rstlf – 922

Personal Finance 101 with Buxfer

As a part of Project rstlf, I decided that I need to get on top of my personal finances. I decided to keep a tab of my spends. So starting Aug 1, I have noted EVERY spend I have made on buxfer.com (affiliate link, if you sign up, I get $1). And here is how the summary looks like…

I will not get into absolute numbers, I dont want to tell the world the miserable and poor life I lead. The key spends are Home (I contribute about 20% to my household spend, rest comes from my dad, even though he’s retired from his work more than a year), Shopping, Auto (Petrol, Parking and Toll) and Food.

Of these, I dont think I can reduce on home. In fact it would go up with time as I try and give a better and more comfortable lifestyle to my parents.

Shopping can be reduced. This month I made a large purchase, a phone. This may not be a recurring purchase and hence this could drastically come down as I have stopped splurging on shoes and am not too fond of clothes anyways.

I can reduce food as well. A large chunk of my money is spent on eating out. This is fancy restaurants, parties etc. Thankfully I dont booze and that saves a lot of money for me. Going forward, I plan to reduce this as much as I can. Eating at home will save me a lot of money. And then, maybe, just maybe it will make me fitter (which is a large part of rstlf).

Surprisingly utility payments was very little. Its part of Others. May be because my dad pays most of those and because the large component of the bills, the electricity bill, comes every two months and we dint get it in August.

So this is about it for the month of August. For next month, Sep 2012, spends could again be an aberration. Because as a part of Project rstlf, I am planning something outrageous and that would mean yet another spike in spends. Lets see how that goes.

Rant on Mediocrity

Ladies and gentlemen, could you please fasten your seat belts, get that ~~cup~~ mug of coffee, hot chocolate, green tea, coke, lemonade or whatever your poison is, snuggle up in your comfy seats and gear up for the rant that is about to be unleashed in next few words. This one is special because this is against my arch nemesis – Mediocrity.

I define mediocrity as an attempt at doing things without putting any thought or any serious effort. I define it as not being true to the job and merely finishing it for the sake of getting over with it. I define it as a job done without any extra effort to push limits even if it were easy to do so.

Its that simple. All you need is to ensure that you ensure that that brick you are going to put on the wall, is the best brick that you ever put.

So, why the rant, on a lovely Saturday evening? Because, it just dawned on me that despite claiming that I have oodles of talent, I have been mediocre in the way I lead my life. There are a few things where I evaluate myself on. Family, friends, work, leisure, passions. And for some reason, on all the counts, despite hating the very concept of mediocrity, I have been mediocre, if not poor. And if I was poor, I would have let go but I know I am not. And I know I can excel.

Let me elaborate. And no, I would not talk about family or friends on a public forum but I can rant about work, leisure and passions.

Work. I really think that I put in a lot of effort when I am work. But then for some reason, no one appreciates the extra effort. No one seems to see the possibilities that I see. No one is ready to buy into the grand vision that I have. May be I am a big picture guy (like all others who merely faff). To be honest it doesnt matter if people dont buy into the grandiose plans. But then when, to justify my salary and my position, I am forced to do ~~mediocre~~ bad work to please egos and accountants. There has to be a way to escape the trap, just that I need to figure out. If I was an artist, it could have been easy but I am not even close.

Leisure. I am one of those who are easily excited by that new shiny thing and I thus keep hoping off from one things to another. As a result, I am that proverbial Jack of all trades and master of none. And that means that I know enough about a lot of things and yet I am not an expert. This is a good and a bad thing at the same time. Good because I can do a lot of things to distract myself when I have to. Bad because I never stick to one thing for too long to start adding value to that discipline. Come to think of it, this is yet another curse of mediocrity. I look at something, get excited about it and then leave it when I see the next interesting thing. If I want to lead a full and spectacular life, I need to bring things to closure. I need to be able to bring things to a logical conclusion. Look at rstlf for example. The first three days were great and I have slacked since!

Passion. I dont think I have a passion. Wait, how do I define passion? Its something that could go up on your epitaph. Its something that becomes your identity. So far, if I was to pick that one thing that could go up on my epitaph, it would be what? Writing? Talking? Communicating? Exploring? Poker? sgMS? India? Starting up? What? Finding it tough Mr. Garg? Exactly my point! Though I feel very strongly about a lot of things I am no where close to calling one particular thing my passion. I am no where close to getting anything etched on my epitaph.

Like I said in a previous post, over the next 90 days, I would reset my life. I am down ten odd days already. Next few days would be hard work but then its one life we have and if not now, its probably never. You, the reader, the voyeur at home, if you are ~~watching~~ reading this, you are in for a roller coaster ride of emotions, ambition, action, drama, fiction… and above all… a fight against mediocrity.

This post is a part of Project rstlf.

Introducing #rstlf

Yesterday, while aimlessly driving around town with Prateek, I realized that I need to do something about the way I am killing time these days. Most days are drab and the net output of those days is not even zero. Better were the days when I was idle and yet reading and dreaming. Now, I dont even dream!

And since its been happening for quite some time. Need to take charge and do something about. #rstlf is one such way. Simple idea. Over the next 90 days, I would change things that have been bothering me and hopefully come out as a better person after these 90 days.

To start with, here is a list of things that I need to fix. Along with each, I’ve put tangible goals that I would achieve in the next 90 days. I would brainstorm and detail each over the next few days, and hopefully get a better understanding. But for the time being, here is the todo list and goals for the next 90 days.

Life. Realize/discover/understand what would my epitaph say. And then start working towards that.
sgMS. classified!
Fitness. Reduce my waist size to 30″. I am 36 point something as we speak.
Business. Own a business. The one that I own is stagnant. May be move it, if nothing else. Maybe think more about what Regis did way back in 70s and 80s and maybe create something similar?
Writing. Finish one of the things that I have been writing. Could be Serai or GhantaGhar. Could even by the Mumbai Diaries that I have been thinking on.
Poker. Keep track of games I play and start winning more often than losing.

Will close these by end of this week and will stick to em for the next 90 days. Ofcourse I would have irregular timing and I may have to travel for work. Or that long impending move to Mumbai may happen. The world may come to an end, few months sooner than the December deadline… whatever may happen, I would ensure that I stick to #rstlf. I would even use a few friends to help me stay on course. So, if you are reading this and you want to help, you know where to send that email!

I have often wished to reset life. Here is an opportunity to do so.

Thats it. Today being the 90th day, I had a very good start. Got up at 5ish, went for a brief walk. So far havent had any trace of oil or sugar. Been eating small potions after small intervals. Plan to skip dinner altogether. And then repeat this tomorrow.

Oh, why is it day 90? Because while talking with Prateek, I realized that I start these things often but never seem to reach a conclusion. He offered a brilliant advice. Start the thing at 90 and go backwards!