Mosaic Signals 001

Ideas, tools, and concepts that sharpen thinking

Hi Reader,

It’s Hari. Mosaic Signals are mid-cycle updates between our twice-monthly flagship pieces. High signal, less polish, and improvisation. Thank you for going along for this ride with me.

A. Tax season has me looking at last year’s expenses. They went up. They always go up. Not because we decided to spend more. Because we never decided not to.

Zero-based budgeting rejects that entirely. Every expense justifies its existence from scratch. No autopilot. 3G Capital made it famous at Kraft Heinz (yes, the Ketchup!). Every department, every dollar, defend it or lose it. They stripped the company to the studs.

What if you applied that to your life? Not “how do I adjust what I already do” but “if I were designing this from scratch today, would I choose this again?”

The job. The habits. The commitments you inherited from a younger version of yourself.

Anything that wouldn’t survive that question is legacy overhead.

Try it. Pick one area of your life and zero it out. What makes it back in?

B. Last week, a friend and I nearly came to blows over whether the Giants have a real shot this year. Voices raised, stats flying, neither of us budging. Then we ordered another round.

We already know how to disagree well: sports, pizza, movies. We go back and forth on what we know, what we don’t, what we love, and what drives us crazy. We don’t belittle someone for backing the wrong side. In fact, we cheer them on for being loyalists. And when the final whistle blows, we share a drink.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped extending that courtesy to politics.

Maybe those conversations need a final whistle too.

C. When I was building Periodikal, I’d get anxious about asking. For advice. For a follow-up. For anything that felt like imposing.

Nobody was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about me.

Always ask. Always follow up. Silence isn’t a no.

Thanks,

Hari