Category: #inLife

Hello April / Monthly Review – Feb and Mar 2020

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. 

Here’s the recap for Feb and Mar 2020.
I have sections for fails, wins, inbetweens, lessons, plan for Feb 2020 and a question.

#fails 

  1. 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!
  2. 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! 
  3. 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

  1. 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. 
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 
  4. My #aPicADay has reached 95+ days! Longest I have kept up with something! 

#inBetweens (these are neither wins / nor losses)

  1. 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?
  2. 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! 
#miscNotes / What did I learn this month?
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).
  1. The most important thing has to be the lessons in deliberate practice. Lemme call it Riyaz. I wrote about it in detail here.
  2. 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. 
  3. 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. 
  4. 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. 
#inApr20
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. 

***
So, that’s about it for the update. As always, thank you for your time and attention.

Over and out! 
09 04 2020

FEEDBACK. Should you want to give me anonymous feedback on this email or anything else under the sun, please use this form – https://forms.gle/28bVP8DYz2WGdHdp8. And yes I do get not-so-kind inputs. Brutal and honest feedback is the best feedback.

PREVIOUS UPDATES are here…
2019 – Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2020 – Annual Goals, Jan, Feb-Mar (this post)
Thank you for your patience. It is not an easy task to survive these long emails! 
Lemme end this with the best photo that I clicked in the last two months

Hello February / Monthly Review – Jan 2020

February of 2020 is here! Time does fly!

This is how I spent Jan 2020. I know you may not be interested, but I like the idea of keeping the universe accountable. Plus, the review would tell me if what I did in the month is helping me reach my yearly goals (and eventually, life plan and goals). For the record, three large goals for 2020 are Book 2, a sub-5 marathon, a topline of 50 crores. 





Here’s the recap for Jan 2020.
I have sections for fails, wins, inbetweens, lessons, plan for Feb 2020 and a question.

#fails 

  1. We did not do a single meetup for the Mastermind group. I plan to fix it by pushing the existing group and creating a new mastermind group. Also, I need to think that if these keep failing (this was my third attempt), then may be I am doing something wrong? 
  2. Lost a VERY big deal that could have catapulted me in the next league. I did everything I could (saam, daam, dand, bhed and more) and yet I did not get the project. But thanks to this, I have started to maintain a list of failures (that I will look at every time I feel great). 
  3. I could not follow a schedule that I would like to. I was traveling a lot more than what I typically do for a speculative assignment that I have taken. The assignment propels my brand forward and thus is an important one. I thought about it and I realized that I am unable to manage time because I don’t have a place to work out of. 
  4. Did nothing (apart from a trek) to further the sub-5 marathon goal. 

#wins

  1. Went on a trek to Mahuli Fort. This is the first trek that I have done in years and it was tough! but I am glad I made it to the top. And more importantly, I came back! Thanks, SK for this. 
  2. Got myself a place to work out of (at a co-working space). With this, I’ve fixed #Jan20F2. Plus the place is like 500 meters from where I live and is open 24×7. I will now get into a schedule of sorts. And as I expand things, I plan to work out of this place irrespective of work, ideas, people. Unless I take up a different gig! 
  3. Launched Podium sometime in the last year (with AD) but it has started to sputter to life. The first thing that we do under that is a weekly newsletter (PLEASE SUBSCRIBE). We’ve sent three editions and response has been encouraging. Need to scale it in Feb. 
  4. I have reached 35 days on my #aPicADay challenge.
  5. I successfully implemented an indexing system for notes, thanks to DB. I am now trying to implement a color-coded life tracker (thanks, Visa). There’s this joke that my friends make – I spend more time tracking things than actually doing those! 

#inBetweens (these are neither wins / nor losses)

  1. I got invited to pitch to a project that I could’ve taken on, put on the slow burner and made some trickles once in a while. But I chose to charge a large sum for it upfront and then, nothing happened! Which is ok. I want to be paid worth my time. 
  2. I need to control my obsession with tabs on a browser window. I have like 100 tabs open at any given point in time. And the worse thing is that I don’t even know what to do with those tabs – after all, its inhuman to pay attention for that long! 
#miscNotes / What did I learn this month? 
I think I got lucky in Jan. I have three tailwinds that have helped me do better than most months…

a, I moved to a place that is a little more accessible for inter-city travel. I can now meet people in a reasonable time. Where I lived before this, I had to travel for 3 hours to even get a meeting. As a result, I was letting go of a lot of opportunities. And I was wasting time, money and energy with it.
Lesson? Always live at a hub. Even though it’s expensive and all that, the money is worth it. 
b, I got to partner with AD on Podium. The great part of working with him is that he is very numbers, insights kind of person (and I am very intuition kinds). So I am learning the other side of things. Plus he is meticulous (faaaaaaar more than me) and of course, focussed (even a Goldfish is more focussed than me). So that is helping! Plus now that I am accountable to him, I am putting in the extra effort to get things done.
The lesson here is that I work better when I have partners that push me! Need to find similar people as I go along. 
c. Within the Podium umbrella, AD and I are trying to write a journalistic piece on podcasting. And that is allowing me to meet a lot of people at the leadership levels. And that’s awesome! I need to make a process that allows me to write more pieces and thus meet more people. In fact, the thesis that I had when I started PPP and TRS is getting validated with The Podium.
Lesson? Create / own / work / whatever with a media brand! And if possible, invest more on such “media” platforms! 

#inFeb
Here are the things that I will get done in Feb 2020. Again, these need to be in sync with the yearly goals.

  • Write 25K words on book2
  • Start climbing stairs. Do 100 flights a day
  • Fix the C4E website 
Apart from these three, I will continue to try and be better every day. I will try and continue to upload a pic every day, deep dive into the Messy Middle and try to eat better. 
What am I thinking about? Alert: Rant Ahead!!!
So, apart from this regular mundane work thing, I am struggling with this idea of impact. I wrote about it initially here.

…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.

So, the deal is, I run C4E – an events and marketing consulting business. Now, like I said, anyone in the world can create this business. There is not one thing that I do that is irreplaceable. No, I don’t chase immortality (though I would love to not die, ever) but I do want to do meaningful work. Work and things and output that gives happiness, validation, comfort, peace, inspiration, platforms and other such things to a billion people. And more, if possible. And I have no clue how to go about doing that. What I do gives a handful of the above-mentioned things to a handful of people. And that is not enough. I believe I have what it takes to deliver all of that. But I don’t have the platform! Neither do I know how to build such a platform. And worse, while what I do is interesting, it may not lead me to that goal. There is no large mission that I am a part of. And I do not know how to get there. The world needs to be the oyster and yet, today, I am limited to like Veera Desai road! 

I often wonder about Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Paul Graham and Sam Altman and Adam Grant and Aswath Damodaran and all that. When did they realize that they have what it takes to inspire generations and generations? When did their work move from operational to the inspirational zone? How did the transition happen? What ticked them in the direction? How did they learn so much that they could make things happen at their businesses AND do more things at the same time? Who helped them? How do they work? Do I have it in me to become like them? And if not, do I quit the hopes of helping others and get settled in a comfortable 9 to 5? At least I can enjoy the riches that the world has to offer! 
And finally, am I the only one that grapples with this challenge? Because I see people around me very happy with what they are wading in! 
Would you have answers? 
Sigh! 

Rant Over! 
***
So, that’s about it for the update. Do let me know if you want me to look at anything else. 
Over and out. 
4 Feb 2020

FEEDBACK. Should you want to give me anonymous feedback on this email or anything else under the sun, please use this form – https://forms.gle/28bVP8DYz2WGdHdp8. And yes I do get not-so-kind inputs. Brutal and honest feedback is the best feedback.
Wish to UNSUBSCRIBE? I understand that you may not want me to clog your mailbox. So, should you want me to stop sending this once-a-month email, please do tell me. I promise to not get offended.
PREVIOUS UPDATES are here…
2019 – Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

PS: To track these (like I said, I track more and do less), I use the following tools…

  • I follow the Maker Day – Manager Day philosophy.
  • I use tags extensively and I tag everything – mails, tweets, notes even when I write with a pencil. And I ensure that the names and styles are consistent. Sometime in the future, this would become a really big differentiator. Information archiving is easy. Retrieval is a pain. 
  • Asana – I use the free version. To track tasks etc. 
  • Google Calendar to schedule meetings etc. 
  • Toggl – this is a paid app but I use the free version to track time on Manager days
  • A 15-min interval calendar – template here. I take a print of this on my Maker days and list all tasks. And then I track every 15 min. The idea is to reach a point when I can start tracking 1-hour long slots. 
  • A combination of Evernote, Miro, Notes app on Mac, a physical notepad, post-it notes, numerous spreadsheets and don’t know what all. With time I want to move to just one online tool and one notepad. I don’t know the optimal solution. But let’s see. Plus, I am thinking, once I reach a certain stature and stage, would I need to minutely manage my time/life? Not sure! What do you think?  
  • Lately have started to use Roam to catalog thoughts. Let’s see how it goes. And In Feb, I will try to use Notion to create hyperlinked content. Again, not sure if I would continue to use it. Let’s see where it goes. 
PPS: Going forward, I will use the above format (have culled the number of things I am doing drastically to be able to reach three large goals for 2020) to report how the month went by was. 
PPPS: I, of course, need to give you an update on the tasks that I planned for Dec and Jan (since I did not do the planning for Jan). Here is an update on what I had planned…

  • a. Work on #book2. I started working on this. Not full-steam though. I’d give this a C. 
  • b. Start running. I could not. Been trying since Oct. But I did take some actions on trying to get fitter. So, C. 
  • c. Get saurabhgarg.com up and running. The site is up but I don’t like it. So, a D.
  • d. Do a one-month reading deep-dive into one specific topic. No action. So, an F.
  • e. Work towards creating a business that takes me beyond India. Worked hard on it and yet it’s not showing me the results. Attempt – yes, the outcome – no. So, a C. 
  • f. Renew focus on C4E. No action. F. 
  • g, fix my planning process. Did! Not quite an A but a B for sure! 
Oh, like I said, going forward, I will not have more than three goals for the month that I will track / chase. If I manage those 3, I will add more. But three is what I would plan for! 
And with this, ladies and gents, over and out! 
Thank you for your patience. It is not an easy task to survive these long emails! Lemme end this with the best photo that I clicked in Jan 2020…

#untitled – 111119 (on Andheri)

I don’t know what to write. There is a lot to be done – both in terms of what people expect from me (reverts, etc) and what I expect from myself (proactive work). But I am not in the frame to do either. Well, the frame is a funny thing. On one hand, you want to make your mood your bitch and get it to act as and when you want it to function. And on the other, you want to succumb to the vagaries of mood and give in. After all, that is what being human is. No? Anyhow. Here we go. 

So, I’ve just moved to a new locality within Mumbai (Andheri West). Even though I have been on and off in Mumbai since 2007, this is the first time that I am living in this part. The first time when I was here, I lived in Santa Cruz. Then I was in Nahar (Chandivali), Bandra, and Ghatkopar. Never in Andheri. I don’t know why. Thing is, my choice of houses has always depended on proximity to work and to friends. There’s no third leg. I’ve always sought familiarity and convenience over everything else. And that has meant that a lot of things that you would expect when you change a house haven’t happened to me. The best example? Hunt for a maid! Every time I have moved because I have been close to a friend or something, I’ve had references. If I am in trouble, most times, someone is a hop, skip or a jump away.

Not this time.

The place where I have moved to, I don’t know anyone. The only thing familiar is an McD, about 500 meters from my place. And a Starbucks about a KM from my place. And because these places are close by, since I’ve moved here (about 2 days now), I am walking over. And walking a lot in general.

These walks are reminding me of the time I’ve spent in unfamiliar locations in new cities in strange countries. Just that I don’t have Dipanker next to me. And I don’t have an event that I am supposed to execute. But everything else is the same. New place. New experiences. New things to ogle at. New questions. And the quest to find new answers. As I walk in these new lanes, I marvel at the sights and sounds and smells and people around me. Yes, they are Indian, as Indian as you get. But there is something about the place that is different from all the other places that I have lived in Mumbai. Oh, that’s the thing about Mumbai. Each pincode offers you a distinct flavor of life.

Ghatkopar is upper-middle class Gujju. That means, “modern outlook with traditional values” and other things like that. Could also mean nouveau riche but you never know. May be they were rich even back then when Ghatkopar was not what is it today? 

Powai is expats and expat kinds. That means people who have fancy jobs that allow them fancy lifestyles. The kinds they would have in a different country. You know, cobbled streets, running clubs, gardens et at.

Bandra is cool and modern. That means that any new revolution, a new spark would first get ignited at Bandra and then spread to other parts. I think if you traced back the origins of Avocados, Keto, Kombucha and other such things, you’d end up in one of the tiny lanes in Bandra.

Andheri, ladies and gents is what the maya nagri is all about. The city of dreams. The city that never sleeps. Where everything is possible. You could be hoping to land a job at a radio station and you can become the biggest superstar the world has seen. You could be beach-hopping searching for the love of your life and you’d find her on the very last beach of that day. And then you’d conquer the Bollywood. You could sleep on the floor of cafes for years and then catapult to stardom overnight. You know, this where you could be that bhagwaan in an instant. Your greatest success is just an accident away. And from whatever I know, accidents routinely happen around here. In fact, I think one ought to pick the place they live at, things they do to maximize the number of unplanned interactions with others in the same interest areas. You want to be an actor? Live in Andheri. Want to be a painter? Bandra. A start-up? Powai!

Coming back. Everything written about the magic of Mumbai, I suspect, is applicable to Andheri. Charm could be Bandra. Heritage could be Colaba. Fashion could be Bandra. But Magic has to be Andheri. And nothing else.

Now, I am just about 2 days old here, a tad delirious (I haven’t been sleeping well – there’s no AC at home) and little lost (people are still unfamiliar). I will explore more in the next few days. Let’s see if I can discover what makes Andheri this unique melting pot like no other. In Mumbai. Or may be in India.

Till then, over and out!

Oh, one more thing. Should you have stories that you think are uniquely Andheri, please do share those with me. I am at @saurabh.

PS. The biggest superstar does not live in Andheri. But his life, his story must’ve inspired a disproportionately large chunk of men and women and others to move to Mumbai, to Andheri. Hoping they’d get a step closer to their dreams. 


PPS. This move to Andheri is unique for me because this is the first time I am not doing it for my work or for a friend. Something in me had rebelled against I don’t know what and I wanted to sort of restart my life from scratch. This move is the closest that I could do to erase, undo, delete my previous life. No, I can’t stop with C4E or AWSL. No, I can’t hit that reset button. But I can start. You know, today’s the first day of the rest of your life? That. Ok. I don’t even know what I am talking about. Over and out. Do lemme know what you think of this piece. 

Hello, September!

I send a monthly letter to a few people that have helped me grow in my career. This is a slightly edited version of this. If you want me to add you to this list, please do let me know.

Hello, September!
Hi!

This is Saurabh and this is the September version of my monthly emails to people who care 🙂 In case you forgot what I wrote in August, it’s archived here.

August was long and yet it flew away faster than the fastest Bullet Train that has been promised to us Indians. August was faster than you can blink. I mean I couldn’t even read and respond to your emails and the month had gone by!

I will talk about what I did in August, but before anything else, thank you!

Really.
Thank you! 

For being around.
For helping me when I was in a soup.
For tolerating these emails.
Even if you don’t read these, the thought that you are reading these emails keeps me going. You know, Eklavya?

So, in August, I had said I’d do the following…
a. Finish Show Bible for my second book
No, I did not do it.
I tried. I could not.
It is taking longer than I expected. I did put in the effort and yet it is far from the finish. It is taking me longer. I will work on this in September as well.

b. Lose 1 inch from my waist.
I did this one.
Yay!
Thanks to a combination of a lot of things – sleep, tracking what I eat, mindful snacking, a 3-day fast to get into the healthy habit and walking more than what I would typically walk. And a lot of effort from BR on helping me understand the importance of food.

I want to lose another inch this month. Even though I am on the road a lot this month, I am hoping to add running / brisk walk to my fitness regimen this month on. More on this in a bit.

c. The other notable things that happened in the month of August 2019 are… 

  • #tnks (my first book) got shortlisted at the South Asian Film Market at Singapore South Asian International Film Festival. Was a big deal for me. I hope it gets picked up and gets converted into a film. If it does, it will be a step closer to where I want to be as a writer. Also, when I was in Singapore, I understood how much harder and smarter I need to work to be able to reach where I want to be! I learned a lot and I was left humbled. I even wrote a short post on it. If you are curious, you may read it here.
  • Bin Bulaye, the first short-film I co-produced with a couple of people is now ready for release. This officially makes me a filmmaker that has shipped some content and marks the start of my career as a filmmaker. The next step is another short and then after a series of such steps, someday, an actual feature. Oh, for the next short, I am raising money. In case you know people who want to fund indie, short films, do connect. Please note that “investing” in a short film does not give any returns per se – so these are risky “assets” (the largest return you’d get is bragging rights). And if you want an esoteric answer, as a filmmaker (or a creative individual), you do these things and put your life and money and effort and blood and toil and everything else into the art to be able to open the eyes of people who’ve shut them tight. Indie films allow you to do that.
  • Launched Hop197.com. Hop197.com will chronicle the journey of a dear friend Sujoy and his wife as they attempt to become the most-traveled couple from India. So far they’ve been to 120+ countries. I am helping them put the website and a partner in the online piece. Let’s see how it goes.
  • Gave my first paid-for talk on a stage to an audience of 100 odd people. On branding and storytelling. And oh boy, what a bad job I did there! I need to work hard on my presentation skills. I am thinking I will join some acting school or something to improve how I talk and how I conduct myself on stage. Thankfully the presentation I made at Singapore about my book was pretty cool. Phew!

So, September.
In this month, I plan to work on the following…

a. Show Bible for the second book
Been on this since August 19.
It is taking longer and from what I’ve seen, it will take more than just a month 🙁
So, even though I will gun for a finish in September, it may stretch into October. Let’s see.

b. Start running
Not walking, not jogging. Running.
This means that I need to be able to 4 kilometers in 30 minutes.
I know it is not fast. But that is what I hope to do. To start with.
If I can do this, in October, I will add weights to my training regimen.


c. Get saurabhgarg.com up and running
I’ve always wanted to have a home for all that I do and think and play with and all that.
I’ve had the domain name for a while but never cared to work on a website.
In Sep, I will.
And along with the website, I will stop underselling myself and start marketing myself.
No, I don’t want to go overboard but I want to be known a tad more. After all the size of opportunities you get is a function of the number of people you know! This thing about being known more has got reinforced after the trip to Singapore. In fact, I ran an experimental survey where I asked people to tell me what they think of me and this is what they had to say. Not really in the zone that I want people’s perception to be about me, but it is a great starting point.

d. Do a one-month reading deep-dive into one specific topic
I plan to read about one topic in as much depth as I can. And then try to put a blog post about it. For example, can I read A LOT about whatever Warren Buffet has said (and see all his videos) and then catalog them into a nice note that can be a primer for others? Much like what Tim Urban is attempting about “everything“. Or what Julian did for writing, muscle, and growth. And of course, I will continue to read about a wide range of things, apart from this one thing. I just need to find a subject. If not Warren, then maybe I’d read about crypto. Or about what Jeff has said? What do you think will be in demand in times to come?

e. Work towards creating a business that takes me beyond India
The intent is to go global and have reduced dependency on the motherland for my survival and growth.

And why would I do that? Long story. I’d write a post about it someday.

But help me. I can straddle between digital marketing, events, and strategic marketing. If you know of opportunities, would love to pitch in. And apart from that, please do tell me what other things could be done that take me beyond the borders. I’ve been meeting people and I have some ideas but I need more help.

That’s it. That’s how September is going to be. And no, these are not too many things.

So that’s about it.
Thanks again for your patience.
And all the help.

Hope you have a good day and a good month ahead.
Please do let me know if I could be of any service to you.

Gratitude and Respect,

–

Saurabh Garg
@saurabh
Send me anonymous feedback
Updates from previous months – 0819

***



Previous updates: Aug 2019
All posts here.

Update – August 2019 – Saurabh Garg

I sent this letter to a few people that have helped me grow in my career. I plan to send this every month. If you want me to add you in this list, please do let me know (please send me your email address – you have it with you). I plan to send one letter a month. 


Please tolerate the formatting – I composed this on Google Docs, sent it on Gmail and now posting on blogger. And even though all three are Google products, there is zero interoperability in terms of fonts etc.

Update for Aug 2019

Hi! Good morning!

I am Saurabh Garg.
Of course, you know me!

You are one of the 30 or so people getting this email. And you are getting this because…

A.
You know me from one of the places I’ve been at – MDI, GE, CLA, Gravity, Social Wavelength (aka Mirum now), VISCOMM, C4E, The Nidhi Kapoor Story and at airport lounges, community tables at Starbucks outlets, Twitter threads, and other similar places.

Yeah, I’ve been around a lot.

And because I have been around a lot, I have a lot of experiences and opinions and ideas and thoughts and expectations and ambitions and energy and more ands and lot more ands. You know, the kid in the candy store?

So, I know you. More importantly, you know me (you may not remember me though – if you don’t, I don’t blame you – I’ve largely flown under the radar). And thus this email.

B.
Newton apparently said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.

Newton never named those giants, but I know who those giants for me are.
You are.
Yes, you!

Each of you has helped me shape my personality and helped me reach where I am. At various times, you have taken an active interest in my career and without your generosity or your shoulder, I kid you not, I wouldn’t be here.

Whatever little I’ve done in life is because you allowed me to stand on your shoulders. And no, I don’t mean it as a humblebrag. I’ve done very little and I have a really really long way to go – and I promise I will reach there!

From where I stand, I see a lot of hits.
Thank you to each of you for making those hits happen.
Can’t stop thanking you!

And even more misses.
And I know I could’ve done a lot more with the kind of opportunities, time and access I had. If I could not reach where I was supposed to, I am solely responsible for the miss. And oh boy, I only know how many misses I’ve had! I could write a book on those and it would run longer than the Bible!

So, thank you for your shoulder. I feel I owe a regular update to you. And thus this email.

C.
I read this Harvard Medical School study (link, story, TED Talk) that postulates that healthy relationships are key to a long and happy life.

And the age I am at, not young enough and not old enough, I am beginning to think a lot about these things.
Of course, I continue to think about making that dent in the world.

And while thinking about it, it dawned on me that each of you is important to me.
After all, you’ve given me your attention and mindshare.
And backed me up.
And gave me a long leash.
And allowed me to experiment and make mistakes. And grow.
And helped me to develop the ability to master my time (most months, I can get by without worrying about going to an office on a daily basis; few months I need to beg. But that’s ok).
And shaped my personality (all the opinions, ideas, thoughts, experiences, expectations, ambitions, value systems that I spoke about earlier? All of those have happened because of your patronage).

While I continue to wander, in search of that ever-elusive new new thing, that shiny new toy, I realized that I need to work on nurturing existing relationships.

And what better relationship to nurture than that I have (/ had in the past) with you?
You were a teacher / employer / mentor / partner / colleague and lot more and you made me who I am!

And thus this email.

D.
This weird epiphany happened that most of the misses I talk about in B above are a result of two things and two things only.
1, I am / was not a finisher (I am working VERY hard on it and early signs are encouraging).
2, I thought as a “creator” all I must focus on is to create. Even though I am a marketing consultant (to brands, companies, individuals and everything else in between), I never thought about marketing myself. You know, build a personal brand! I even tweeted about this.

So, need to fix these.

Like I said, I am working hard to fix 1.
I pick fewer projects, I have measurable objectives (thanks John Doerr’s OKRs – blog, book) and I have clear deadlines. The number of things that are left unfinished has reduced considerably. I can now proudly dole out the most important advice that Steve Jobs ever did – ‘Real Artists Ship!’

The 2, marketing myself, remains a challenge.
This letter is an attempt in the direction.
And thus this email.

So, clubbing A, B, C and D…
So, like I said, I am sending this to about 30 people that have helped me over time.
So, why this email?
So, what if…
So…

Ok, I so got carried away.

So, well, the agenda is threefold. Lemme use bullets.
I clearly love em!

1. Seek your help as an advisor
I said I am making great progress on the ability to finish things. And I need to accelerate that ability. In the sense that I want to finish EACH project that I take up. By making a commitment to you and holding myself accountable to you (I do NOT want to disappoint you ever), I will increase the odds of me not missing the goal!

This is not peculiar to me but is a universal thing – many research studies postulate that when you make yourself accountable to people you don’t want to disappoint, the odds of success go up manyfold!

The other way to look at is to consider yourself as a board member on a company called Saurabh Garg’s Life. I am accountable to you, even though I may not have access to you. You know how Eklavya built a statue of Guru Drona and taught himself and held himself accountable? And became so good that he was better than Drona’s best student, Arjun? That!

So, at the risk of jumping the gun, here’s my first promise to the board.
In the month of Aug 2019, I will…
a. Finish the Show Bible for Book 2.
Yes, I am still working on my second book. And unlike the first one, this time, I am writing the entire story beforehand. In the form of a show bible (what is a show bible?).
b. Lose 1 inch from my waist.
I will do this by focussing on the diet, working out and generally working on my fitness. I met a friend yesterday to take tips on this and he told me that number 1 tool you need to get fit is to get great sleep. So, I will fix that as well.

I will write in September and update you on how I do on those goals. If I get stuck, I will ask you for help! If you have something that can help me work on these two, please do point out.

2. Learn from you!
Thing is, I consider myself a sponge. I love to know more. And I love to know about all sorts of things. And I love it even more when all those things make a connection in my head. You know, when I see the dots connect. And I sincerely think that this ability to use a large information set (howsoever shallow it may be, Feynman will hate me – here’s why) and use inputs from multiple disciplines will be a necessary skill to succeed in the times to come! Jacks will rule the world soon!

When I was with you, I was on this steep learning curve that kept me on my toes. And I loved it! Plus, you are among the most learned, evolved, intelligent people I know.

So, can I request you to please share content (books, texts, links, videos et al) that you loved? That you thought were brilliant? That you would revisit over and over again? That you think I MUST read if I want to become better! May be on email. May be on Whatsapp (click to message me)? Or on email?

3. Give back…
If I could be useful to you in anything you are working on, I would love to volunteer.
No, I don’t want anything in return. I really want to help. I want to do good work. I want to be of use to you.

Thing is, I sincerely believe in the concept of Guru Dakshina.
Lemme get back to. Eklavya. Guru Drona asked Eklavya for his thumb as Guru Dakshina (here’s why). And as an archer, you can’t do anything without your thumb. A regular person would have probably said no. Eklavya did not bat an eyelid before he chopped his thumb and placed it at the Guru’s feet.

You’ve are and have been a Guru to me and I owe you. I don’t have a thumb to offer. But anything that you think could be useful to you, I will be very happy to offer! I am pretty nifty with marketing, events, digital, branding, writing, storytelling, content, brainstorming, big-picture thinking, etc. And I have a fairly large risk appetite. You will probably know this if you remember me.

Please do tell me if I could be of use to you.

***

Phew!

So, yeah this is it.

I plan to send similar emails every month, once a month. I know this one is long (1800 words or so). Promise that the next one will be shorter, crisper (not CRISPR) and more concise. I don’t know the difference between these words. They just sounded nice together!

So that’s about it.
Thanks again for your patience.
And all the help.

Hope you have a good day and a good month ahead. Please do let me know if I could be of any service to you.

Gratitude and Respect,
Saurabh Garg
+91-9819981337
saurabhgarg.com, @saurabh
Send me anonymous feedback

PS: I understand that you may not want me to clog your mailbox. Some of you probably wouldn’t even remember me! So, PLEASE do tell me if you don’t want to get these once-a-month emails. I promise to not get offended. I’d understand.

PPS: The intention of this email is not to seek work or connections or something from you. If I need em, I will ask for those things directly. What I seek is continued patronage and an active interest in my life, my career, my ambitions et al. That is it.

PPS: You may use https://forms.gle/28bVP8DYz2WGdHdp8 to give me anonymous feedback on this email. Or anything else under the sun. I will read EACH input and work on it! Promise!

By Mar 31, 2020…

Sometime in 2018, I read a story about Jim Carrey (the actor) where he wrote himself a 10 million dollar cheque and gave himself 3 years to get to it. He then kept that in his wallet and every night, night after night, he would drive up to a fancy neighbourhood and visualise that he lived there. And yes, you guessed it, lo and behold, he did reach the 10 mil mark before that time expired! 

See him talk about it on the Oprah show here.

Of course, I take these things literally. And I believe in these. And thus, I wrote on an index card that by the end of the financial year 2018-19, I will be a dollar millionaire. And I kept that in my wallet. Here. See…
Also on Instagram here.
And before you jump out of your seats, no, I am not a dollar millionaire. 
Today, the FY1819 has officially ended and I am worth a few thousand. Rupees, not dollars. Thousands, not lakhs, not millions. 
It’s a sort of anti-climax. I was supposed to be rich and affluent and wealthy and impactful and valuable and an enabler and all that. And here I am. Whining about how I did not make my mil. 
But then, like I know, this too shall pass. The feeling of being the biggest loser shall pass. 
And thanks to some insane music, it has passed already. As I write this, I am listening to Robaroo. Here. Go trip. When you’re done, listen to this. Meethi Boliyan. Among the most heart-warming pieces of art. 
And thanks to this, I have a new ambition. 
A new goal. 
That of 5 mil. By end of FY 2019-20. 
Yet again, I am gonna keep it in my wallet. Wish me luck 🙂 

#in2019, I will…

Hello hello! Long time no see!

In case you dint hear, I was on this self-imposed digital detox. I know these things are often attempts at vanity but trust me I was not trying to be vain. A lot was (and is) happening with life and I needed a break from the routine. And routine from me was work, hustle, dream. Repeated in an unending cycle. In an ideal world, you want this cycle to be a growing spiral (you know the difference? Dont you? Scroll to the bottom of my version of difference). But since it was a circle, I needed to get away from it and look up. And thus the break.

Anyhow.

So, its 2019. We are one year away from that fabled 2020 that all of us looked up to when we were kids. Unrelated, the other fabled time horizon that everyone looked up to was Y2K. And thats like 20 years ago. 

Truth be told, 2018 hasnt been the best year of my life.
Far from it.
In fact if I could undo it, I would.
I am not sure what did I get out of the year, apart from some very expensive lessons. I will probably talk about them in a few days (once I am ready) but for the time being, allow me to see ahead.

Coming to 2019.
2019, ladies and gents, means a new year. A new beginning.
And like every year, I want to make a longish list of all the great things that I will achieve in this year!

Oh, I dont know if you know or not, I am big on this concept of new year. Each year I spend substantial time thinking about how I’d make the new year the best of my life.
I write long notes on what I want to do.
I think hard about the year gone by.
I think harder about where I want to be.
And I look at my abilities.
I marry all three and then I come up with a list of things that I think I can do in the year ahead.
And because I was in this digidetox towards the end of 2018, I could not access my tools to do the homework required. I even made plans to travel to the hills for 3 days to work on these yearly things but because of a last minute snafu I couldnt go. Lol, such a cry baby! 

Not important.

Important is that even though I could not spend the days leading to the new year in deep contemplation, I could still think of 4 large themes that I would chase in2019.

These are Writing, Health, Meditation, Relationships (how obvious 😉 and how similar are these to your previous year themes!)!

From these four keywords, I have culled out things, goals, resolutions, plans that I want to work towards and achieve in 2019. Each thing adds up to get me closer to these 4 things. And these 4 take me closer to my life goals (Everest, $1Bn, Impact a billion lives).

So, in2019, I will…

  1. attend a 10-day Vipassana retreat. I went for one in 2009 and its apt that I go after 10 years! 
  2. do 4 Keto cycles of 20 days each.
  3. launch 12 new projects. One each month. I am not sure what these projects would be but they have to be side hustles that allow me to make money. And more importantly, teach me!
  4. turn off technology for 3 consecutive days (weekends hopefully), once a month.
  5. read 24 books. I used to be a voracious reader at a point in time. I lost it somewhere. I will get back to reading this year. Biographies and supertexts only.
  6. work with 50 students and be the shoulder that they could stand on. Preferably MBA students. If you know someone who may need a mentor or sorts, please do point them to me. 
  7. do a water-fast one day each week.
  8. run / walk 10KMs every day.
  9. meditate 20+ minutes each day. Want to be able to do 45 minutes everyday. YNH does 2 hours EVERY day! 
  10. write 200,000 words this year that are available for public consumption. These would be spread across my blog, SoG, Book2, Podium etc.
I will track these goals and more importantly the progress here (a shared cloud document).
You are welcome to see and recommend changes.
Each thing has a reason for being in the list. 
Each is a number. So I can measure how I am doing with respect to the goal. 
Most have a frequency component (for example, to be able to write 200K words in the year, I will have to write about 700 words per day on an average). This will allow me to track my progress. 
I know I have conspicuously left out work here.
Not that it is not important to me – rather, I cant differentiate work from life (or home or play or whatever). Just that I am not prepared to think of tangible work goals yet. I will do so over the next few days. Before the first week is over. That will leave me with 51 weeks but its ok. One of the things that I learnt in last year was not to be harsh on myself.  
Thats about it! 
Oh, if you do wish to indulge me further, pray do tell me what is that one big thing that you’d do this year. And do tell me if you need help with that. If not with specifics, I can be a great tool that reminds you to stay on course. 
All the best for 2019. 
Hope the year is full of love, luck and happiness. 
May you live long and prosper. 
Love,
Saurabh

P.S.: In case you are curious, here are similar posts from previous years: 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.
P.P.S.: Oh, while I wrote this, I was tripping onto Faridkot’s Haal E Dil. Must support more indie work. Wish there were a way to show people beyond the ones that can buy media! Maybe I’ll add to my todo list.

P.P.P.S.: Cycle vs Spiral.
Cycle – a never-ending loop that does not have the beginning or the end.
But has distinct stages.
And you are merely moving between those stages without any growth.

Spiral – again, a never-ending structure with distinct stages.
But at each stage, you grow up and you are doing things at a larger scale.
You are growing.

I’ rather be in a growing spiral.

P.P.P.P.S.: This is probably one of those few years where I have not included wealth (or money) in my list. Of course I want to move towards that. There IS a financial goal that I have set for myself. But I want it to be the byproduct of how I live. Journey, as they say, has to be more rewarding.

#note2self. Must do a post on how 2018 went and the big lessons I took from the year. 

#SoG42 – Personal Fitness

This is one of the emails that I send to some friends and strangers. The emails are based on one thing that I learnt in the day and how that could be applied to becoming better versions of self. If you want to get these emails, please lemme know (on twitter). 

#SoG 42 – Personal Fitness This one comes at the request of one of the readers. She says she’s saturated with all the “heavy” things and needs something lighthearted. And thus, this one is aimed to be that.
Lemme start with a question.
When was the last time you threw up? And what did you do that made you throw up?
Most common answer would be, after a party. Some months ago. After all most recipients on this letter are sane!

When did I last threw up? Today morning! I dont know if I have mentioned this earlier but one of my #lifeGoals is to climb the Mt. Everest.
And then if that goes well, probably goto other peaks.
But Everest to start with. And I WILL do it before Jan 1, 2026.

This means that when I take the shot at it, I need to have about 60K USD + inflation + whatever else is required, 3 months of free time where I can make the attempt and most importantly, be in the prime of my health! Health means fitness, stamina, will power etc.

And that is what I have started to work on from this December.
I am on Keto Diet (to help get back in shape).
I ensure that I walk 8 KMs everyday.
And finally, today I started with Cardio. HIIT.
Went to a class and all that.
At 6 AM. In the morning.
Like a hipster – in Decathlon shorts (black), black Nike training shoes and a black Nike dry-fit tee.
It was so black that my bald head was reflecting the mood of the moon.
Blacker than the blackest black you’ve ever seen.
Thats not the point.

Point is, we started at 6.
Did some warm up and while doing do, I was sure that I will kick ass of everyone else around.
It seemed so easy.

Till we reached a point where the trainer asked us to do burpees. Now burpees is nothing too difficult. We’ve seen enough and more people do it on them youTube videos. No? All you do is jump, kneel down on all four and extend your legs backward. Then up get up again, jump, kneel, leg extension. In that order. Over and over again. Its that simple. Try it. Its like a cake walk. I knew I could do a 100 of those if I had to.

I was like, bring it on.


First one was great. I jumped so high I touched the clouds. Kneeling was easy-peazy. I suck at push-ups (throwing my legs back to stretch seemed like a push-up to me, so will use push-up to talk about it) but I did that one fairly easy. I was feeling good. The best day of my life! I could see the Mt. Everest.

Second was even better. I jumped and I felt like Icarus. And I think I did the push-up faster than you can say push-up. I could see myself as Farhan Akhtar doing those 100 reps. I was on my second. 98 more to go.

And on the third, I was going to launch myself out of the space with the jump. Which I think I did. And I went down to prep for the push-up. And… and, I passed out.

Well, not really. But I knew I’ve had enough.
I couldnt continue.
And I took the permission from the trainer and sat.
And I promise you, the gut was in my mouth and I was this —> <—- close to throwing up.
And may be I did. I dont know if I did.
I was in that delusion-ary phase where you just want to lie on your back and gasp for air and nothing else matters.

Ladies and gents, in less than three burpees, I was dead.
People around me may have done 5. Or 50. We’d never know.

But I have not lost hope. I will prevail. It was Day 1. And I hate stasis.

Wish me luck! See you tomorrow.

Thanks,
@saurabh

Dear Steve,

A friend asked me, “if you were to write to Elon Musk about your aspirations and ambitions and what you want to do in life, how would you?”


This blogpost is in response to that. But before that, few caveats.
  • I will NOT write to Elon. Rather, I would email Steve. Thing is, the outcome and vision and purpose-driven approach of Elon is fascinating and exciting. But Steve, the legend, is what is inspiring. I love the fact that he was a hustler (compared to an Elon that is a tinkerer). 
  • I’d assume that ambition is personal, more tangible. And aspiration is little more altruist. Read more here. 
So, here’s the letter. 

Dear Steve,
Thank you.

For being who you were are. And being an inspiration that makes me want to do more and make that dent. Or ding. Or whatever.

It is you who taught me that our actions must create consequences. Consequences that are larger than self. Larger than our imagination.

It’s by following you (and your actions and your words) over the years that I have understood my limitations. And I have found ways and means to overcome those limitations. I still suck at getting things done but I am getting there. All thanks to you.

Thanks to you, I know that the only thing that limits us, is our imagination. You taught me how to think big. You taught me to take tiny steps and keep at it till you reach there. You showed me the power of setting lofty goals and challenging what we thought was possible. Thank you, Steve.

Steve, I write to you to seek a favour. Will you please indulge me? I want to talk about what my aspirations are. And I want to talk about my ambitions and what I want to do in life.

Steve, when I look at the world around me, I see so much potential getting wasted in frivolous things. Things that dont add up. Things that dont add value. Things that dont create. Lemme give you an example. Today, I was coming back from work in a train and I saw a young couple arguing about a mobile game. And they were stuck on the game for the 20 minutes it took the train to reach my destination. And they werent happy. What if they could use that time to learn a new thing (by seeing a TED talk, or by reading a book or by watching a tutorial or something). Or at least debate about how they’s plan their finances!

The world would be such a better place if that happened.

You know that’s what I want to work on. Make people more aware about our limited time here. You talked about in your Stanford address. I was lucky to have seen it. Someone needs to talk to them as well. And inspire them to do more with their time. Of course someone may argue that its all pointless (we die, our kids die, our kids’s kids and the world will eventually come to an end and all that we stand for, all that we create will amount to nothing) but I know that while we are alive, when people are creating, they are lost in the work. They get in the flow and the flow is the closest that it comes to Nirvana. The little things that make life miserable cease to exist when you are creating. Reminds you to Carl’s Pale Blue Dot.

Life suddenly starts looking so much better. No?

This, Steve, is my aspiration. This is what I really want to do. Its fuzzy AF. The fuzziest thing that I’ve ever thought about. But I believe that there’s merit. 

And what is my ambition?

I want to push limits.

Physical, mental, emotional. And at other levels that us humans can experience.

I know that I am not sorted in the head. There are times when I am elated that I am jumping with joy for no reason and there are times when I so sad that I just want to sleep. But Steve, most days when I wake up, the world does look like a great, inspiring place. Life looks like a “journey” that is worth taking. There are so many people doing so many things that you thought humans were incapable of. Look at Elon. Wait. Look at Wright Brothers or whoever made the first aircraft. They allowed us to fly. Look at Elon. He will not rest till he has colonised Mars!

While I want to push limits, Steve, I know that I am a drifter. I’ve never had the clarity in terms of where I want to end up. I also know that I dont have one specific talent that I can dig at till I make that dent. I am a proverbial Jack of all trades and I am happy being one. Thing is, I love this drifting. I love that I can walk the surface of a lot of disciplines. I know this is best suited for someone with a lot of money. But its ok. I will make my money. Ok, I am drifting while writing the letter. Coming back. Steve I want to push limits and in the process, inspire others.

In fact, lately, I have started to realise that I get immense happiness and satisfaction and I sleep well at night when I am able to inspire others. And help others. And enable others. Enabling. Thats where the Gold is. Thats what I want to do. Enable.

Now enabling is too broad. If I were to put enabling in a box, I’d say I want to enable a billion people to live better lives.

Billion people. 

Better Lives. 
And how do I define better? Well, better means that if they are poor, I enable them to live in relative comfort and happiness. If they are unhappy, I put on the red ball on my nose and dance for them. If they need access to opportunities, I want to give them that. If they need  inspiration to do more, I want to inspire them.

I want to be the thing, the jester, the platform that enables people to be better. I hope you get the drift. 

One of the ways in which I can do this, is by doing amazing things and by doing em so well that I inspire people. To do more. To #bebetter. And to #livebetter, and #workbetter.
So, my second aspiration, if I may have more than one, is to make the world a better place. And do it by enabling people to be better versions of themselves. And while I become the enabler, my life (where I achieve a set of seemingly super-tough goals — each goal must push human limits, such as, make a billion dollars, run a marathon in less than 4 hours, live till 120 and more) and my actions and my conduct become a source of inspiration. Just like your life was, Steve.

Thats about it I guess. Phew.

Thanks for reading.

Your’s Faithfully,
Saurabh Garg

#in2018, I will

This is my yearly post on things that I hope to achieve in the impending year. Most times I miss most goals but I still like the rigor of making lists. Plus once I have a list, it keeps me on track.


Here is the list of things that I will do #in2018.

Oh when I make this list, I consider the following.

  • Each bit on the list has to take me closer to my lifeGoals – a billion dollars (M), Mt. Everest (H), a billion lives (I). 
  • The list includes things that are tough enough that I have to work hard. And must be within reach. For example, while I may want to play cricket for India, I can not. I could on the other hand play Poker. Or Pool. Its not same as cricket but it is still a sport. 
  • Themes for the year. This year, the themes are health (stop doing anything that stops you from living to 120 – eating, travel, air, stress etc) and action (which should be a theme every year IMHO). And other smaller themes are positivity (get away from people / things / incidents etc that drag you down), challenges (need to get out of the comfort zone – need to do things that I’ve never done so far) and plant seeds for the long-term. 

So, #in2018, I will do the following. 

In no order,


[Work / M]

  • Make C4E amongst the best live entertainment businesses in the country. And subsequently, in the world. More about C4E is at https://medium.com/c4-entertainment. This has been on my radar since 2017. We made a few strides #in2017 but we suck at getting new business. Thats something that I need to fix this year. And I will.
  • Evolve AWSL into a brand consulting business. In 2017 I lost the plot with AWSL but I will get it back on track. 
  • Create a third revenue stream. When I say third, the first two are C4E and AWSL. In that order. Been trying to get a third stream for a few years now. Haven’t been able to do a thing about it. This year. 

[Health / H]

  • Be 30″ in girth. I am 36″ as we speak. #in2017 I hoped to be 32. But I am still 36ish. In fact I’ve been wanting to be fit for a long long time. And even though I’ve wanted, I am unable to do anything about it. I need to figure out how. 
  • Finish a half-marathon in 2 hours. I cant even run jog for 3 minutes on the trot as we speak. One of the things I am doing is to ensure that I intake less calories and walk for 45 minutes at least each day. One goalpost will be 5K in 30 mins.
  • Be able to do an unaided Shirshasana for 3 minutes. This essentially means that I need to get back to doing yoga. And doing a headstand would require enough rigor and practise to ensure that I am attending classes everyday. Plus, now that my nose is fixed, I should be able to start with yoga.

[Personal]

  • Final table a poker tourney that has more than 50 entrants. Again, this is a thing that I’ve had since 2017. And I played very less poker in 2017. I need to work on this. In fact, between poker, pool and may be guitar, I could find all recreation I need after a long day at work. 
  • Compete in an amateur pool tournament. I know I cant hit a ball straight but I enjoy the game. I love the challenge and more often than not, you can control the element of luck. So may be its something that I can work on.
  • Buy a car. I have to. Been wanting to buy for ever since I can remember. This year I have to. 
  • Travel to 5 new countries. I got a third passport booklet (as planned #in2017) and I now need to get 5 new stamps on it. If all goes well, I may get to travel to Cambodia this year. Need 4 more countries. May be I’ll drive through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos route? 
  • Make more friends that inspire me. Work on relationships that make me better. Thing is, most “friendships” happen because you and friends share a common interest and are at the same place at the same time. Most times, apart from the common interest, you dont get to evaluate the personality of people. And over time you learn to live with the goods and bads in the personality of your friends. As a result you end up with people who stand by you when you need them but they do nothing to improve you as an individual. While that’s not a bad place to be at, its not the optimal use of the opportunity we have. I believe we are better off surrounding ourselves with people who may not back us up when we need them but push us when we need pushing. Makes sense? For example, you are a woman in India and you like writing and your parents instead want you to get married because “log kya kahenge?. Fuck them! Rather run away with a bastard that pushes you to write. Fuck the societal norms imposed on you. If your family drags you down, move on. If your spouse does not support you, move out. Ok, I am getting judgmental and preachy. Coming back. This year, I want to create more meaningful relationships where I get to grow. I want to be make friends with people who help me and push me to do better (and be a friend like that – if you are with me, I WILL push you to do more, do better). I will cut off ties with (have cut a lot already) people and relationships where I am dragged down. I need friends that support me in my pursuit of grand plans. When I say I dont want to do dinners because I want to sleep early to be able to wake up and write, I want my friends to understand. Get the drift? Or you need a blogpost for this?  

[Writing / I]

  • Complete #book2 and get it ready for publishing. Book 2 is late by 4 years. And I have had so many people ask me about it and I am sick of giving vague answers. I will do it this year. Also, I need to remind myself that books are tangible thing that you’ve “create”ed. You dont want to die a consumer. You know what I am saying? 
  • Make onWriting.in a key player in the Indian publishing business. I haven’t been able to give time to it. Need to pull up socks. 
  • [20 Jan 2018] Write 202 blogposts on this blog. 

[Moon Shots]
These are the things that are way too tough and big for me to achieve in one year. Plus each will require superhuman effort. Enough to take you to moon!

  • Empty my Asana dashboard each month. This will require super-human effort. I will have to get things done. Which to me is tougher than climbing the Everest! 
  • Ship one “project” each month. A project is an idea, a thing, a piece of output that is part of my interest area but is something that I know will not make commercial sense. May be it does eventually. But not at the stage of initiation. For example, onwriting.in. 
  • [H] Work towards The Everest. 
  • [I] Find out ways to impact a billion lives. Make a list. I am not sure if I can do this in this year but nothing prevents me from trying. Or at least making a list. Oh, I love lists. 
  • [M] Get to Rs. 5 crore in bank. Last year I wanted to end the year with a crore. I ended with about Rs. 3 lakhs. Sucks that 35 years of your life amounts to all of Rs. 3 lakhs. I mean if I were to die tomorrow, all my family would get is Rs. 3 lakhs. Funny no? So, rather than trying to get 1 crore again, up the ante. Get 5 crores. Shoot for the fucking moon, baby. How? I dont know. Will find a way. Or as they say, beg, borrow, steal. But then I am not someone who can beg or borrow or steal… 
  • [I] Make TUAP a must-listen podcast for entrepreneurs. More about it is at www.tuap.in. P.S.: This is a project. 
  • Meet one of my heroes (Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Chris Sacca, Tim Ferriss, Jason Calacanis, SRK, Lucky Ali, Prof. Sanjay Bakshi, Priyanka Chopra, Will Smith, Rabbi Shergill, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and so many others). Lets see who all do I get to meet. May be the pi.co clone (that I’ve been planning for a few months) helps me reach there? P.S.: Another project.

[Daily Habits]
#in2017, I did this interesting thing. I picked a few “actions” and I performed those everyday. At least I tried to. These are essentially tiny tasks that do not take a lot of time. And over time, these add up.

For example, like this guys explains in his TEDx talk, he would do two pushups everytime he peed (and he increased the number to, I think, 8 pushups everytime he peed). It did not amount to much when he did those but the collective benefit of doing 20 odd pushups a day helped him get in shape. Its such a powerful idea – that small things can bring about tsunami of change. I was first introduced to this by Hemant but then along the way he and I lost the plot. Anyhow.

So, here’s a list of things I started to do everyday #in2017 and I hope to continue #in2018. And a list of things that I hope to start to do everyday #in2018.

  • Post a pic a day on Instagram everyday. I started this 35 days ago and I am so proud to say that in the last 35 days I’ve missed it just twice. This happened when I met Anusha on one of my trips to Bangalore and she challenged me to post a pic each day. 
  • Play Peak and Elevate each day. As we speak I am on 3 weeks unbroken streak with both. I am this close to buying em. Lets see. This happened when I realized that I can no longer remember a lot of things that I could. I, well, Googled and I realized that either I am not focused, or under stress, or am in premature stages of those brain diseases that affect us humans. I hate old age and the reason I hate it is the it leaves people incapable. I never want to be that. And hence these games. Honestly, I am not sure these games help but I like to know that I am doing something about my memory loss.
  • Use The Brain. Been using it for over a month now. Related to point above, I want to retain all that I have in my head. I want to use a tool. Nothing like The Brain. I dont see the advantages as yet but once I do, I will probably buy it. 
  • Maintain a daily journal of sorts. Been writing one since May 23. It started with this. My journal is on Google Drive (on the sheet that I use to track my life – goals, ambitions, hits and misses and other things). I want to jack this up by writing using a pen and paper. Helps me catalog my thoughts. 
  • Write every day. Last few months, I’ve been terribly busy and haven’t been able to write much. This year I plan to write everyday. Even if its like 500 words. #in2017, I tried multiple times but I failed. This time I will not.  
  • Walk for 45 minutes. Or do a session of Yoga. Again, I made multiple attempts to walk / run everyday but I failed. This time I will not. One of the things I did was to try and walk home from work (about 10 KM) and it was fun. The only fuck up was the road. Mumbai is not the place where you can walk. I need to find an alternative to walking. Lets see.
  • Rather than reading, listen to a podcast everyday. I realized this after I heard this podcast where Naval talks to Shane about his life. And among other things it changed the way I think about books. While there is a merit in learning by reading, to me, at the stage of life I am in, I am not sure reading books is anymore as efficient a tool (reading blogposts is!). More on this some other day. And I did listen to a lot of podcasts. I can club this with walk everyday. 45 minutes is enough to feed your brain with new things. Need to do more of this in the year. 
  • Ensure that I get in at least 2 maker days every week. Read more on maker day and manager day here. I promised myself that #in2017 I will have 3 maker days per week but I dont think I had 3 maker days in the entire year! I need HAVE to do this in2018. Thing is, the day we realise that we are better off as creators (makers) and not consumers, the world becomes a better place. We are no longer worried about opinions of people but we are about putting our head down and getting back to our work. You know what I am saying? May be more on this in one of the blogposts this year. 
  • Everything I say must carry weight and must have gravitas. That means I cant talk frivolous. That also means that I need to improve the way I talk (self-deprecating humor, exaggeration and other innuendos). In fact thats the word of the year 2017 for me. Vanita talked to me about this #in2017. I need to ensure that I live the word. Or as Rajesh Sir says, zubaan ki keemat honi chahiye. 
  • Keep a tab of all my expenses. I was doing it till I moved to Android. I will start it again. Today on. Also, while editing this, I realised that I no longer consider saving or spending less as important enough to include in this list. Which is a good thing. I’ve either internalised being thrifty. Or I have come to peace with myself that I am happy with misery? Dont know. 
Phew. This is a long list. To do everyday. 
Even if I remove the walking for 45 minutes and yoga bit, other things will require about 2 hours (at the least). And the best time to do these things, if you ask me is the morning. Because its impossible during the day. And if you try to do this at the end of the day, you never know how exhausted you are. And I know I am not a superhuman that I will keep emotions at bay and get things done after a day at work. So, may be I need to start earlier. Good thing is that I am anyway a morning person. In fact as we speak, I am at a Starbucks. Since 725 (and its 1040 right now) – I can get 2-3 hours of good work done in the morning, before the world wakes up. That, could be my unfair advantage.  
So all I need to do is get up at 4 AM. And get to work. Just that no Starbucks is open then 😉
[Misc]
Dont know what categories to put these in. These are good to have, not MUST have. And this implies, others are MUST have.

  • [H] Attend a 10-day Vipassana session. Wanted to do this #in2017 but could not. 2018 looks like a perfect time. May be as soon as Feb. 
  • Teach at a business school. #in2017, I did teach at an events diploma college. But I need to up the game and teach kids that already know lot more than I. It would get me out of my comfort zone. Read on themes for the year above. 
  • [H] Stand while working on a computer. That means I need to invest in a standing desk and a great pair of footwear. Oh that reminds me that may be in2018, I will finally get around to wearing shoes and getting dressed well. After all if I have to make money, I need to be presentable. No? Plus dressing up is so out of my comfort zone that I am willing to jump off an airplane!
*** 

That’s all. Look a lot but it ain’t not too much if I remain focused and act on things. ‘If’ and ‘Act’ are the key operatives here.

What are your goals? Do you have a list? Lets work together and make this the best year of our lives?

Thanks for reading. Feedback? Inputs? Help?

Saurabh Garg
1 Jan 2018
Mumbai

P.S.: For the record, here are similar posts from 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

P.P.S.: #in2017 I wrote 41 posts. This year I will write more than 202 posts (number of posts I wrote in2008). This is #1.

Gratitude – MDI, Gurgaon

Today A few days back I met Chirag (MDI 2009). He was in office and we got talking about life and times at MDI. And I realised that everything that I have in life, good or bad, has its roots at MDI.

Wanted to make a list. Here it is.

Work. 
I run C4E. We are a full-service, bespoke, corporate events management agency. When I was at MDI, I could have never predicted that I will run an events agency someday. I wanted to change the world but events? No.

Funny thing is that my first ever tryst with events happened at MDI. Back in 2005 and 2006, I was part of Imperium – the annual cultural festival at MDI. And I arranged and organised the entire thing (along with few others).

The second time I got to work on events also happened because of MDI. In 2009, after my gig with CLA and Cyntax got over, I was looking for an opportunity to do something and I wrote to the MDI alumni group. Off the people that responded, I chose to work with Suvi (at Gravity) and Suvi chose to work with me. This was a full-time job in events and I was part of the client servicing and planning teams. Since at Gravity, everyone does everything, I got immense exposure that shaped me into who I am. Plus the stint with Gravity gave me the tools to run C4E.

Writing. 
It was at MDI that I first started taking writing seriously. I did have a blog before I went to MDI but it was at MDI that I started documenting my mundane life. And because at that age you really want to get really famous, I would share the link with friends and family. While most people ignored me, some of them did encourage me. And each piece of encouragement made me write more. And then it became a feedback loop. And it is yet to end.

Oh, it was at MDI when I first thought I could write a book. While I had wanted to be an author since I can remember, it was at MDI that Sandeep and I planned to write a novel inspired by our time at MDI. I think Chetan Bhagat had just written Five Point Someone. So nothing was impossible. We were young and had a lot of time on our hands. And writing was not too tough. You know what I mean?

P.S.: The inspiration and confidence to actually write the book came after Suds published his. And it was an alum from MDI that agreed to publish my first!

People.
Out of 5 people that matter to me (apart from my immediate family), at least 2 are from MDI – VG and VK. Both these are my closest confidantes and are key pillars in my support structure. Everytime I am down in dumps, I find solace in their company. Every key decision in life requires their approval. Conversations with them have shaped the way I think. There is no shame or guilt or any other negative emotion when I talk to them. I can bare my soul and share my deepest fears and darkest thoughts with them. And I wont be wrong in saying that I dont know what I’d do without them.

Apart from these two, some of my closest friends and well-wishers are friends that I made because of MDI. The list is way too long to actually fit into a blog. If you guys are reading this, thank you. All of you. Class of 2004-2006, seniors, juniors and others.

Purpose.
I am still figuring out what I want to do in life and identify a purpose for myself (I do have vague ideas that I want to create and in the process inspire others) and my raison d’etre. Thing is, the closest thing to a perfect human being — where the guys’ doing a great job, making impact, making money and living a life that inspires others — is Prof. Bakshi. And where did I meet him? At MDI!

It was Prof. Bakshi that introduced me to the ideas of Warren Buffet and the advantages of multidisciplinary thinking. It was at his BFBV classes that I realised that I dont know so many things and there are so many things that I dont know that I dont know.

Its a different story that I got a D in his course – blame it on all the financial number crunching that he expected us to do. Here’s the secret. Numbers is NOT my thing.

Any how. In the end… 
So, yeah. MDI has had super influence. Of course, serendipity and random luck has had a large role to play in putting me where I am. I would’ve loved to control it. But because I can’t, I dont want to bother about it.

P.S.: What about that thing where you say you are more than what you do? 

The coaching conundrum

There is this Lucky Ali movie – Sur (wiki). I havent seen it but I know of the plot (thanks to this song). Then there is THE Whiplash.

While the two movies appear different, I think there is a common theme. That of this maverick who is on the lookout of someone that could take the legacy of the maverick ahead. Of course this is not exactly that either movie stands for but let me take that as the initiating thread. Maverick. Searching for someone to lead the legacy. Someone who’s inherently talented but needs some bit of polishing. Lemme pause here for a second. Will come back.

So, the thing is, I am no maverick and I am not sure if I can help shave off the edges but I think I am pretty ok in terms of brains and capability (though I have nothing to show for it). Lemme call this Thread A.

Thread B is that out of three things that I want to do in life (by Jan 1, 2026), one is impacting a billion lives. And while impacts could be tough to quantify,  I’d love if impact is so big, so huge that they are 10x better as a result of my intervention. And no, I dont mean to play no God. No, I am not chasing immortality. And no, I dont know how to go about it. But I do realise that thats what I want! And I want it bad. Bad like B-A-D.

Now I understand that I may not improve things at the 10X level for everyone. But if I could do a 10000X for some, I’d be happy. Think of Mickey Goldmill. Who worked with a nobody and made a Rocky outta him. What if I could be the Mickey Goldmill to a few? Work with them, enable them to be so good that the entire world recognizes their talent.

Of course all this assumes that I have what it takes to be the coach, a mentor, a guide, a someone that nudges you to be a better version of who you are. Or, like conventional wisdom says, you must have done better yourself and you must know what it takes to carve a raw stone into a diamond. Like Lucky Ali in Sur, like I-dont-know-his-name in Whiplash. Which I am not. So thats a problem as well. Lets call this C.

So, if I club A, B and C, one of the things that I MUST do in life is to be a mentor. A coach. And even though I may not be the best, I need to still learn and be one.

So, I try hard to be one. Everyone I meet, irrespective of their age or the place where they are at, I try and see possibilities (what makes me think that I can spot talent better than the people themselves or others in their respective lives? Nothing. Blind faith in self. Or overconfidence ;)). Some days I get lucky when I nudge some people. Those days are among the happiest days of my life. All the Serotonin that I’ve ever had in my life comes rushing into my head!

And all was hunky dory.

Till… Lol! Took me so many words, thoughts to come to the point. Sigh. Mr. Garg needs to work on brevity. 

Till… some days back, someone brought something to my notice. And while I want to dismiss it, it has stayed with me and I want to vomit the feelings out and not think about them again.

She said that while I love to “interrupt” regular lives of people and nudge them to do things that I think they ought to be doing, the person on the other end may not appreciate my interruptions. And since I come across as a pushy man, they often do not have the balls to voice their rejection. And as a result, rather than helping people, I end up hurting them. Rather than shaving off the rough edges, I break the damn rock.

And that, to me, is NOT cool at all.

Agreed that I want to make people better but I dont want them to suffer. Agreed that they may not know what is best for them. Agreed that even though they have the gift, they may not want to acknowledge it and not work on it. Agreed that 80% of what you need to be world-class at something requires just 20% of time and rest is deliberate practise. And as the beholder of the talent you may not want to chase it to perfection.

But… but… I believe that the road to greatness is paved with sacrifices and practise and it is definitely starts beyond your comfort zone. And as someone who’s been gifted with talent and brains and other things, its your moral responsibility to go chase greatness. Its a debt that you owe to the Universe. You HAVE to push hard and go achieve that greatness.

Why? Because with each shot at greatness, you would create something new. You will push limits. And in the process inspire others. If my mere nudge breaks you, may be you dont have the gift that I thought you had? It is unfair that I break someone who I thought had the gift. But if in the process of discovering the next big thing, I have had to do some collateral damage, I think I am ok with it!

And no, when I say these things, I dont think of people as objects. I think of them as conduits of doing the impossible. It is people that proved that Earth wasnt flat. We discovered the fire, invented the Internet and sent a man on Moon. We will go on to do amazing things and each of these things will get initiated by us humans. And the ones that were gifted and polished their gifts.

Yeah! I think this is what defines how I look at things. I think the Whiplash guy got it right. Ignore the ego, ignore the rude behaviour and all that. Its people like him, who I think bring the best out of the ones who deserve to be the best. I wish I had someone like that to egg me on. Someone to throw a Cymbal at me!

Phew! Now that I’ve put this out there for whoever to read, I AM lighter. Thank you, Universe. And for all those who need someone to push them, nudge them, polish them, I am on septemberthe22nd AT gmail.com. Lets do this.

P.S.: Do see this. And then, read this.