2020: The year it was

A dive-down into what pushed me to write about the connection between mind, marketing, purpose, and product building.

Hello,

2020 is coming to an end, and all of us are looking towards a fresh start, and for some it’s about fresh resolutions. I don’t believe in rigid resolutions, but I do take a moment to ruminate about the spontaneous new things I discovered because my mind wandered over mid-days or observed random patterns. There’s a joy in those few minutes of listing down those unplanned good stuff that happened to you—from a new skill you picked up to a random good deed someone did for you.

If there’s one thing in 2020 I disciplined, it’s the writing habit. Wish 2021 supports me enough too, and here’s to hoping that, along with a down-the-writing-lane journey:

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Psychology, mind, and product building:

I’ve been obsessed about the human brain and heart (literal anatomy) ever since as a kid, which later extended to interests in neural behavior and analysis via psychology and mental wellbeing. Over the last few months, I’ve been reading as well as trying to jot down my observations around how this psychology has a play in the product space:

-> Psychological nudges too boost product interaction

-> Aristotle & product-market fit

-> Building your mind like you build products

-> Metaphors, mind, and products

Content, data, and marketing:

These three words in the title have enough depth individually to contribute to product building. Working on all of these facets, I’m trying to figure out the increasing relatability of content with marketing, marketing with data, and data with product strategy and customer engagement:

-> 8 content marketing lessons I learned

-> Yours truly, product marketing

-> Democratizing privacy, not data

Purpose and belonging:

Sticking to the values is hard, pushing your limits and going beyond is challenging, and imposters are for real. While I’m still learning to discover (and teach) myself the purpose of many things, I found the long-journey behind two things specifically that are considered as no-brainers—networking in/building a community and understanding why you do what you do:

-> Finding nimbus—networking in a product world

-> It’s time to find the raison raison d’être

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Let me know your thoughts when you read the articles so we could discuss stuff together! Suggestions, beatings, and sarcasm—all to be sent to me (you could email me too!) :)

Going back to the first point—take some time to rewind and relive your positive moments of 2020, as it was positivity and hope that steered us forward this year.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance!

Regards,

Aishwarya Ashok