Hi!
This is my bi-monthly (used to be once a month, but from now on, once in two months) report on what I am up to.
Before anything else, I must say, the past few days will have to be among the MOST incredible days that I have ever seen. The entire world has come to a literal stop and everyone is suffering. You know, makes me feel lucky that I have had any major incidents, accidents or anything negative like that. The closest that I came to harm is 26/11 when I was still far away in Vashi playing pool with a few friends and terrorists were pummeling parts of South Mumbai. And when I compare myself to others that have been caught in Mumbai floods, communal riots (in Mumbai in the past and now more recently in Delhi), wild accidents and all that, I think I am really really lucky! Though this one may bring me to my knees. Let’s see.
This year has been wretched, to say the least. I think this tweet from a GMMR fan account will sum this up…
2020 was directed by me.— George RR Martin (@GRRM) March 18, 2020
I just hope you and your loved ones are safe, cared for and in comfort. If you can read this, you are among the privileged few that have access to a house, an internet connection and most importantly, the ability to read and comprehend what I am writing.
So, coming to the review for Feb and Mar and the plan for Apr and May (lol :)). To jog your memory, when I do a review, I track progress compared to my yearly goals, life plan and goals. And for the record, three large goals for 2020 are Book 2, a sub-5-hours marathon, a topline of 50 crores.
I have sections for fails, wins, inbetweens, lessons, plan for Feb 2020 and a question.
#fails
- Did a lot of things that did help me make some connections. But none of them were going to contribute to the large goals I have. So the lessons is, I need to pick my battles well!
- Did nothing on the sub-5 marathon goal. I did go for long walks but that’s that. With every passing month, I am realizing that I may have to drop the health goals altogether!
- I was to write 25K words on #book2, had to train to be able to climb 100 flights and had to fix the C4E website. Did none of those 🙁
#wins
- Attended a concert by AR Rahman. While it does not serve any professional goals per se, on a personal level, it is a dream come true to have seen him live. Plus now that I have seen the setup of his concert, it is on my wishlist to do something like that. Assuming I remain in the events business after this COVID-19.
- Along with AD, I published an article on one of the most respected business magazines (it was on my todo list since 2018). Read it at podm.in/ivm.
- Again, along with AD, I am making progress on my first podcast. And the article I talk about above, gave me the thrust required to get the podcast ready. We call it The Founder Thesis and the first few episodes are ready! If not for COVID-19, we would’ve released those by mid-April. In case you wish to listen to those, please lemme know and I will share.
- My #aPicADay has reached 95+ days! Longest I have kept up with something!
#inBetweens (these are neither wins / nor losses)
- I had a little more time this time than other times. And thus I attended a few open mics, at-home concerts, live shows and so on and so forth. I was enamored by the struggle that these performing artists put in. I wish I could do something about those. Any ideas?
- saurabhgarg.com has finally taken shape. Phew! I pestered a friend into teaching me the basics of Elementor and I hacked together a page. A page. Not a website. But after trying with multiple tech-teams and failing at it, I can finally send people to a website!
I will also include things that the lockdown has taught me (though I would write a longer post would happen at some point in time).
- The most important thing has to be the lessons in deliberate practice. Lemme call it Riyaz. I wrote about it in detail here.
- Since we’ve gone in lockdown, I have started a few online courses (the ones that I never had the time for). This one, about learning how to learn stands out. Please consider doing it if you have the time.
- I learned that while I am ok to cook and clean and all that, it ends up wasting a LOT of time. Like 5 hours a day. And then it drains you out of the energy – physical, mental and emotional. I did these for a few days and then found a restaurant that at a steep price is willing to deliver meals to me. So that’s cool.
- I actually like this lockdown. I haven’t been able to step out since this happened but because I am on my own, I am pretty much a master of my time. I would love to maintain this life where I control my time.
What do I plan to do in April?
I am not sure if we would get out of the lockdown and a lot depends on that.
My key work area is events and if lockdown extends another month, the events business is almost as good as gone. And that means I would be jobless and will have to think of an alternate career. And at a time when everything around me would be bad – slow economy, joblessness, too many talented people around that are vying for the same jobs. So, I am not sure how things would play. What do you think?
But what I can do is, control things that I can control. Things like #book2! And the 25K words that I have planned since I was like a kid in diapers! Yeah, on it.
Lemme end this with the best photo that I clicked in the last two months