients, how to work spreadsheets, how to extend themselves to make videos.

job as useful to them as possible, and I am in a more creative position where I feel like I've been extending myself in different ways. A big part of, I think, a creative role is to Have times during the day where you can just be bored and you can just let your thoughts float and you can daydream. And that's very opposite, I think, to what a lot of my peers are at least doing during the day at this point. But I think

that as a podcast producer and in creative roles in general, what I have learned is that where I feel my most creative is in those dead periods that I sometimes have and I sometimes don't. I think those periods lead to the other side of what a lot of creative roles are is that manic rush to finish a podcast episode or this creative product in general. I remember one of the recent podcasts that we put out.

I work at a free speech group and we were Coming Down to the Wire, because the podcast I work on, we publish every other Thursday, so whatever state that the podcast is in Wednesday night before... An episode goes out, it just needs to be done, and the podcast needs to go out on that Thursday. Relatively speaking, obviously, like, it's not a life-or-death situation, but it would just be really ideal if a podcast goes out every other Thursday.

And a few episodes ago, we had a particularly challenging episode because it was live. There were a lot of moving parts. The audio initially wasn't that great. The lighting was off. And it definitely felt like a very intense couple of days to try and get all of those working pieces in order. But the podcast went out on that Thursday, and we...

made sure that it was still up to as many of the standards as we have for the podcast. So I think that speaks to the dual nature of what I feel like a creative role is. You have really busy periods where you are trying to make the best product possible on a consistent basis, and you also have very slow periods, relatively speaking, where the goal is to think deeply.

act relatively quickly on those thoughts by having a more steady foundation. I think one example of what I've been trying to get more out of with my job is Thinking more long-term for the podcast and what editorial direction we want to take it in. And that has required a lot of thought both just independently but also seeking out other people at the workplace, talking to them, getting their input, and proactively doing so because everybody's busy at the end of the day.

And you definitely don't want to waste other people's time, but you also definitely don't want to waste your own. So there's definitely more to talk about there. I'm sure when I have friends on in future episodes, we can get more into it. I actually had a more extensive talk about how Gen Z is entitled, actually, and how people think we are entitled but we aren't, like, trying to hit both sides on that with a friend that has been recorded and hopefully, hi Kunal, hopefully will go out

in the coming weeks. So that's the jobs portion of the vitals and now we'll move on into the health portion and how I feel like I can live more in Technicolor through my health. So for those who might not know, I have had several fluctuations with my health over the years.

Nothing extremely serious, like I am fortunate that I've never been, I've never had to like stay in a hospital overnight, or I've never had to stay in a hospital for multiple nights. I don't know why I'm just defaulting to like being hospitalized overnight as the worst-case scenario because I'm sure there are worse things that I could think of.

But specifically with my throat, it's It's always been an ongoing battle of, I think especially stress can affect it to the point where it's hard to eat, it's hard to even talk. More examples I'm sure could come to mind if, again, I thought more about it. But I think something in the past year that I've really noticed is that having a consistent workout regimen has

significantly improved and mitigated all of those throat and other related health issues. And this is something that I feel like young professionals really strive for. Like, I can't think of any young professional that I've talked to that has not either mention that they want to be going to the gym more consistently or that they do go to the gym very consistently and they're very proud of that and they want to maintain it. And I think both sides make sense to me. My gym routine is I'm fortunate that

The office that I work at in DC, it's in a building that's connected to a gym, so you just go down to the first floor, and it's a very bare-bones gym, like this is not... any type of like Planet Fitness Equinox level at all, but it has one workout bench, it has a rack of dumbbells, like a couple of treadmills, and a couple of bicycle elliptical equipment. And that's enough for me on a day-to-day basis. I'm probably in and out in like 30 minutes or so.

But because I do it every day, I'm in work, I'm in the office every day, I'm able to consistently get a brief but effective workout in for five to seven days. And on the weekends, I try to play tennis, especially with DC being the sometimes too hot but lovely hot weather that it is.

I have managed to... play tennis, make new friends, keep up with old friends at least once a week. So that is typically the extent of the physical fitness and I think that has really helped enhance my life because I mean, I'm not the first person to say this, but of course, working out makes you feel better. Working out makes you happier. Probably. Working out...

It's also like a shared activity, like again, playing tennis with people has allowed me to interact with people I probably just wouldn't have if I hadn't played. And also tennis, in my opinion, is the healthiest sport. That could be controversial to say, but I would mostly stand by it.

I don't think I would die on that hill, but I feel like there's good arguments for that. And I think when I see my friends who aren't working out as much as they are, as much as they'd want to, I think it still really comes down to choices. Like, I'm very lucky where my workout location is either

Connected to my office building or literally like a 10-minute walk away from my place But of course if you're living in New York SF other major cities or not major cities maybe your gym is like a 15-minute drive or or a bus rider to a way. And of course that's more convenient. But at the end of the day, we all have the same 24 hours in the day, and then.

7 days a week, so outside of probably your working hours, whatever those are, it's really up to you if you want to figure out how to prioritize this part of your health, specifically working out, into your schedule. And I have friends who have way busier demanding schedules than me who do find time to work out either.

really early in the morning or really late at night, which again, I don't know, I don't know how much room for sleep or other things that leaves them. But now that I'm thinking more about it, I would say most of my friends Keep a workout regimen up. I remember even this past weekend when I was in SF, I left a friend after hanging out who was going to the gym and I met up with a friend who had come from a SoulCycle class.

And that felt like pretty much the summation and then I've had friends who I've had a friend who ran a half marathon this past year. I have a friend who runs several miles almost every day. I have a friend who started working out more. So I think it's also something about being post-grad and in a different way being your own adult and having your own agency that

either continues to prioritize the health portion that is working out in your life, or it reinvigorates you to prioritize that. And I think that's ultimately something I've noticed that has made a real difference in, again, like my mood, my friends' moods, and I'm not the only one that struggles with health stuff.

Probably most people do, and I think a big way to mitigate it is simply to have a consistent workout regime, or regimen. Regime is authoritarian and not what I'm going for there. So yeah, maybe there's something there as well to expand on in a future series episode where I'll have, hopefully, friends join.

And then... The last vital to discuss are relationships. So I could go two ways with this. I could either talk about romantic relationships or platonic ones. And I think for the sake of keeping things civil, I will do both. platonic ones, even though all of my romantic relationships, there's no violence there. It's obviously going to be a little more complex. I think what I've noticed as a young professional with platonic relationships, let's specifically talk about friendships.

is that it's the ones where you're not necessarily talking to on a consistent basis but when you're in the same location you can just pick off. Pick up where you left off with pretty much no hesitation. Those are the ones I feel like I cherish more and more. More, I think about how, like with my friends, and I've been lucky to have great friends. I do have great friends, both from college and before.

I think more not so much how long we've been friends even though as the years go up and you still have certain people that's of course nice. I think more about how many times that person has been there for me and vice versa. There have been plenty of times in the past 5-10 years where I have needed support. Maybe it was literally like picking up books from the ground that I dropped. I feel like I just picked up on a really great book.

Give me that support, whether that is verbal support or hanging out with me, giving me money. Okay, not really on the last one, but that would be funny and kind of helpful at times if people just freely gave me money. But I do think it's worth shifting at least my mindset on because I definitely think coming out of school and also whatever fixed communities I have had for the past few years, it very much felt more like a time thing. Like, well, if we had been friends for five years, might as well keep going.

And that's just not, I think, the healthiest way to go about it. I feel like, especially because, as my friend told me very early on as we were young professionals, We're at a point in our lives where no one owes you their time and vice versa. Like, I feel like every time I hang out with somebody now, it is a deliberate choice.

There are literally a hundred things I could be doing instead of hanging out with somebody. I could be sleeping, eating, working, hanging out with somebody else. not hanging out with anybody, traveling, like just think about all the things you could be doing besides meeting up with somebody or multiple people. So I think when I started thinking about my hangouts in that sense, it's not like I don't have to reschedule at times.

It's not that I don't understand when people have to reschedule or cancel. But I do sense there is a difference between meeting up with somebody who also comes from a similar point of view that this hangout and these moments are special versus ones that treat them more as...

I don't want to say givens, but almost like it's expected that we hang out for whatever reason and that's not a judgment on those people. But again, I just think it's a different mindset. Again, as I mentioned, I was in SF this past weekend, and I was able to hang out with a bunch of different people. And it's not like each hangout needed to be intense conversations for the whole time.

Like some hangouts were literally just laying in the park, playing a card game. Too many times in a row, but even that I felt like people could understand that It is meaningful. It's very meaningful to have those connections these days, especially because

I think at work, yes, you can of course make friends, but there is a level of professionalism that you should maintain at the workplace that you don't need to, outside of it. Or you can if you want to, but I don't know why you'd be... I don't know why you'd want to be more professionally authentic when you could just be authentic and fully yourself outside of work. So that's my thought on relationships. I feel like...

Especially with platonic ones, the ones that have lasted and the ones that I will work really hard to make last, and hopefully it's reciprocated, are the ones for people who not necessarily have known you the longest, though it helps, but it's the ones that

have shown up for you the most and continue to just treasure whatever time you guys get together. I will close by saying that this is a very fast live stream and it's because I've been delaying doing this live stream for a few weeks now. If you've ever made content or ever just had to

force yourself to put forth a creative idea, you will understand that the hardest step is a starting because there's always a way that you could be doing the content better and At the end of the day, this is me walking the talk, where I have been thinking about doing this Yo! Pro Vitals livestream series for a couple of weeks now, and I was never going to start unless I just hit the record button and made this.

What young professionals need these days in the categories of jobs, health, and relationships, just let me know. And these will be transcripted and meaning notes ready, courtesy of Notion afterwards. So I hope to see you guys at the next one. All right, bye.