Acknowledgements
“Omwana taba womoi,” or as we say in English, “It takes a village.”
I’ve often wondered why movie credits are so long. Now, after taking stock of all the people I want to thank for this book, I wonder how they’re so short. In an attempt at some semblance of order, I’d like to thank three categories of people:
People who’ve helped me in life
People who’ve helped explicitly with the book
People who have no idea I exist but have influenced this book
Like the Ikigai diagrams, there are overlaps between these three buckets of generosity.
In the first bucket, I must first thank my family for providing the canvas for the experiences that funneled into this book. My parents encouraged curiosity, and I was fortunate for that. My mom, Malathi Narayan, also read an early draft of this book. My dad, A.L. Narayan, who first introduced me to this genre typified by the likes of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, would have diligently redlined it and then shouted from the rooftops about it if he were around. My wife, Tina, is my bouncing board for all endeavors in my adult life. Her detailed feedback on early drafts was invaluable, as is everything else she does. Our sons, Shaan and Arya, read early drafts and provided candid feedback of the helpful kind. They also flagged some inconsistencies I totally missed and reluctantly blessed the dad-jokes in the book. I continue to learn a lot from them.
Other family members who provided inputs on early drafts of the book are my sister, Parvathi Narayan, Vikram Ravi (who created the first NPAT after me), and Rakesh Kunhiraman. I’m also grateful to my uncle, S. Narayanan, who introduced me to The One Minute Manager and other books and ideas when I was a student. My late grandfather, A.N. Ramanathan, was my partner-in-crime for many childhood adventures. I’m also grateful to my extended family, the Hypers, and especially the Lyngdohs. Through the lockdown, their upbeat spirits made us feel like we were vicariously living life at Lyngdoh Cottage in Shillong.
Friendship is a recurring theme in the book. It anchors the entire narrative, as it does my own life. I am blessed with and grateful for many good friends.
The book saw no less than five iterations thanks to very insightful feedback from my generous friends. Sundar Ramaswami and Kalpana Sundar (also my Mary aka Yoga teacher) provided the best first round of feedback I could have asked for. I am grateful for detailed inputs from Karthik Nagarajan, Peter Claridge, Mary Ann Koruth, Ramki Muthukrishnan (great suggestions on Tetra and Newton), and Jyotika Menon. I had at least one uncomfortable (for them) conversation with each of them where they pointed something(s) that didn’t work, and I’m glad they did. It certainly made for a better book.
People who influenced characters in the book include dear multi-avatar friends like M.V. Bhaskar and Ram Gupta, who inspired the Hyperbolic Reflector. Other character influences include Naresh Sabharwal, who introduced our family to the Himalayas, and Ken Thai, the handiest man I know. For the aviation theme that runs through, I have the lovely people at my flight school at Somerset Airport to thank, especially my teachers, Byron Hamby and Jon Hanlon. For the book’s title, I have my childhood friends from the Indian High School, Dubai, to thank for many paper sheets on which we played Name, Place, Animal, Thing.
For providing the confidence to write this book in the first place, I am grateful to Anant Rangaswami and Yashraj Akashi. They may not even remember this, but they were among the first to hear the ideas behind NPAT many years ago and encourage me to build on it. These two gentlemen were also instrumental towards my talk on “Lessons From 2000 Obituaries” at TEDxGateway and thereafter, thanks to a serendipitous meeting with the multi-faceted Juliet Blake, at TED’s New York HQ. I must also thank the best Unconference I have ever attended, WPP Stream. The concept behind NPAT was first born at Stream Jaipur during a three-minute presentation called “Ignite Talks.” Thanks also to Dan Martell of SaaS Academy, who, among other things, reminded me of the incredible power of visual models. My startup journey at Unmetric, the company I co-founded, provided the canvas for these experiences. For this, I’m grateful to my amazing colleagues, clients, and investors like Nexus Venture Partners, who I am fortunate to count as friends.
I wrote this book in 2020 through the pandemic and am genuinely grateful to the frontline workers who helped us all stay safe and alive through it and afforded us the luxury to do mundane things like write books.
I’m also thankful to many WhatsApp groups that helped buffer the isolation—IIMC PGP 30, Pineapple Express, IITM Narmada 93, Chennai IIMC—you know who you are. NPAT’s newsletter subscribers and friends like Meena Mahajan provided great feedback. Some of the concepts here were first shared with them and then massaged into the book. Writing a book is a physically demanding process, especially when you’re doing it at the rate of three-hundred words a day. Saravanan and the committed health coaches at Amura.ai helped me shed thirty pounds and dial-up my health and energy levels during my book-writing phase.
In 2020, I binged on many classes and experiences, which provided vital scaffolding and helped with writing. I must thank David Perell and his exceptional Write of Passage class for refining my online writing habit and catalyzing the birth of the NPAT newsletter. I am also glad for connections that sprung from it—my writing buddies, Gwyn Wansbrough, Shirish Pai, and Jennifer Vermet, and my writing coaches, Ellen Fishbein and William Jaworski. For a break from writing and the clarity that distance affords, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dhamma Dhara in Massachusetts, where I spent ten disconnected days in absolute silence while learning the beautiful practice of Vipassana meditation. Starting this on the day after I finished the first draft of my manuscript lent some much-needed distance from the book and the opportunity for introspection. The other notable source of ‘relief ’ was Improvolution’s Improv drop-ins and shows, the Comedy Cellar’s live-streamed comedy on Mint Comedy, and my weekly Freestyle Hip-Hop sessions with the Messy Philosophers and David “BS” Bradshaw. Thanks to all the funny people in my life. Laughter is indeed the best medicine.
I have many people to thank for manifesting the process from ideas in my head to the lines you are now reading. Scribe Media taught me the writing process with their excellent (and free) resources and book, and my patient coach, Emily Gindlesparger, who read the first outline of this book (very different from now), guided me on the writing process for this genre. The creative Paul Hawkins designed the cover and the poster at the end of the book. I met Paul through Reedsy, who has the most comprehensive collection of resources for authors. Besides resource matching, the free content on their website and blog is liquid-gold for writers. The best UX designer I know, Amrinder Sandhu, helped with inputs on the line drawings and his opinions on all other things design related. The hard-working team at Notion Press managed the proofreading, editing, layout, and production of the book (thanks to Navin, Vandana, Surekha, Chetna, Sarvesh, and Mithila). Chandler Bolt’s Self Publishing School helped ease me into the otherwise complicated world of book marketing, and I am glad for the inputs I’ve gotten from my book launch coach, Ramy Vance. I am also grateful to Sreenath Reddy and his team at Intentwise for their expert inputs on Amazon marketing. I should also add the very articulate online classes and content by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur as something I am grateful for. Cutting Edge Studio and their founder, J.Sharpe (also an author) helped in many ways, including creating a trailer for the book. While on the subject of marketing, I serendipitously attended a boot camp on PR by Chris Winfield and Jen Gottlieb of Superconnector Media. Among other things, it was a masterclass on running a boot camp. I hope to work more with them in the future.
On to the last bucket: People who mostly have no idea I exist but have influenced ideas in this book.
Starting with Places, there’s the Sunset Pub and Grill at Lincoln Park, New Jersey. Yes, it is as beautiful as it sounds. The book’s other location credits go to the Circumnavigators Club, the AllTrails app for Hemlock Falls and many other trails, and the Liberty Corner Fire Company in Basking Ridge, NJ. Then, there’s Tentrr, whose glamping sites provide people with some much-needed breaks, even more so during the pandemic when outdoor was the only way to go. For places down under, I have Temple Adventures in Pondicherry to thank, especially Rob Partridge, Aravind Tharunsri, and Neela Bhaskar, for reigniting my love for scuba diving. Same planet, different world.
HGTV’s Flea Market Flip inspired my wife, Tina, to make me the lovely writing table featured in the book and upon which I wrote the book. Lastly, on Places and in keeping with the bottom-right quadrant, thank you, Celestron, for your excellent telescopes and for delivering us a NexStar 6E during the pandemic. It opened our eyes to the skies above and helped us travel far and wide without moving. Thanks also to the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ) for keeping virtual activities going through the lockdowns. Their website’s footer says it beautifully: This site is powered by the universe.
For the ideas behind Animal, I have to thank Andy Puddicombe and Headspace for first getting me hooked on meditation many years ago. Then, there’s Andy, Ryan, Jarlo, and the fantastic team at GMB.io who, in my opinion, run the best and simplest whole-body fitness program there is, especially with their focus on movement and their overall approach to the body. For sensory deprivation, thanks to Joe Rogan in whose podcast I first heard about the tanks and to Quantum Floats’ well-maintained facility in Bedminster, NJ, where I experienced it.
James Patterson and Malcolm Gladwell’s Masterclass classes on writing were more than worth the entire subscription to the Masterclass platform. I devotedly consumed them over many drives and hikes. Further on inspiration, The New York Times Obituaries team (@NYTObits on Twitter) writes the most inspiring section of their paper. The founder of 5-Hour Energy, Manoj Bhargava’s thoughts on useful and entertaining things, was a driver towards this book’s format. On curiosity, humility, and empathy, I am inspired by the work of the historian and presidential biographer, John Meacham. I have also been inspired by John Gorman’s writing on Medium. As Raj says in the book, and as I mentioned in my TED talk, there’s something about the name John.
Almost lastly, I’d like to thank Nymeria, aka Nim, our dog. Yes, I did observe her. And yes, it was weird.
Finally, a day before this manuscript goes into the locked mode, I’d like to thank all the people who read my NPAT newsletter and kindly agreed to read advance reader copies of this book. Thank you, Brian Condon, Venkateshwarulu aka Dijjer, Deepika Mahajan, Hari Sury, Natarajan Gautam, Anthony Hendrickson, Vandana Vaidyanathan, Ravin Kurian, Shirish Pai, Sanjay Mehta, Anurag Dwivedi, my cousins, Subha and Uma Narayanan, Diana J. Scott, Suresh Pradeep, Sandeep Achantani, Shankar Hari, Manish Agarwal, Gwyn Wansbrough, Jay Rampuria, Sumedh Reddy, T.N. Pratap, Suresh Raju, Martin Daniel, Hemant Nadakuditi, Navin Kalani, Rahul Mehrotra, Ben Noah Suri, and Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy.
Some of my fellow authors also generously agreed to read advance reader (author?) copies of the book. Thanks, Vineet Vijayghosh, Jessica Foley Griesbach, Susan M. Baker, Deidre Stokes, Irial O’Farrell, Brett Preiss, Vanessa Wilcox Thurgood, Susy Lee, Rebecca Ewal, LaDonna Goodman, Mari Ki, and Dathen Fairley.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve missed some folks in the above list and in general. That’s the nice thing about web pages. An updated version of the Acknowledgements can be found at https://luxnarayan.com/NPAT-thanks-you (this page, edits not in the book are in bold above ).