Tag: Reliability

181021 – Morning Pages

A quick post (and yet not a shortpost) about things on the top of my head. And things that I have planned for this week. Read on.

8:20. Yet another hotel. This trip of staying in a different bed each night is exactly what I had dreamed of all my life. Never knew I would do this in Delhi / Gurgaon and at my own expense. In my dreams, I was this high-flying super amazing, successful dude that the clients would give an arm and a leg for and hotels would be a small part of it.

Dont have a lot of time today. I need to get into work thingy by 9 AM. That means I have less than 20 minutes to write things and get going.

So yesterday was a very interesting day. I met a senior from college. Picked his brains about life and all that. Realized that I have just about 10 useful years left. Makes me sad that I have spent my entire life and haven’t achieved anything. I’ve not even written as much as I would’ve liked to.

While I was being sad about wasting my time and life, I stumbled onto some music from some live sessions that Lucky Ali is doing this year. I got even sadder. The guy’s a childhood hero and now he is literally off-sync. Of course, there’s this charm about listening to music that you loved so much when you grew up but age has clearly “rusted” his ability to sing. The good part is that I saw a post from him where he said Mahesh Mathai and he are working on another video. Which is a great thing. The guy directed the classic O Sanam – probably the first track that I fell in love with. And they are collaborating with Mike McCleary, again a long-time Lucky Ali contributor.

I also found and saw this TEDx talk where Lucky Ali talks about his life and philosophy. Do see it if you get time.

Wow. I wrote a lot. And there is more.

At the behest of a friend, I took the Enneagram Personality Test. You can take it as well for free here. I am not sure what is the interpretation and what are my next steps but the great thing is that I could predict the outcome even before I took the test. So that was a great thing. Pat on the back for scoring high on self-awareness bit 🙂

Guess this is about it.

Here’s the journal.

  1. Emoticon: :). I feel good even if I am sleep deprived. I have realised that I am very very happy and engaged when I am juggling multiple balls. Even if some of those fall down.
  2. Mindful Index (on a scale of 10): 0. Super distracted. I can’t focus on a thing for more than 10 seconds.
  3. Things that I am grateful for
    1. I can create opportuntiies and circumstances that allow me to get things done.
    2. I have people around me (including bosses, managers, clients) that understand where I am coming from and allow me to do what I want to do.
  4. Things that would make my today great
    1. I have a workshop to take. If I can deliver a good one, I will feel great about myself. I know I am good at it but each workshop is new with new participants and thus the chase of greatness in the success of it.
    2. If I can close the open tasks from the last week, it would be great.
    3. I really need to work on my health. It would be great if I could stop with the coke and coffee and carbs. And maybe get onto OMAD?
  5. A daily affirmation. I am good at what I do and it’s my duty to deliver with the best of my abilities. And I must. I must do whatever it takes to get things done to the best of my abilities.
  6. Amazing things that happened yesterday? 
    1. Met people from Team SG. It was good fun to catch up with the future.
    2. Got some work done. Yay! I need to just accelerate on that and do a lot more.
  7. What could have made yesterday better?
    1. I shouldnt have to stay up for work. If I had managed time better, it would have been nice. Lesson for the day is to manage time better.
    2. I would have liked if I did not have all that coffee.
    3. I would have loved if I did not have to struggle to find an autorickshaw to come to the hotel.
  8. Quote for the day
    “Be reliable. Unreliability can cancel out other virtues.” – Charlie Munger. Found this via this tweet. This one quote is VERY important to me. The kinds that I would like to pin up on the wall in front of me. If you add resourcefulness to the mix, you would become unbeatable!

This is about it for the day. And here’s the streaks…

  • OMAD – 0
  • #book2 – 0
  • NOFAP – 0
  • #noCoke – 0. Had 2.
  • #noCoffee – 0. Too much coffee. Need to get a grip. I will try to not have any nmore today. And then get onto the streak.
  • #aPicADay – ??. Was on 10. Yet to post today’s
  • Daily Journal – 11
  • Money spent – 9752. Wow!
  • Killer Boogie – 0
  • 10K steps a day – 0
  • Surya Namaskar – 0
  • Daily Mail to #teamSG – 11
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • Minimaslism Counter – -3 +1.
  • Morning Pages / Meditations – 11

290821 – Morning Pages

I talk about shifting, reliability, sleeping on the floor, hidden talents and games people play!

8:07. Starbucks at Khar. Here cos I have to meet someone at 9. And this is the only thing that is open where I could’ve sat and completed my morning pages in peace. I have about 45 mins to go. The place where I am supposed to meet is like a 5 minutes hop away. So that.

Yesterday was eventful. I finally moved whatever I owned to a different place. Some to SJ2’s place. And some to Paras’. When I was moving, I used the crew from the events business to help me with things. And they did a decent job. Better than what a professional packing team could’ve done, do be honest. I think I should start that, a relocation service! Lol!

So, two things from there.

A. The boys that moved the things. Most of them were around 20. I suspect one or two of those was not even 18. Yes, I did ask. While they worked as causal workers, each of those had dreams that went beyond even mine. They wanted to be film stars, politicians and all that. After the shifting was done, I got them for lunch. While chatting around, they showed me some of the work they’ve done with their not-so-fancy phones, and I was blown away by the output! These kids have literally no training in filmmaking or scripting or anything of that sort. And yet they were able to create something that I can even dream of. They had tools that I have not even heard of and they used those like I would flip weapons on Counter-Strike. Or as fast as I type. You know, from muscle memory. And cognition. It was insane to see those boys in action. I wish I had an iota of talent.

I have made a promise to self that I would work with these kids and get them to make a short film (at least) or a docu that I would produce. Of course, once I am back in Bom. Let’s see when that is. #parkedIdeas

B. Now that I have moved things, I dont have anything in the house, apart from some clothes that I need for the next few days. And some stuff that I want to carry to Delhi. I had to carry a lot more but since I am going via a train and taking stops at Ahmedabad, I may not be able to. Not important. The point is, the house is empty. With just the things that it came to me with. And I had to sleep on the floor. And it was painful. I thought people said that sleeping on the floor was good for the back. I am sore as a log. I felt as if someone has beaten me blue with hockey sticks and all. I am not rested. And I have to sleep like that till the night of the 2nd. 4 more nights. Damn. If I die because of exhaustion, it would be unfortunate.

So that.

In other news, I was supposed to record a marketing podcast with a guest. The gentleman did not show up. And I was informed about it when I checked his team, 2 minutes after the time we were supposed to record. I dont know how people can be so careless with other people’s times. If you dont commit, I understand. But once you’ve said that you’d be there, you better be. Or inform beforehand! Ok, this sounds like I am angry or something. I am not. I am merely logging it here. And then taking a lesson for myself.

Finally, I have to write this lesson I learned yesterday. I am yet to process it fully but it was important enough for me to capture it here. I may even write an SoG about it. I was seeing this conversation between Dr. Peterson and Lewis Howes. Around the 15th minute mark, they talk about games we play as individuals. And they talk about how you can and must become a person that everyone wants to play with! Play is defined as social interactions. And games as things we do as people – interact, work, entertain, play etc etc. They go on to talk about how if you can’t be the one that everyone wants to play with, you can definitely become NOT the last person that gets chosen when other people have to pick when they choose to play. And then they talk about things that you need to have to become that. In one line, the answer is, you must work to ensure that others that you play with, go back better before they interacted with you. And nothing else.

This is a little counterintuitive. I mean when you play a game, you want to win. Come out on top. Come out a winner. And that is often at the cost of others. So you are essentially getting ahead at the cost of others. The others dont get to become better. If you however put other people’s interests ahead of you, they see that they are getting better as a result of interactions with you. They would talk about it. Make more players aware of the favorable outcome. And the odds of you getting picked would, well, pick up!

Funnily, I have been doing this for a while now. And as a result, I believe most people want to include me in their teams (not as the first few choices). Most people want me to have their back. And that is valuable. I need to work hard to become the first person they think of when they want to play games.

The only thing I need to be aware of is that most people that I choose to play with, they often leave me poorer. And thus I know I dont want to engage with them in more games. And I need to better the way I select and pick people.

So that.

Guess this is about it. 1000 words already. And we are at 8:44. Less than 30 mins. See that’s the thing. I can spill out words very very fast if I know what I want to talk about. Just that I need to have a rich enough repertoire and mental faculties and world view that I have enough and more to write about. And write often.

Chalo, moving on with the day. Over and out. Here’s the streaks.

  • OMAD – 0
  • #book2 – 0
  • #noCoke – 171
  • #noCoffee – 14
  • #aPicADay – 0
  • Money spent – 9122
  • Killer Boogie – 0
  • 10K steps a day – 0
  • Surya Namaskar – 0
  • 10 mins of meditation – 0
  • Minimaslism Counter – -2
  • Morning Pages / Meditations – 261