Amit @NextFive

Basically what I’m focused on at this point in my life.
Inspired by https://nownownow.com/about

Last updated: December 2025

Recently read:

1. I Was Told There’d Be Cake and Look alive out there by Sloane Crosley. Hilariously funny collection of essays form her own life. She’s become one my favorite authors and a fun human I’d have wanted to know.
2. A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers. The most soothing / engaging books I have read in a bit. It says Sci-fi. Don’t fall for it. It’s like travelogue interspersed with dialogue with two friends. Essentially, meditative sci-fi - a category I didn’t know existed. Absolutely recommended if you are looking for a break. Breezy, short reads.
3. Interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I know. At long last. That too, because I happened upon a passage shared by a friend which I liked. Turned out to be from this book. I’m glad I read it though…quite liked the stories and her writing style - especially how she portrays a scene without deliberately drawing your attention to it.
4. Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us y Manu Joseph: Just started this one. Like it so far….good to be with a non-fiction / non-humor after a while.

And watched:

1. Kiki’s Delivery Service from Studio Ghibli: A surprisingly tender, fun movie that feels like summer break, you know. And definitely does not feel like you are watching something from 1986. It’s crazy how good Studio Ghibli was (is?).
2. The Roses starring Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman: Cracking duo. And Screenplay for them to shine. Loved it. The ending…uh…may be?

Also, F1 with Brad Pitt in it, The Family Plan 2 starring Mark Wahlberg and The Electric State starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

Other than that, how have I been?

Currently, reflecting on how the year (2025) has been after from being fantastic. More in terms of directional movement, so to say. And thinking where to head to in 2026. You know, typical year end stuff.

I’m deliberately moving from a 10-year corporate PM career toward creative independence - through writing, building products, and creating community. The focus is on freedom: control over my time, being useful to others, and building things that exist independent of me.

The big three:

1. Writing the book (deadline: June 2026)
   • Practicing more regular writing; Learning Substack with “EarlyNotes” - sharing thoughts on what I have seen working for me; Continuing to use my Hey blog and nextfive.xyz for my other personal writings.
   • Planning to self-publish via KDP / Pothi by June 2026 (ideally after getting a validation of a possible audience)
   • It’s become less about vanity and more about sharing ideas that genuinely helped me
2. Guide app: a personal productivity system I built
   • Just launched v34 with onboarding improvements
   • Testing if people find value in it
3. Learning to earn without a salary (my version of financial independence)
   • Experimenting with different income streams
   • Recently focused on identifying 5 concrete projects to commit 2 hours daily to, starting January 2026
   • Less exploring, more shipping and selling

Why these three? Because I realized I have enough ideas. What I need now is to move from planning to doing, from building to shipping. Dialing down the exploration a notch and starting to focus on exploitation.

Also happening:

• Got on to Substack - my only “social media” thing for now; You can say hello here
• Getting more and more comfortable driving: still working on this skill, especially on driving on hill roads and going for outstation trips
• Building community through the Public Living Room concept: connecting interesting people around ideas and projects
• Getting comfortable with public storytelling - considering TEDx talks and other speaking opportunities.
• Smaller passion projects like PictureThis orToolish; ThePhotos.org is getting less attention for now.