👋🏾 I’m Avthar Sewrathan
I use technology to empower people. I also write and host a podcast.
This website documents my journey from small town South Africa, to the Ivy League, and now the world of technology startups in the USA, specially building products that serve software developers.
If you’re someone who’s always learning, curious and wants to live better, you’ll love my weekly email. It’s where I share practical wisdom about self mastery, entrepreneurship, health and happiness.
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I’m passionate about Self Mastery, Entrepreneurship, Health and Happiness
Here’s my most popular ideas on each topic:
🏆 Self Mastery
How to Find Your Strengths — Awareness of your strengths helps you maximize your impact. Here’s the Ultimate Guide on how to find your strengths, using the frameworks of reflection and finding your Reflected Best Self, with 15 questions for you to reflect on, step-by-step guides and resources to get you started
How to find your Dream Job — Finding fulfilling work is a challenge of modern life. We want work that's financially lucrative, but also stimulating and purposeful. Here are 3 frameworks to help you find fulfilling work.
The Ultimate Guide to Josh Waitzkin — How do top performers become the best in the world? This is the question which Josh Waitzkin’s life and work will help you answer.
🚀 Entrepreneurship
The Founder Mentality — I took the leap to start a company as my first ‘real job’ straight out of college. The experience was exciting, scary and, at times, exhausting, but it equipped me with the most important mindset for success in business and in my career: The Founder Mentality.
Don’t Outsource Your Thinking — This is the biggest mistake I see young founders make. I even made it myself as a first time founder. Avoid this at all costs.
Startups and Self Awareness — Self Awareness is knowing who you actually are, what you’re good at and being at peace with it. It’s the key for budding entrepreneurs to create wealth and win.
💪 Health
The Caveman Transformation — Here’s how I lost 52 lbs (24 kgs) by embracing the “Caveman mentality” and made health and fitness a cornerstone of my life.
How to Program Your Mind for Fitness — If getting unhealthy is effortless, can getting healthy be effortless as well? The answer is yes, but the secret isn’t an exercise or a diet. It starts in the mind. Here’s the advice I learned from champion MMA coach Firas Zahabi on getting fit and staying fit for life.
Top 5 Episodes of My Favorite Podcast on Health and Fitness — This is definitely not your average bro-science meathead podcast. Julien, along with co-host Tyler, host Strongfit, a podcast about health, fitness, nutrition and training, but through the lenses of biology, neuroscience and practical philosophy. Here’s my top 5 favorite episodes.
🙏 Happiness
Self Worth and Mental Health — Conditional self-worth is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy about being yourself until conditions outside your control are met.
Focus on What You Can Control — Focus on what you can control. Accept everything else. This and 6 other takeaways from The Manual by Epictetus (aka Enchiridion). It’s a book that transformed the way I think about living a successful and peaceful life
The Internal Scorecard — Here’s a life hack I learned from Warren Buffet: Live with an internal scorecard, where you decide what’s important to you and live life according to your values.
About Me
🇿🇦 Born and raised in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
🔭 🧲 As a child, I loved science. I went on to represent South Africa at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) and International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO)
🇨🇷 My life changed when I was 17: I moved across the world to live and learn with 150 other young, ambitious people from 70+ countries at United World College Costa Rica (UWC) without knowing a word of Spanish.
🐯 🎓 I studied Computer Science at Princeton University
💻 Current work: I’ve spent a half decade at database startup Timescale, working on Product, Product Marketing and Developer Advocacy. Here’s some of what I’ve learned.
🔐 Previous work: From my college dorm room, I co-founded and built Afari a social network that gave people more privacy and ownership over their data. It was funded by a premier crypto fund.
🔴 Favorite football team: Manchester United
😂 Favorite comedian: Trevor Noah
🗽Current City: New York City