090321 – Morning Pages

Yet another update on how I spent yesterday. No large revelations, discourses etc. Read if you want to.

08:19. Starbucks, Borivali. Here to meet a friend / mentee / client / supplier and everything else rolled into one.

So, while I wait for the meeting to start at 1:15 PM (yeah yeah, I tend to travel at ungodly hours to save time and money and park myself at Starbucks), here’s the morning pages. Have a few things to talk about but time is also of essence. So let’s see how it goes.

Actually lemme make a list.

  1. Return to a plain old pen and paper notepad
  2. Fitness – OMAD – check; 10K Steps – check!
  3. Misc rants

3/ Lemme go in the reverse order and start with misc rants.

Here’s one on Women’s Day.
So, just after a day, the world seems to be over the tokenism around women’s day. A million companies released a billion videos around that when on every other day they dont seem to care about what’s happening around them. It’s plain sad. Plus, as a marketer, while I try to push the envelope, there’s a limit to what I can move the needle on. The cynic in me just dies. I mean there’s a limit to tokenism and I dont know what to do about it 🙁

While people like me may scorn on it, I think it is needed. The ones like you and me that have access to the Internet are still ok when it comes to treating women but the ones that are not here, I cant imagine the horrors that must be inflicted on women. These initiatives, if communicated strongly about, tend to work. Look at Swachh Bharat. We are far far cleaner, at least the trains and stations that I have been to lately (Dadar, Thivim) have been super super clean. Thats another matter altogether that right outside the station, there’s filth all around. The point is, tokenism is helpful. Especially if it comes from right places. And the right noise is made.

Another rant on Goa
I miss Goa. The simple life where you have no pressure to do anything, where people want to take it east, where things move at their own pace. Sigh.

Clubhouse Session
On insistence of Daksh, I was a panelist at a CH session yesterday. It was fun to be honest to hear people speak. While it may not sustain but it was interesting for sure. It’s exactly like the early days of twitter where interesting people would talk random things and connect with each other.

I think I will get more active on it with time. Instead of listening to music, I will play it as background noise and see what I pick. Plus since Clubhouse happened, I am consuming less and less of podcasts. So that!

Track of the day?
This is not a rant per se but I did not know where else to include this.

So, the track is Jagjit Singh’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. To be honest, this is not just the track for the day but also the theme for my life. I have a million things that I want to do in life and there’s no way I can find time, energy, resources to do all of those. I know I will die a deeply unhappy man. I just hope that by the time it’s my time to die, people find a solution to morality. Amen.

Here’s the track…

2/ Fitness. Lol!

So, yesterday I decided that I would try and do OMAD. Ladies and gents, I am happy to report that I managed it. I ate at 1:30 PM and then at 2:30 PM and then nothing else. And no, I did not have any coffee. Or cola. Or anything that may have carbs. I did consume a lot of soda though.

I also walked 10K+ steps.

I think the trick is simple. Slot all non-important / non-urgent calls post 9 and then walk around as you take those calls. Simple. You no longer have to take out time to walk. I did that yesterday. I will probably try it again today.

Let’s see how it goes.

The thing is, when all goes well, I am more or less able to manage things when things go well. But when shit starts to hit the roof, I am unable to cope up. I have realised that I need to have access to finer things to even breathe in peace. Like they said, nawabon wale shauk!

1/ Return to a notepad

Yesterday, after I don’t know how many months, I went back to a physical notepad and a pencil. And I have to say it was liberating! I did not really get a lot done but I definitely felt lot more in control of my tasks and life. Today on, I am moving back to it. I dont care if I look like a stupid fuck with a notepad and a pencil in my hand as I move around.

I like the idea of capturing thoughts and ideas as they come in. I like to refer back to those. I know I am not good at remembering things. Whatever capability I had to remember things, I have killed that faculty by relying more and more on notes. Plus when I was actively reading about notes and productivity (and when I launched notesForGrowth.com), I think I was doing very well in terms of managing all the projects and things.

I need to get back to it.

So that.

***

Guess this is about it. Had a busy day yesterday with I dont know how many calls. And I am staring at a busy day today as well. With multiple calls and meetings. As long as things are moving, I am ok 🙂

Time to get on with the day and get some work done.

Till tomorrow, over and out.