Goals – 922

in2021, I will…

Hello hello!

Time for the annual post. Where I look back at the year gone by and the year ahead. This has been an annual ritual for a few years. To be honest, I may or may not follow it (the excitement of the new year wanes off after a few ~~weeks~~ days) but I always come back to the yearly post when I am down in the dumps and I don’t know what to do with my life. In 2020, I had to do that a lot. So I have seen the utility.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it. I will divide this into sections

A recap of 2020
Some lessons from the year gone by
Grand plans for 2021
Goals for 2021

Further, I will divide each into spheres of life – Personal (P), Social (S), and Work (W). Funny how Work is last. And thanks Vanita for this (and a lot of other things).

Personal is further divided into Wealth, Health, Focus, Hobbies, #lifeGoal
Social into Family, Friends, Strangers, Impact
Professional into Work, Money

So, here we go…

1. Recap of 2020

So, I have this running sheet where I track life as it happens to me. If I go by that, I should have got the following by the time 2020 ended…

At least 20 crores of free cash. Lol.
A 4th passport booklet. If not for the pandemic, maybe I would have had this.
100K followers on Twitter. I have 4K odd as of the last count.
200 blogposts. I wrote 53.

Plus, as per the plan that I made for 2020, I wanted to achieve these three tangible goals…

Book 2. I am VERY FAR from it.
Complete a marathon in under 5 hours. Again, very very far.
Make a business that has a topline of 50 crores. My network is actually negative as I write this.

Even with the pandemic on us, I really think I could have done the first two easily. I had so much time, and at a place where I was fairly comfortable (204, Chitralekha). And yet I did not. I can blame it on the general fuckery happening in life and mindfuckness induced by the pandemic. I can blame it on how I was bereft of inspiration. I can blame it on a million other things but all these would be is blames. I think when I die, I would leave behind a trail of neverending blames. Sigh.

Anyhow.

Here is a month by month recap of 2020. Thanks to YearCompass for the template!

Jan – Went on a trek after ages. Thanks to Shravan. Here’s a pic.
Feb – Saw ARR perform live. Thanks, Kila! Here’s a pic.
Feb – Published a piece on The Ken. Was on my to-do since 2018 at least.
Mar – Did my last event before we went into a lockdown.
Mar – Initiated thePodium.in. This is where we sort of sowed the seeds.
Mar – Cooked for a few days for self. Realized I am inept with a kitchen
Apr – Had to take on debt to survive. The lowest point of my life ever. But then, grateful that I have people that are willing to lend to me. This allowed me to keep my tiny bunch of young warriors going.
Apr – Attended sessions with Anjum Rajabali, thanks to Satyanshu Singh
Jul – Got to learn screenwriting from Boman Sir
Jul – AKG
Jul – Started NFG with AA and PK. This was big because I put myself on camera as a speaker for the first time ever for a public audience. Plus, I got to meet so many incredible people. Thanks, AA and PK.
Aug – Went on a tiny hike with the 5×5 bunch. Here’s a pic for you.
Sep – Successfully evaded the world!
Oct – Took a shot at doing a startup. Couldn’t even get it off the ground despite having a great partner and one of the most sought-after angel investors backing us up.
Oct – Made my will.
Oct – Tried to look for a Naukri and could not land even one interview. The second-lowest point of the year. Realized that the network and connections I take pride in may not be too helpful.
Oct – Thanks to a couple of friends, got back to work. One project got over. The other is still happening. Not, not enough to keep going. But it’s a start.
Oct – Got an opportunity to work very closely with someone who’s made a REAL impact with his work. Can’t talk more about it. Got this opportunity via Parijat. Thanks, Parry.
Nov – Moved houses yet again. More about it is here.
Nov – Spent 3 odd weeks in Delhi. I was in Delhi for this long after ages. Realized the fragility of life all over again and decided that I need to at least become a good son if I am unable to become an entrepreneur. So, will act on it this year.
Dec – Been in Goa for 4 weeks now and so far, I like it. Thanks to Rajesh Sir for the kindness.
Dec – Podium started making money. Thank you, for the kick in the back, Rashi.
Dec – Lost faith in my approach towards creating work (a mere handshake, no contracts, etc). Don’t want to write about it here but the very foundation of how I work has shaken. Here’s some context.

So that.

I am sure I am missing on capturing a lot of other things that are as important. I of course started multiple side projects – Marketing Connect, 1 X 1000, Hero’s Journey, Skinkredible, etc. I could not complete most of those. Plus there are more goods and bads that I am not publishing here. They are part of my YearCompass. Once I have started to fully embrace Living In Public (a large theme for #in2021), I would probably make the yearcompass public. For the time being, I shall let them remain hidden on paper.

So, if I were to sum the year in one paragraph, I would say it was among the worst I had. I lost people I cared for, lost all my life’s savings, lost my reputation. Of course, I am alive (and I am grateful) but that’s about it. Thankfully, I am almost a stoic, and at the rare times when I tend to lean to extremes, I am the glass-half-empty kinds. So, yes I survived. Wish I did more than that. Wish I could affect more things.

Moving on.

2. So what are the lessons that am taking from the year gone by?

Quite a few. Here they are.

A. Need to build a reputation that allows me to walk into a room and tilt decisions in my favor. Right now, despite trying hard, it’s tough to get things to come to me. Most work from what I know is an outcome of great relationships that you create with people. I have traditionally sucked at creating these relationships. Need to work on these.

B. I need to ship. I think I did ship more things in 2020 than I ever did. When you walk into a room, you may have all the charisma but shit will only move if there is some precedence of your work. Plus, a large part of this shipping happened because I had great partners. Need to scale this by taking more shots and shipping more.

C. Need to chase money. Even though a lot of my actions have been guided by money, I’ve hardly chased money per se. Probably this is why it has illuded me all my life. May be it needs to change this year?

D. I am average. I have realized that I am fairly average at things that I do (writing, talking, working) but then, I can be very very persistent with things. I can look at the big picture like no one else. I can imagine possibilities to an extent that no one else can.

So hereon, I can go in two different directions. One, I get better at things. Thing. Choose one thing and give it all that I have. And see where it goes. Two, I can become the most reliable, most consistent, most out there, most approachable, most nice, most human hustler around. This one quality of being reliable is probably what is valued more than anything else.

3. Brings me to 2021, the themes, and the plans.

So these are the broad guidelines and themes on how I will live life going forward in 2021. No, this is not a road map of the action points. But guiding lights. North-star metrics.

Make myself a priority. The thing is, I have lived all my life trying to create opportunities for others. I have always assumed that once they grow, they would support me (you know reciprocation, fairness, etc) but 2020 has taught me that this is not always true. So, in 2021, I will make myself a priority.
Location independence. This may be an outcome of the recent stints in Delhi and Goa but I think I like this idea of not having a base. What if I become homeless? I have been toying with it for a while now but been on the fence – I like my comfort! But this trip to Goa seems to be solidifying it! This also means I will have to reduce attachments to people and material things.
Financial freedom. Need to get back to being debt-free. And then reach a point where I don’t have to make decisions based on economic criteria.
Living in Public. Live an honest, open, transparent, public life. Where my personality, brand, thoughts, actions et al are all authentic, consistent, coherent, and in-sync. I will not have to make pretenses when I talk to people. I will be out there and the world can take a call based on what they see. This is big on my agenda.
Build an audience. Of course, if you have an audience, you can do what you want to. The lesson I have learned from 2020 is that you don’t need to be a movie star to be able to attract an audience. You could be a blogger (no, not the influencer kinds) and yet have an audience. Clubbed with living in public, this could actually be a path to freedom – financial and emotional.

Of course, all those things that I have stood for in life (fairness, openness, giving things the best, being culturally sensitive, creating a positive impact, etc) remain. If during the year, something changes from that list, I will report.

4. And here are the things that I will do, #in2021. AKA, Tangible Goals for 2021

I know that this has to be a tangible list and not all goals for 2021 may have tangibility built-in. I will try to add that variable as much as I can.

Here we go.

A. Brand SG. Personal / Focus

I have been thinking way too hard on this the past few months. Especially during the pandemic. And I know that I need to get this going for me. The trouble is that I don’t know what I want to stand for. There are way too many things that I am way too excited about. I guess like Gaurav Kapil told me, I will have to go thru the pain of letting go of things if I want to be singularly good at something!

Lemme give an example.

As I write this, I am in Goa and I like it here. The trouble is I don’t make money and this is not sustainable. Maybe I will try and find gainful work here and if I do, I will move here. This means I will have to probably quit my dreams to make films? And if I were to make films, I would probably not leave a large impact on humanity! You get the drift?

So, I want to be better known this year. I don’t know how to. And I don’t know what for. Let’s see. For the time being, I think the tangibles could be to become part of LinkedIn’s Top Voice of the year and/or get to 100K followers on Twitter.

B. Get to a debt-free state. Personal / Wealth

The thing is, it is weighing on my head like nothing else. This is the first time I had to take debt after I took an education loan at MDI. I have never taken money for vehicles, houses, holidays, etc. I have taken working capital loans for servicing work. But never a personal debt.

I need to get debt-free. And if this requires me to quit everything and focus on just one, I will do it!

And when I do manage to get debt free, try and create multiple income streams and eventually chase financial freedom.

C. Book 2. Personal / Hobbies

This has been on my annual plans for like 10 years now. This year, I will do it. Come hell or high water. Lol.

Here’s the thing. If I don’t have the book, I will stop calling myself a writer.

D. Run a Marathon Personal / Fitness

Again, something that’s been on my plans for years now. So much so that I have lost bets and bought Vivek a phone (which he did not accept). This year may be. Grinning while writing this cos am sipping onto a Diet Coke 😀

E. A project a month. Personal / Hobbies

I have had this funny notion that apart from all that I do, I need to ship 12 projects this year. Each of these has to be public, shippable, and scalable. And these need to have a monetization opportunity for sure. So that. For example, I could scale NFG. I could build Shumbur.com. I can look at doing smaller things in Goa that allows me to build relationships. I also want to finish all the writing projects that I had started over the years (100 Rejections in a year, 100 Thank Yous, 1 X 1000, etc). And so on and so forth. So that.

While we are the subject of 12 projects, I am extremely excited (and jealous) of Swanand‘s one-year sabbatical project. Do check it out.

F. Learn to dance. Personal / Hobbies

Kidding you not.

I really want to learn.

If not bhangra, then bachata.

And if not that, freestyle. But I have to.

G. Work. Professional / Work

Lol, always at the end!

In terms of work, I am not sure where I’d be in this year. I have been and want to stay a Jack of all trades. But I now see that being a Jack may not lead me to even one of the goals / themes that I have listed above. So I may need to drop everything and focus on one.

But then thanks to the curse of curiosity and mediocrity, I am average at a lot of things and thus find it impossible to choose just one. As of today, I do all this. And more.

I know that I need to probably pick one. But I don’t know what. Or how.

I am leaning towards doing a media piece or get back to pushing the envelope on the events. Not sure. Will update this as and when I have some clarity. I am giving myself till the end of Jan for this. After that whatever catches my fancy the best, I will chase that.

Come on, universe!

4.1 This year on, I will also quit with a few things that I have stayed attached to all my life.

Here is a list…

– Guitar.

No, I was never good at it. I never knew how to play one, except the C chord. I did have the romantic notion of being able to play music like rockstars but I understand that it will not happen in this lifetime. I even tried it during the lockdown but lost interest.

So I am giving up on it. And on Uke. Sorry, Vivek and Krishna. This means I will give em away. If any of you wants it, tell me why should I give you these two things that two of the dearest friends got me.

I may pick it up again if I live long enough. But quitting for the time being.

– sgElectra.

I am ready to move on from it.

Will hand it over to M (of the M&m fame) and she can choose what to do with it.

– Relationships.

No more attachments No more drama. No more putting myself on the sidelines.

4.2 And here are a few things that I want to do for others

This is an incomplete list but I really want to do these things…

Get PM a larger team so that the mission she is on is easier to achieve.
Get SJ a Jag. Among other things.
Get a house to PY.
Get SS to revenue.
Get SG a sustainable revenue source.
Move parents in with me. This means I will have to have enough to have two houses next to each other. And not in Delhi, please. This is the first time I am making this public.

Each of these “get” is essentially me playing a tiny part in their efforts as they work to find their destiny. Plus, each of these people are very very important to me and I need to do whatever it takes to make them happy and all. Yeah, all these are part of Social / Family.

I also want to mentor 100 kids this year (Social/Impact). I don’t know where to find these and what to do with these. Let’s see.

4.3. Finally, here are some moonshots…

Moonshots are those things that would most probably not happen, but I would still gun for those.

Become a venture capitalist (Social / Impact). At a time when every nukkad wala baniya is one. Every kid (that has a rich father) is a VC now. Every professional with more than 10 years of experience is one. But then, I sincerely believe that I can be good with capital allocation, especially in terms of impact. Let’s see.
Adopt an old bungalow and convert it into a cultural hub of sorts that creative people can call home. Maybe replicate it across the world. Like Soho House but far more affordable and far more meaningful. Got inspired by this person. Part of Personal / Curiosity.
Travel to Japan. It’s been on my radar for a while. Now that AD has a place there, I can shack up!
Get a car. May be something that allows me to pack all that I own into it and live on the road for good! Won’t be a bad idea. Personal / Hobby.
Script a film. Personal / #lifeGoal. Lol!

So, that’s about it.

Hope 2021 is the greatest year for all of us. I plan to send quarterly updates on this. Let me know if you’d like to receive these. Till then, over and out.

Oh, in case you need me to help you with any of your yearly plans, please please do let me know.

Saurabh Garg

9 Jan 2021

Goa

PS: I use the following tools this time around: YearCompass (free), Vision Board (a simple document where I pin things that I want to come true. I used to have a physical board, now I have a Google Slides), Jan 1 Sheet (a Google Sheets where I capture all key things in life and it tells me that I have less than 1930 days to go for my top 3 #lifegoals), 2020 page on Roam.

PPS: In case you are curious, here are yearly posts from previous years – 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. I am sure there are documents from 2011 and earlier but I will have to dig hard.

PPPS: No, please don’t tell me that everyone else had a bad year as well. My house does not run on how I fare compared to others.

PPPPS: To be able to do these, I would lean on SJ2. I will have a tracker that lists the process and my adherence to it.

PPPPPS: As always these are very very lofty goals and even if I get to a fraction of what I have documented, I will be sorted in life. So, let’s see.

PPPPPPS: Thanks to Akshay, Vanita, Vivek for reading early drafts of this and helping me think better.

in2020, I will…

This is an email that I sent to a select set of friends and family. Reproducing it here in full. In an attempt to live a more open and accountable life.

I know I know.
I am late.
Terribly late.
On both things – the monthly email that I send to you (so late that I did not even send it in Dec 19) and on the yearly plan for 2020. Will send both today in this one email. And I am publishing this on the internet (on my blog) so that others may use this, should they want to. And hold me accountable. As some of you have done so far!

Recap of 2019
So, 2019. Not the best year of my life. Funnily, neither was 2018.
In Jan of 2019, I wrote this post and made a list of things that I’d do in the year. For ease of reading, here is how it looked like…

I thought hard about each goal before I articulated it. Each goal had a specific reason for inclusion in the list – if I achieved the goal, I would change who I am as a person.

But I missed all of these.
By a large margin. To a point that when I was doing the review, I realized that I aimed way too high. As they say, I shot out of my league.

Which is a good thing.

And a bad thing.

Good – aim for the moon and land among the stars.

Bad – get depressed about the non-achievement.
I’ll come back to this.

On the tangibles, the biggest #win would be that I survived a tough year. I don’t know if it was evident from my lifestream (on the blog, twitter, etc) but it was tough as hell! Multiple reasons – clients did not spend as much with me, some projects failed to take off (Jamoon, Hop197, saurabhgarg.com, Titan Consulting), as an individual I could not deliver on few projects where I was the DRI and so on and so forth. And yet, I survived.

On the upside, I did make a film (and met some of the icons of the performing world), met some really really kind people that now take an active interest in my career (and keep me sane), opened doors to opportunities (that hopefully would get monetized eventually) and (like I said), survived. Oh, and I learned that when the times are tough you are often left to fend for yourself. Everyone is struggling with so much in their lives that they simply do not have the time to think about you!

The biggest #fail would be that I could not grow C4E. It’s stagnating. I could’ve grown the business but I clearly could not. The growth of this one is important because the core business (events and brand) is what gives fuel to all the exciting projects that I am a part of (and allows me to fund those experiments). I need to accelerate that #in2020. Staying on that, the thing that keeps me up is that C4E and all the allied things I do are merely taking things from 1 to 1.3 or something. I am not doing anything in the 0 to 1 space. Or even 1 to 100. I am not adding any tangible, real value to the world. I am not making any dents. All I am doing is doing a different take on what others have done before me. If I were to disappear tomorrow, not one person would miss what I do. Imagine if Apple were to disappear, would you miss what they do? That! I want to do what people at Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other such places are doing. They create new things. They create a 1 from 0. They make that ding in the universe.

Moving on.

Thanks to YearCompass, I did a structured recap of the year gone by. Which was good. I now know where I was fucking up. I did not have a process to achieve the large goals that I was chasing. I do know about systems vs goals thinking but I never implemented a system. 2020 on, I would. You’d see it…

So, in terms of themes, if I were to list a set of reasons for my inability to reach those goals, I would say they would be…

I plan for things out of my league but I do not put in place the processes to deliver those.
I overestimate my ability to do things.
I overestimate my ability to get things done.
Once I solve the problems in my head, I do not want to actually do the hard work of solving those IRL. Thanks AS for helping me articulate this.
I am a great starter. And I like to finish things as well (my finish rate would be mid 20% – which is low and I want to work hard to finish 100% of things that I start). What I suck at is the messy middle. Again, thanks to AS for helping me identify this.
I am more of a ‘react to situations’ person. Rather than being proactive.
I am easy on myself. If I miss a goal, I do not reprimand myself. I do not seek accountability from myself. And if I work with (or for) someone, I do not want to disappoint them and feel accountable for their money / time / inputs. And thus I work harder. Maybe I am not fit for being an entrepreneur?

So, I just need to fix these!

To end the 2019 piece, I’d say the same thing that I’ve been saying all this while – there were a few hits and a few misses but I could’ve done 2019 better!

#in2020
Now, the part that you’ve all been waiting for ;P

The YearCompass that I used to do a recap? It also gave me a framework to think about 2020. Along with that, I used the TinyChange Planner. And between the two documents, I think I have a pretty decent hang of how I want to spend my 2020.

Before I come to specific goals, here are the large themes per se…

I need to put systems in place for each goal.
Like I said, I am more of ‘react to things and situations’ person. Need to fix this. I need to get over my inability to make things happen.
Get more social. And become a magnet. While I do that, I need to become a super-connector (which is a large #sglifetheme) and become reliable (you know, the guy that gets things done, just like The Transporter). This means that I need to become that guy that knows a guy that can get things done. For sure. And while that happens, I need to become that guy that you like!
I need to ACT on getting healthy. May be, start eating meat (this is a touchy topic and more I read about this, more I am indecisive). Start with a workout for sure.

Further, I don’t know where I read but it said that you need to identify that one-word mantra that you could remind yourself time and again about (especially every time you slack). The mantra must make you jump out of the bed when you are in the mood to snooze. I have one for #2020.

Here…

That, ladies and gents is my mantra for 2020. Act.

Every time I am bored or uninspired or not motivated or lethargic or in the mood procrastinate, I would look at this and move to the task at hand. And act.

Armed with all these, coming to specifics, like the previous years, I will chase goals under certain categories – wealth, health, relationships, writing, and others. Of course, I do have a long list (and its almost similar to what I had in 2019), this year around thanks to Tiny Change, I will focus on three goals and three goals only (other things will become side projects). Caveat. The very core of these documents is the tenet that you would focus on a few things. Now, this is unlike me! You know, I am not just a petty thief?

So the three large goals for 2020 are…

Book 2
Complete a marathon in under 5 hours
Make a business that has a topline of 50 crores

Each of these is daunting, exciting, tough, out of the league and so on and so forth. And each of these is definite, measurable, have a binary outcome and is of course timebound. And each of these is in line with what I want to do in life! If I get these, I would be close to the #lifeGoals.

Again, thanks to Tiny Change, I have further divided these three in key initiatives that I must take to achieve. For example, for the book, I need to…

Write 100K words before Jun 2020
Build a community of 100 beta readers that are interested in reading my book
Build my understanding of the art and craft of writing by reading 10 books on the topic

And each of these has further bifurcation (systems!). For example, to build a community, I need to learn by doing multiple experiments. And I have done similar bifurcations for all three large things. And

So, three goals for 2020. Let’s see how they pan out.

And yes, I do have a few other things that I will work on, you know, side hustles. Things like Poker, 100 Rejections, SoG Volume 1, meditation, guitar, etc. And I do have a long list of those – see this. But they will remain what they are – side hustles!

Metrics
While I will track these closely, I also need to put some dashboards and metrics that I can use to understand how I am doing. For example, AS (from above) says that if things are working out, there has to be an uptick in the chart. Say, through the year, my weight must reduce, the money in the bank must go up and so on and so forth. I will chase. RB has been asking me to get access to communities that are closely guarded. This is a binary goal (just like the Marathon is) and it’s either happened. Or not happened.

So that’s that.

End Notes

In the end, like I was talking to a friend, I don’t regret the decisions or the path that I’ve taken in life. But I do regret the ability to act and make things happen. Going forward, I hope to change that. You know, act!

So yeah. That’s 2020. I hope 2020 is where things start to fall in place. Hope the same for you. May the year is full of love, luck, and happiness. May you live long and prosper.

Thank you for reading.

Over and out.
Saurabh Garg
04 02 2020

PS: In case you need help in planning your time and all, happy to help. Please do let me know.

PPS.: In case you are curious, here are similar posts from previous years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

PPPS: Tools I used to arrive at these…

TinyChange Planner. Some 800 bucks on Amazon.
YearCompass. Free.
A few homegrown excel sheets, Asana lists, notes, and notepads. I use free versions of all these apps. Except for GSuite. Happy to share templates. Please do let me know.

PPPPS: The yearly list that I wrote for 2018 was the best ever I think.

PPPPPS: In the words of a friend, I hope we all slay in 2020.

The Balloon Guy

Today, about an hour back (about 10:30), I was walking around Bandra with a friend. We passed a dark alley and in the corner, behind the shadows was lurking a guy who was apparently selling Balloons. He was on a bicycle and there were some balloons hanging from the front of his bike. We looked at him and like every grown up who ignores things as playful and amateur as balloons, we moved on.

However, the man starting pleading to us, in low tones. He said something to the effect that he hadnt sold a single balloon in the day and he wont be able to buy himself dinner. Being a dilliwallah, I ignored his plea and was concerned for my friends’ safety. I herded her away from that dark alley, into the bright light cast by the huge Starbucks signboard up ahead.

We found a rick for her and once I put her in a rick and was walking back, it struck me that the balloon guy must be working real hard to earn his living and it must have taken a lot of balls to be able to ask for alms. And he’s probably worked hard all his life (selling balloons cant be easy), it must be even more tough for him to beg.

Left me wondering that we crave for things like houses and cars and we fight for things like God and idols of stone but we cant find a way to help people like that balloon wala make enough to feed his family. What’s the point of it?

Of course I wont have answers to these issues that perplex the intelligentsia. But I know for sure that that it could be a great purpose in life. To be able to help others upgrade the lives they lead. And how would I do that? I dont know. But I shall find out. I have at least 33 more years to go. And I will work on increasing that as we go along.

Help me on it? Please?

ABCD

Looks like acronyms are in vogue. After the last post on MIA, here is another one. This time, I will talk about ABCD. No, not the movie. But 4 things that I ~~want to~~ do in life. Why do I call these ABCD? Because I suck at naming things.

And since this is my personal blog, the post may appear as a rant on life. And no, dont expect me to come up with nuggets like the days are long and decades short or the seven intelligent fanatics. And dont expect any enlightening talks about how to work and all that. That’s something that I leave for people on Quora and for younger and more established people – which pretty much includes everyone. At my age, you see, most people are younger, richer, healthier, smarter and all that. I am a mere mortal who’s trying to live happily. Ever after. If only sgMS agreed to be a part of the ever after story.

So I am going to talk about things I do. After all that’s the point of a personal blog. These are simple silly things that non-achievers like me do and engage in.

So I primarily spend my time on doing 4 things. These are…

Thing A gives me money.
Thing B makes me happy.
Thing C is future earnings.
Thing D is all the hobbies (poker, guitar, #sleep, #book2 etc).

— Saurabh / SG (@saurabh) July 11, 2015

Let me talk about these for a bit.

A, is my freelancing gigs.
Where I work on event planning, event management, brand strategy, brand planning, marketing strategy, social media strategy and other such things for brands. I do this via my engagement with few agencies. Out of three “live” contracts (irregular work), I have worked with two as an employee and have hired the third as a vendor at some point in time. Lesson learnt? Relationship. Not talent, not hustle. Relationship.

In terms of talent, what I do is questionable. In term of hustle, the effort in put in is questionable. But end of the day, if I am pretty average with what I do and I am happy living in the closed confines of a 1RK shanty in an obscure corner of Mumbai and a third-hand Tata Nano, I can continue to do this!

But is that what I want from life? Isn’t being an illegal immigrant in US and working at car washes at minimum wage better? I think so!

You know, wolf and sheep?

Source: GapingVoid

B, is writing.
It could be a simple act of putting pen to paper. Or keystrokes on a laptop. And even though I may not be any great shakes with what I write. I may think of cliches all the time, I may use simple words to express simple thoughts, I may not able to write flowery language but I definitely am happy when I see words appearing on screen when I let my fingers do their trance-like dance.

In a few years I may realize that I do not have what it takes to be a writer that a large set of people may love to read. But I do know that if nothing else, I shall continue to write this blog. Of course time shall tell.

From my book, The Nidhi Kapoor Story. Did you buy?

Or may be I will continue to write my books with simple plots and simpler descriptions and non-evocative journeys etc.

C, is future earning.
This is where I open opportunities by talking to people, companies, friends, family and strangers. Hoping that they’d hire me some day. Assuming they can afford me.

This is probably the toughest part. In fact last two, three days I have been stuck with this and this is what has been eating me from inside out. I’ve written about this in detail in the past. As I go along, I will talk more about this as I spend a large chunk of my time on this.
Anyhow, when days like this happen one after the another, I tend to go back to pop-culture motivation-porn of Mr. Will Smith. Do see the following video. I hope it is not but even if it is scripted and Will has a team of people working for him, the video is insane.

I can watch it over and over and over.

And Oh, one more thing. Once I am done with this post, I am going to go start my hustle. What about you?

And D, ladies and gents, is hobbies.
This is where I go to recreate (of the recreation fame). Where I unwind. Where I chill. Where I am in the moment. Where I know I want to take a break from A, B and C. Things that include hobbies are poker, guitar, writing (combination of B). For each hobby, I have a tangible goal. For example, for poker, I want to win the WSOP ME some day (which incidentally is happening as we speak and there are two Indian-origin players in the final 101. For guitar, I want to perform on a stage. For travel, I want to do a RTW. For photography, I want to be able to sell my photographs to people for a million dollars and more.

Lofty? May be. Achievable? Yes!

I mean who thought Stu Unger could win WSOP ME three time? And back to back two times?

Stu Unger. The Idol.

So yeah!

These are the 4 things that keep my busy. And, as I leave, here’s a chart that I keep looking at all the time. IF there was a way to clue A, B, C and D, I would be achieve bliss.

No?

Source: Unkonwn. The point? Do things that you love and the world will pay for!

Over and out!

P.S.: Post # 3 in as many days!

Source: The sandcastle baby.

Hello 2014.

Well well well.

2014 is here. And how.

Took me five days to realize that it’s here. And all this when I have been waiting for 2014 for a long long time. 31 years to be precise. Someone of the pandit variety once predicted that I would get rich and famous when I am 31. He made this prediction when I was still young. And since I have waited this long, he better be right.

One of the things that I want to do in 2014, is to get regular with blogging. I mean more regular than the 100 odd times I post. The daily kinds. I may not have interesting things to talk about everyday on this blog but I will talk nonetheless. I want to be a writer and I am nowhere close to being a good one. The only way I’d improve is by writing a lot. For for every 1000 pieces I may write, just about one, or even less, may make the cut in the hyper-competitive and super-cluttered world that we live in.

Other thing would be reduce the amount of time I waste on doing frivolous things. For example, facebooking. I have realized that everyone else on facebook is richer, smarter, luckier and more successful than me. They also seem to know all the celebrities. Some are celebrities by themselves. I could compete. But I’d rather conceded and move out. So, in 2014, I would spend lot less time on FB. Except when I am talking about tnks. Its like a necessary evil that I’d have to live with.

Third thing that I am going to change is to start moving towards a simple and minimalistic life. I know I have this thing for collecting and hoarding things. I love physical greeting cards, collectibles, fridge magnets and other such things. I have saved a lot of these, hoping that someday I would have a home of my own and I would decorate it and fill it with memories. But then as I go along, I know I cant carry all these things with me. I know there is no point living if there are no emotions. I know I am confused. So in 2014, I would start thinking of all these things.

Fourth thing, I’d figure out a way to make money. I have a very large appetite for spending. I am a spendthrift personified. I may claim to love frugal life and all that, I just can not not spend money. I am loving the joblessness. I just need to find a way to foot my bills. Would you know of any rich old kings in need of eligible heirs?

Thats it I guess. Hope 2014 is good to me. Hope I can do these 4 things. Rest I think will follow. And wait. This list is different from this list. Dont ask me how. Thats for you to find out. As a reader. If someone’s actually reading this. You’ve see Gravity? Sandra Bullock alone in space? That!

Thats it for the time being. Enough for the first post of 2014. More ~~as and when I get time~~ tomorrow.

Wish everyone a great 2014. Hope the year brings with it love, luck and happiness. Hope that pandit was correct.

2014. The year that will be.

John Trever. Via Log 24

Its that time of the year. When everyone gets into the rut of making resolutions for the coming new year. And since I am a mere mortal I have to give in to the temptation of making a list and adding more noise to already existing noise.

Here is my list. And if all goes well, by the end of 2014,

I would have published at least one book. Most likely, it would be The Nidhi Kapoor Story.
I would be 30″ in diameter. I am far more than right now.
I would have saved enough to not work for someone else. Enough said.
I would have learnt to code. Atleast code WP plugins and themes.
I would have learnt how to play guitar. At least the 25 most played songs on my playlist.
I would’ve done all the things that I have listed here. This is a private list, in case you were wondering.

And everyday, I would do the following…

Write 1500 words. Towards a book or towards this blog or towards yet another writing project.
Think of ten ideas. As recommended by James Altucher.
Workout for 30 minutes. It could be a walk, a swim, a session of yoga (I attend Yoga Kuteer) or something on similar lines.

And often I would…

Meet strangers. I want to meet one new person a day but I know its tough to do so. I would try to meet at least one stranger a week. I’d call it #meetAStranger or something.
Create and put out a new project once a month at least. This could be a business, could be a text, could be a blog etc. I think I would work on all those ideas that I have saved on my parkedIdeas tag.
Read a book every week. I will use tips from this Farnam Street post to help me reach my goal.

Thats all I want to do. In 2014.

Come to think of it, at my age, when I should be changing the world and making the dent et al, here I am, trying to write a book. Sigh. But then I guess I need to take small steps towards greatness. The endeavor to make the dent remains. Like Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and I would move the Earth”, I will move the Earth. If I dont get the lever, I would make one. But there is no doubt I would.

That’s it I guess. Wish everyone a very happy new 2014. May the new year be full of health, love, luck and happiness.

P.S.: To arrive at this list, I have taken inspiration and lifted ideas from the likes of Steve Pressfield, James Altucher, Chris Guillebeau, Farnam Street and others.

P.P.S.: Need to stop using all the extra “And”s.

Hastags for Feb 2013

Here is a long list of things that I’d do in Feb 2013.

#running – because I will take this up as a serious hobby. Thanks to @GurgaonCynic and Raj Sharma for inspiration. And thanks to Mrs. Neo and the bglsr team for the push.

#bridge – I shall try and learn a new card game apart from poker. Thanks to Arpit for the invite. While I talk about Bridge, I may goto Goa to participate in some poker tournament as well. After all poker remains a long term objective

#writing – I will finish Ghanta Ghar. If I do, I’d blame it on @Anaggh for the idea. And @Suds for inspiration.

#gravity – work. Would you know of someone who may need a vendor for marketing support services?

Thats about it. Four things. In this new year (#sg2013) I shall try and do small things, rather than plan for grandiose mansions and then not even put a brick in place.

Goals for Feb 2012

When I started this year, I told myself that I would make this the most special year of my life. The way I have spent January, I dont think its going to happen. And since I am desperate about it, I have to do something about it. Of all the ways that I thought could help me, I thought if I’d break things down into smaller units, it would be easy to work on and easier to track. So these smaller units would be…

One 1000 word essay/post/article every alternate day. 3 in a week. So far I have been able to write regularly this year. Just need to continue the momentum.
Traction of the projects that are occupying your head. ODID, MWL, OffbeatMag, SG.com etc. By end of feb, either get a direction/clarity on these or you shut these down. At least you’d know what you need to chase.
Sort other shit thats cluttering your head. This includes work, stuff at home, fitness, #sgMS etc. Unless the heads clutter free, dont think I’d be able to do much.
Since the days ahead look packed in terms of travel, need to understand a few ways that could help you catch up on information (as there would be lot less reading). One of the ways could be follow relevant twitter users and rely on the maxim that information that you must know, will find its way to you. Another way could be to stop chasing gossip on twitter and stop indulging in idle chit chatter. Need to fix this.

Ya, this is it. Aint not much in terms of tangibles but if I could get these sorted, they would help me go a long way.

August – 2011

August 01, 2011

Beginning of a new month. And like all new months (and years), something inside me tells me to create a goal list. Goals and I go back very long. I have been making lists since 1947 and I haven’t been able to finish a single list, since 1947! What a coincidence. Anyways, as they say, “koshish karne wale ki kabhi haar nahi hoti“, today while driving to work, I decided that I would make a goal list for this month. Rather than making long plans that never fructify, I will make small, measurable

So here are the goals for August.

Write at least one blog post each day on this blog. I do maintain a few other blogs (all of them as not famous as this one) and though I do update them occasionally, they dont give me as much pleasure as this one does. So the goal is, to update this blog, atleast once each day, for rest of the month.
Stop eating out. I have been maintaining a rather complex excel sheet that keeps track of where my money is going. My top three expenses each month, month on month, have been Misc (this is where all my gadgets, gifts etc go), Petrol and Eating Out. I know I cant stop buying gadgets. I know I have to buy fuel to be able to reach office (my office does not pay for my travel. Boss, are you reading this?). And I can easily cut down on the Eating Out bit. It will save me some money (which I desperately need) and help me reduce weight (again, I desperately need to do that as well). All the coffee shops in and around Delhi would hate me for this but a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.
Travel. Thankfully, my work makes me travel a lot. But then travel is one of those things that a man cant have enough of. If all goes as planned, I am supposed to goto Goa and Mumbai this month. Both trips are for work but I will try and squeeze in some bit of personal travel post the Mumbai trip. So anyways, the resolution is that each month, I have to have to make one trip (of at least two nights) somewhere that is not related to work.
Secret. Jevgr n obbx ol raq bs guvf zbagu. Gbbx vafcvengvba sebz uggc://jjj.anabjevzb.bet/ naq znxr Nhthfg zl Abiry Jevgvat Zbagu. Gb or ubarfg, ba qnl 1, V qbag ernyyl unir n fpevcg be n cyna. Ohg V jvyy jevgr n 50, 000 jbeqf. Naq yvxr Zngg (Phggf, bs gur Tbbtyr snzr), fnlf, qb rirelguvat va fznyy fgrcf naq V jvyy jevgr 1650 jbeqf rirelqnl. Hint: Rot13.

And thats about it. If there is more, I shall add on here. Or maybe push them to September. Right now, let me try and close these 4.

May 2009: Goals and Output. And bits of miscellany.

I have been away form all kinds of blogging (except twitter and occasion spam on JFK) for last week. I dont know why. Last week was actually one of those few times when I did some heavy soul-searching. Without any benefit …

Not that I dint have opportunities. I went on this bike ride till Pune but again dint want to publish it. I put my bike on my website and twitter. I dint publish that. I made few cartoons (on the lines of Slog_More()), dint publish them either. Then I discovered this band caled Faridkot from Delhi. They do Hindi rock and are very good. I meant to blog about them but I did not.

I dont know why. I think I was living in some kind of an orb. More I try getting out of it, more dragged into it I get.

I am having this hard time understanding myself. This is one of those rare moments when I am ranting my true emotions and all. Please ignore the rhetoric.

Anyways, here is the monthly post on Goals and what I did about them. I had two simple goals for May. Start wearing shoes (that implied buy them and get used to them) and start writing the book (this implied stat re-writing the book that I started about six months back). Ladies and Gentlemen, I did neither. No, I am not proud.

And coming up in some time … is goals for June 2009.

May 2009: Goals!

In April this year, I started this monthly series of posts, called Goals. I will write on paper what I want to do/achieve in the coming month. I cant plan for the future. Leave alone thinking of 5, 10 year goals. Max I can do is think ahead like a week. Thinking ahead for a month is a way to try and do better. Also, Month is a good quantum of time to make realistic goals. I cant really get a lot of things done in a week. A year looks like an eternity. And hence a month.

Also, I have realized that I need to be able to measure my progress and I need measurable and frequent gratification (in terms of results and achievements, howsoever small they are) for my efforts. With these monthly goals, I can see sucess/failure very soon. BTW I am not only moved by success alone. I take failure with similar spring in stride. I need results. Something that gives me feedback.

Finally, I hate when output of my effort has to depend on too many external factors. I understand I need to be able to work with others and everyone has their limitations (of time, brains, efforts, motivation et al). My monthly goals are mostly personal in nature right now. Would try to extend them to work eventually.

So, monthly goals sound like a good idea. And here I am implementing them. Anyways, coming back to the goals, when May 2009 would end, I would have

Started wearing shoes. Not that I see any benefit out of it but I think I will.
Started on the book.

Thats about it. Small list for May. Lets see how it goes. BTW, this is the goal list for April 09. And this is how I fared on it.

April 2009: Goals and Output.

Off my April 2009 goals, I did …

Bought the bike. I got it on 15th April 2009. It is a Royal Enfield Bullet Eletcra 5S. I paid a fortune for it (considering my cash flow) but I am happy I did and got over it. I had been thinking about it for a long time now.
Restarted blogging on SaurabhGarg.com. I did. I call my new blog “Questions. And Answers.”. Why and how is here.

And I did not …

Learn to juggle 4 balls: I can do only three. I did not get to the 4th ball. Dint get time to learn the fourth ball. Actually lost the motivation to move on the 4th ball.
Do Twitter Clone: Given up without writing a single code. I have left the blog the way it is. I dint even check with kAgE if he did anything about it. Knowing him, it is improbable that he would have done it.

Neo pointed out that I have done things that I could have bought with money. Things that required me to work, put in effort, I dint do anything about them. This will have to change starting May.