8:36. Groggy. Tired. Exhausted. Fucked in the head.
No update. Missing the streak.
Let’s see when am back.
Saurabh Garg's ideas, thoughts and sometimes rants
8:36. Groggy. Tired. Exhausted. Fucked in the head.
No update. Missing the streak.
Let’s see when am back.
A quick note from how I spent yesterday. It was not the best days per se but I am inspired to make today a better one.
Morning! Straight to the point.
Here’s the journal!
What do I want to add beyond the journal? Quick commentary.
In a broad sense, yesterday was a bad day. I had carbs, coffee, and wine. As a friend quipped, Gurgaon is making me into an alcoholic. So, I am glad this trip is ending soon.
The highlight has to be the epiphany that I am at a place in life where I cant do things by myself. I can only give gyaan and hope others would do things. Along with a few colleagues, I am trying to build up a new idea. On that, the only thing am doing is giving gyaan and I am loving it. The team may hate it but I am on a literal trip. I put in less than 5 minutes a day on it and I can see the ball rolling already. That’s the kind of thing I want to be doing. Guess it’s the age!
The other thing that I want to catalog is that I am no longer taking those copious notes that I was taking till before I left for the Base Camp. Guess I’ve been busy? And no, I dont like this. I dont like not taking notes. I dont want to miss out on things. I want my notes to help me remember things. I want to grab each opportunity. This being busy is great (I am thinking less and executing a lot) but I am not building my repertoire. I need to get back to spending time with my notes / dreams / ideas etc.
Finally, the highlight was that I had a fascinating conversation yesterday with someone about life, age, death, and meaning. I wish I could reproduce it here. In one line, the other person thought I was afraid of dying (I was telling her about my will and my wanting to die the richest man in the world and my Memento Mori wallpaper) and I told her that I am afraid of the uncertainty of the afterlife (if there is one) but I know it is an inevitable end that all of us will have to reach at some point in time. And I told her that death inspires me and tells me that my time is limited and I need to act. Actually must write more on this. Let’s see when I get to do this. Adding to #toWrite list.
Ok enough for the day. Need to get going. Need to crunch a week-long worth of things into one day. Let’s see how I do this. May the force be with me.
As I end this, here’s the streaks…
A new format of doing these morning pages. Start with journal, add some commentary. And then end with the trackers. What do you think?
7:13. Slept at 4 something. Blame it on all the coffee I had. The good part is that I ate very little and I did not have Diet Coke even though it was a stressful day. So, pat on the back for that.
In terms of the update, I want to experiment with doing just the journal and see what I write. And once I am done with it, if there are things that I want to add onto, will add. And then I will add the trackers. Lemme know what you think of this new format. If these are still interesting for you to read? I mean I am a random guy on the internet. Would you want to read the musings in such an open manner? Is living in public cool?
Anyhow. Here’s the journal!
What do I want to add beyond the journal?
I would have liked to talk more about context switching. But that’s a subject for another post altogether. Which knowing me, would never happen ;P
Also, the sections in the journal are overlapping. I need to find a better way of doing it. May be I will talk to SM from whom I literally copied this (see this thread) and I will ask him for his thoughts on the overlap. Let’ see.
So, as I end this, here’s the streaks…
The the day after Diwali, here are some firecrackers from Will Smith!
8:09. Home.
I Hope Diwali was great for everyone. Here’s to new beginnings and may each of you get what you wish for. In case you know me and trust me, send me your Diwali pics? You would have my number!
So in terms of what to write, for some reason, I am blank af. Let’s see what I come up with in the next few minutes. Lemme dump the things that are at the top of my head.
While listening to music, Youtube played this Will Smith video where he’s talking about his upcoming book, Will. See the video.
Fuck the guy’s insane!
I have to have to have meet him someday. Universe, please make my dream come true? Not sure what I would do when I meet him, though!
Of course, the cynic in me says that it’s all coordinated marketing efforts. I mean three-four things all at the same time – King Richard, Welcome to Earth, Best Shape of my life. And now, Will. All in Nov-Dec! All at the same time!
But the dreamer in me says, why not? The guy has what it takes to release all these at the same time!
And here’s a quote. From Will. I may have used this earlier. “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on a treadmill together, there’s two things – you are getting off first. Or I am gonna die. It’s really that simple.”
See it here.
That’s about it for the day I guess. More tomorrow.
Here’s the journal!
And here’s the streaks…
Here’s a morning pages on Diwali.
8:48. Home.
I have started to do a new thing. Rather than the morning pages on this blog, I start my day by writing an email to Team SG. And then I copy-paste it here and redact some parts of it that I want to keep within my team. So while I still live in public, I get even more honest than I can be on a public blog. In fact, I want to reach a point in life where I am able to open my emails, WA chats, and conversations to the world and yet sleep in peace. I know I am far from that but I hope I am there someday.
So, yesterday was a blur. I dont even know where the day went. I did nothing significant or special. I dont know what it was but I was literally a zombie. I, as they say, sleepwalked thru the day. I slept at like 9. And then I woke up at 8ish. 11 hours. For someone like me, if I sleep more than 6 hours, I get mindfucked. So there.
Anyhow, Today’s Diwali. Happy Diwali to each of you!
Growing up, Diwali was an important festival. For two reasons. One, each Diwali, I would come back home to my parents from wherever I was. Most times it’s been easy. At least since 2010, the work I do allows me to control how I spend time around these large festivals. Super grateful for that. Two, I’ve for some reason treated it as the beginning of the new year. Not sure if it’s true. But it has stayed with me even though I have stopped identifying myself as a Hindu. So, to date, I consider this as a new beginning and I try and start planning the next year with all the gusto that one can imagine.
This year is no different. I am home. Yay! And I have started to think about what I’d do #in2022. I just realized that I can type started with just the left hand!
Here are the top three things that I want to do #in2022. These are in order of priority.
Apart from these three, I have a million things that I want to do. I will talk about those as I get along. Funny, money doesn’t feature anywhere in this list. Let’s see when I get to that.
And here’s a large decision. This somehow dawned onto me as I was waking up. That I would write book2 in public. From 15th November onward, I will replace morning pages with text for book2. And try and complete it by end of this year.
I will seek help from the community and I will post updates on Twitter and Instagram and all that. I will share chunks of unwritten texts. I will talk loudly about my process. And I will seek support and inputs from people on how the book is shaped. Even if the book becomes stale and no one buys it, I will tom-tom about it.
The morning pages would be reduced to the journal bit. Let’s see how the experiment goes.
That’s it for the day.
As I end this post, here’s wishing each one of you a very happy Diwali. I hope the year ahead is full of love, luck, happiness, and abundance. For you, your families, your loved ones, and everyone around you. May each of you gets everything you seek. And if there’s anything I can do to push your agenda ahead, please please do let me know.
And here’s the song of the day – Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Here…
And here’s the journal!
Here’s the streaks…
I talk about festivals and unreasonable people moving the world and making us humans!
7:49. So, the Diwali cheer is in the air. There is lights all around and it’s a fabulous scene! I am in Gurgaon and the lights are brilliant. To a point that I would have loved to just drive around looking at the gorgeousness that us humans are capable of creating. Of course, one may argue that anything we create would never be as gorgeous as what Mother Nature planned so effortlessly. But still. It was gorgeous to walk around.
Anyhow. I like when the world outside is decked up like that. I wish the decking up was a year-long affair. Well, not really. Cos if it was decked up all year long, people wouldn’t feel special about the festivals. You know, how you respect and love things and are attracted to the ones that are rare? That!
Thing is, to me, the meaning of festivals has changed over the years. It was mostly religious when I was young. And then it became an opportunity to meet friends and family and spend time together. Then it became a ritual – you know, a thing in a year that I would do with my family. Something that I know my parents would look up to. I mean I am assuming they looked forward to it. Not sure if they did 😀 Anyhow, Now it has become a time when everyone is on a break and I can use that downtime to think more and do more. I am sure in another few years it would become an occasion to take breaks!
The point is, festivals are lit! And here’s a film that I love AF. Love Actually. It’s a film about love and belonging and seperation and togetherness. Around Christmas, New Year etc. Here’s a song from the film. See it. You know, I often see this and pine to have a love thingy like one of these people. Lol.
Moving on.
The highlight of yesterday was that I had this epiphany about being an unreasonable person. So the people I am working on an event with, the owner of that agency is the most polite, humble, good, kind, AND the most unreasonable man ever.
Let me about his unreasonableness. He is the kinds that will go promise the world to the world. And then deliver. Despite all odds. Anjum Sir said in a class once, “with you, without you or in spite of you”. Anna is like that. If a client wants it, Anna delivers. Inspite of all odds. What’s amazing is not just his ability to deliver things but the fact that he’s got a team of people that can move the mountains to ensure that whatever Anna has committed is done. Come what may.
That is the thing. Unreasonable man. A team that is dying to deliver what the unreasonable man wants. Each of you needs to become unreasonable in your expectations. Each of you needs to find people that you will give an arm and a leg to deliver what you want. And not in an authoritative, abusive, bossy way. But in a way that everyone is aligned to deliver on that. Everyone understands that the magician, the unreasonable is being that not because he is like that but the unreasonableness helps me create opportunities, reputation, and a virtuous circle that elevates everyone!
So that. Here’s a question. Who is the most unreasonable person that you know of? Tell me more about him / her.
And here’s the journal!
Here’s the streaks…
Morning Pages on Nov the 2nd, the birthday of Shahrukh Khan.
7:56.
Today is Shahrukh Khan’s birthday. I am not sure of his acting or whatever but I know that he’s the guy that comes to my head when I think of love stories coming to life. When I think of hard work leading to success. When I think of the conduct of an individual inspiring generations to come. When I think of possibilities. When I think of ambition. When I think of how life ought to be.
And I think of him everytime I have to ask a girl out. Everytime I have a heartbreak. Everytime I need to think of a sad song. Everytime I meet someone called Kiran. Everytime I even spread my arms.
And it’s just not me. It is probably everyone in my generation. And the one after me. And the one after me. That, ladies and gents, is SRK for me. On his birthday, all I can say is, thank you, Shahrukh Khan. I am a tad better because of you.
Ok. Coming onto morning pages, the real one. Here’s a recap of the day. Yesterday was mostly ok. Did a lot of work, pitched for new work, sent some invoices for work done in the last few months, created opportunities for some people, spoke to a friend who’s getting married, met another one for dinner. In all, had a good time. Today will be a tad stressful. I am hoping I can find a way out but let’s see.
So this is about it for the day. And here’s the journal.
Here’s the streaks…
Today’s morning pages is a literal copy of the email that I send to my team. Read on.
8:00. November 1. New Month. New Week. A new burst of energy. To do more. And get more done. Here’s a new way of doing morning pages.
Lemme give context.
So I have this bunch of young people (all in their 18-25) that I sort of mentor. Mentor is not the word here. I assume that I mentor them. I dont know what they think. I’ve just put them in a Whatsapp group (I call it, well, TeamSG) and on that group, I give them gyaan and all that. And I send them an email every day. It is a little different from the morning pages as the “security” and “privacy” of an email allows me a little more freedom. So, today, I am reproducing that email. With some edits.
Here we go.
[START]Today’s Krishna‘s birthday. I dont know if you know this but I met him on Twitter and he has become one of my closest friends and confidantes. And a co-investor in a startup. And at some point in time, he would become a business partner. He’s that important that I even went to Ahmedabad just to meet him. I mean someone like me who doesn’t go beyond the nearest Starbucks goes to another city altogether. Imagine. I just hope Krishna gets to his larger-than-life mission (I am not telling what it is – in case he wants to tell, he can) soon!
Ok, moving on with other things. I dont have a lot of time today. Maybe 15 mins tops to write this and the morning pages. I am prioritizing this over others. In the voice of Chulbul Pandey, Tareef nahi karoge humari?
Things at the top of my mind…
1. A new month has started. And that means I will yet again try and get on the fitness bandwagon. I met some friends yesterday and they said that despite my trek, I seem to have gained weight. Damn. Need to lose some. I am fasting today. For sure.
2. VG shared a trailer with me yesterday about something that Will Smith is doing. Here. Best Shape of my life. A few days ago I also saw another thing that he’s doing. Here. Welcome to Earth.
Plus I am in general in awe of what Will Smith does. I mean look at any of his videos on youtube. Every time I am down and about, I see his videos. Or of Steve Jobs. Doesn’t matter. The point is, loved these two pieces of content featuring Will Smith. I wish I could be as inspirational and as cool. Please do see these.
3. Yesterday I met a few friends. Over wine. Yeah, I am becoming a drunkard. These are friends from MDI. Realized a lot of things. Here they are in bullets
So that. These are the thoughts from my meeting.
4. Song of the day is this. On loop. From a film called Hell or High Water. See this film if you are the kinds to watch films. I saw it once on an airplane and I loved it so much that I came to the ground and saw it again.
5. I have almost written the letter to bade log. Will try to send it on the Diwali break.
6. Quote for the day. “If not now, then when?”
This sounds simple but has a deeper meaning to me. Our time is limited. Something that people your age would not understand. But when you are my age, you would realize that it just whiles away while you are busy with petty things like cricket and parties and all that.
So whatever dreams, aspirations, ideas, plans you guys have, you need to act on those now. And if not now, when? Before you know it, you would be 40 and like me at the edge all the time because you haven’t done great things. The good part is that I can see each of you doing great things already. You will probably not end up like me. The challenge to each of you, thus is, can each of you become someone that inspires millions and billions of others?
7. In terms of work, I have a lot planned for the day. A few meetings, a few presentations. A pitch to a new client. Maybe a dinner with a friend. Not sharing a timetable per se but I have a fairly busy day ahead. And I plan to fast and not have coffee / coke / food. Let’s see how it goes.
Chalo that’s about it for the day. See you guys around.
[END]PS: In case you want to get this email, do let me know and I can cc you.
So that. And here’s the journal.
Here’s the streaks…
Finally a 1000+ word post on morning pages. Dumped all that was on my head. And loved it!
7:14. Up a few minutes ago. Did not sleep well at all. Was up till 2 browsing random timelines. Right now I am groggy but I am ok. I mean I will have some water and I would be back to being awesome. So that.
While writing the title of the post, I realized that October is over. And 2021 is almost over. This brings about a few thoughts in my head. Lemme write about those.
A. Time flies! Fast as fuck. And you cant control it. Must not waste a single minute. Need to get back the mojo where I would make myself accountable for each minute. The last few months have been, well, interesting (good and bad). Need to become a master of time.
B. Need to start planning for #in2022. I would be 40 in 2022 and I had hoped I would be financially independent by then. I am far from it. I had hoped I would have 6-packs by then. I have one large one that can compete with a sack of potatoes. I had imagined I would have a personal brand. Right now, I have none.
Plus I need to admit that of all the lofty goals I write for myself on paper each year, I hardly get any of those. I mean I do take actions and steps but I am unable to close on those. Maybe this year I will change that?
C. Need to plan where would I go and live after November. I have a Goa trip planned towards the end of the year with VG. So maybe somewhere in / around that. To save on commute and travel and all that. Any ideas? I dont want to be in Mumbai, to be honest. I mean I can be but I would rather be in a new city. Pune? Alibaug? Panchgani? Vashi for that matter? Thane? Ahmedabad? Let’s see. All I need is fast internet and a private room. Rest I can manage. And to be honest, I am liking this rootlessness, nomadness.
Oh, after this rant, I must admit that yesterday and the day before were pretty awesome. In terms of money. Got paid by a client that had held back my money. Got paid by a client that I did not expect to get paid by. Got paid a day earlier by another client. Plus yesterday I paid back one of the people that I owed money to. All in all, it was a great day for money. I need to have many more days like that. Come on, universe!
Chalo, enough. Loved that I could write at peace. And could dump a lot that was on my head.
Here’s the journal.
Here’s the streaks…
Even though I had enough and more time today, I still did not know what to write. Here’s the post nonetheless.
8:09. Home.
Been sleeping as if I have been sleep-deprived for 10 years. Maybe I am. so good sleep that I am literally remembering my dreams. Something that I haven’t done in a while. Have promptly logged those in my #dreamCatching notebook. The back is sore, the neck hurts and all those nitrogen bubbles are popping all over my body. So that.
So groggy and so slow that I can’t even think. Maybe cos I haven’t had coffee in the whole of yesterday. And had a lot of carbs. And slept well after ages. I think I need to move to lo-carb OMAD pronto. Today on. Damn this struggle with food, fitness, weight, and lust for long life.
The best thing about yesterday is that I got paid by one of my clients that had held some money back. The money helped me pay back a tiny chunk of what I owe to the world. I must pay back everything I owe. Somehow. Plus I am not making any large commitments till I pay back all loans. May take me a year or more. But I shall stick to it. Of course, if something super compelling comes up, I will take the plunge. I am a fool like that!
For a change, I have some time today and yet I dont know what to write. The grogginess is not helping. Maybe I will come back in a bit and write more?
Ok, I came back at 9:10. Still nothing else to write 😐
#note2self. Must take out time to think more about what I want these morning pages to be. I’ve been on it for almost a year now and I still havent seen any external traction. Of course, to me, as a person, these pages have helped a lot. I love that I can dump thoughts on my head here. I just need to get more active and use this time to get something done. Damn the pressure of doing large things ;P
Anyhow, here’s the journal.
Here’s the streaks…