Making time and Killing time

‘How do I kill time?’,  ... no one every asks that question. Unless you are waiting for your better half to finish shopping and you got absolutely nothing in the mall to distract your attention with. But to save time, now that’s something we all keep pondering over.

The Essentials
I have many things that I need to get done in my daily to-do list. Some that are clear and present needs. Others are left overs from yesterday, and to add to it are new thoughts that are getting planned as actionable. And btw, I am yet to add actions others are expecting from you, with your time involved.

Before you identify something as a task, ask your self these questions -
Is is important to do it now?
Is it important to do it today?
Is it of any value (for me or people I care about)
Is there any immediate or long term benefit?
What’s the worst to happen if its not done?

These questions will clarify your thoughts on how to manage this task. Keep it in the backlog, do it now, keep it an ongoing task (chunk it, I will explain this soon) or do it now (or today or this week, how so ever you see ‘now’ as.)

Prioritise tasks
A simple solution I see for this is to have your priorities set up. Know what’s important and what’s not, when planning. try and identify major to-do things first thing in the morning (the big ones). Small ones can always be impromptu actioned there and then when you have time free for your self.

Chunk it
A lot of time, we have tasks that are big. Like, say, cleaning the house. If you plan to take a leave so that you can do it, then that’s your planning (no right or wrong). But what if taking a leave is not an option? Well, chunk the task. Make small actionable cleaning tasks. Like, say cleaning one room a day after you come back home in the evening. And that way you end up cleaning up the house in a couple of days or more.

Do nothing.
What is the number one thing I would like to do with my time? Actually, nothing. And by that, I mean ‘absolutely nothing’. It’s a wonderful state to be in. And I bet none of us ever even think, let alone attempt to do that. It’s the next best thing to do after meditation. Probably the only thing that comes close to it is documenting our thoughts (like writing) and reflecting. Give it a try and make sense of it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you how you would feel. Just go ahead and experience it.  

Procrastination is my greatest enemy

Yes, I am my own enemy.

I have lost count of the number of times have I have had this thought come across my mind. ‘I wish I had started learning it last year, I would have been a pro by now.’, ‘I wish I had started writing that book, it would have been done by now’. I wish I had, i wish ...

It’s not that I am unaware of my procrastination. It’s not that I don’t know the tools and ticks to beat this behaviour. I know it, and yet I do it. It’s like a curse that I am living. Destined to fail how much every I think I try. And there in that sentence lies the culprit - ‘think’.

Am i thinking right?
We think a lot. We constantly are in an environment that makes us believe that we should do better, act better and know better. Be it in our profession, our society, or with our friends and family. And in doing what the world wants from us, we have a simmering frustration building inside of us. We become restless because we want something for us. But end up doing other people stuff. Leading other peoples lives. We slowly drown out our own voices of decent till we finally just start to believe that we are not worthy of it (perhaps, some of us think that way). We look for the next distraction that will take our attention away form that misery.

It just got worst
That’s when we start to spend time on activities of watching, reading and listening. Wait a minute! ‘Are you saying that these activities are bad?’. They are if what do them on social media and entertainment platforms. These are like crack & companies like Apple, Netflix, Google and Facebook are like drug peddlers doing what ever it takes to keep you hooked on.

Get off these platforms (or at least cut it down by half). And see how blank your mind gets cause its been made to think. I know, I know ... you might be wondering, ‘you are now back at square one’. True, but now you can charter a new course and you have one thing on your side. Your time!

My wisdom grew a shoot 
I started by taking up some simple items on my to-do list. First thing I did was learn swimming. Its been a wish list now for ages. It took me two months, but i could swim in the deep end of the pool. The only thing that I realised, age had taken away form me was my muscle strength. My coach advices me to start going to gym. So I did. The first few weeks was a painful experience. To add to it I had to change my eating habits and also quality. But I am glad I did as I not only am in better shape, but feeling fantastic.        

What next? .... this is fun. I don’t want to stop. I quickly whipped out a notepad and started jotting down things I wanted to do. Simple stuff. Nothing too fancy or difficult. I had time and I was not gonna blow that away to a peddler.

Now that I have rejuvenated myself, I don’t want to stop this momentum. Writing, sketching, story telling, and much more on my mind. Remember, do stuff that excites you. It should not always be about doing things that will make money. Although, that too is important. But once you have a skill, you can figure what to do with it. More importantly, follow your instinct and passion. Things you learn and do (or even attempt at) will enrich you for life. They will inspire you to do be a better human being.  

Why Is Online Shopping Still Untrustworthy In India

Online commerce might be doing well in India. But it still is a potential that has not yet been realized. The reason for this, fundamentally, is very simple. It's just not trustworthy enough to consider spending money online.

Online is convenient, it offers price comparison, ease of purchase and saves time. Having said that, its plagued by counterfeits, theft, damaged delivery, incorrect specifications and price manipulation. To add to it, there are frauds in the form of incorrect reviews, no customer support or accountability.

Some products are probably worth buying online since they sometimes are sold online exclusively. While others are commoditized and are of low price and hence do not have the risk of being counterfeit. But trust is still an issue. I share an example of headphone purchase. I had been to a Sony showroom and enquired the price for a headphone model. I told the sales rep that the same was available for a discount only. He said that firstly, the parent company had not offered any discount to retailers. Secondly, it might just be a counterfeit. He then proceeded to show me a two headphones and asked me which one was genuine. Frankly, at a glance they both looked the same and could have passed as two pieces of the same model unless he had mentioned that one of them was a fake. He identified the fake one for me and showed me the cues to its fakeness ... low quality hinges, ear pad quality, minor design variation and finish. And we haven't even spoken about the quality of hardware inside or the quality of sound. I asked him how he got the fake piece. He said that one customer walked in with that piece saying it had an issue and wanted the company to repair or replace it. He was shocked to know that the purchase he made on Amazon was fake. People don't realize that the products sold on Amazon are mostly from sellers and Amazon has limited control over what is being sold.

Ever other user has either himself faced an bad experience or knows someone who as. In such a scenario, they would rather purchase something online only when -
 - Its on a discount
 - Is offered by manufacturer
 - Is low in price
 - they know it would not be faked

Again, these are perceptions. All four points can be deceptive.

A regular brick and mortar shop is real, accessible, providing competitive rate and are (many a times) open to bargaining. More important, you can check before you buy and you can bring it back if faced with any issue. In many cases, they handle the warranty issues for the customer too.

I think the future must be a combination of online and offline experience. Purchasing a product online and picking it up from the local story near your area. online stores like Croma Retail and Reliance Digital are already following these practices and although not very popular, I think this will be a more trustworthy way to go and also ensure that brick and mortar shops do not go out of business.

22 Rules To Phenomenal Storytelling, Pixar Way

Story telling is an art. Not everyone has it. But if you learn a bit, its not that hard to learn. Your grannies stories, your mom's stories, your favorite teachers stories, they had all one thing in common. They were engaging, memorable and always left you wanting more.

Pixar did the same with the movies they created. They were amazing form of story telling. Have a read through the slides created with minimum and yet precise words that throw light on the subtle art of story telling.

Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Storytelling from Gavin McMahon

Shokugeki No Soma - An Anime Made Me Fall In Love With Cooking

I am not a big foodie, but love to eat a good meal. I love the difference between home cooked food and the food served in a restaurant. Its as different as eating a five star mean and a udipi meal, or perhaps your mother's cooking and your friends mom's cooking.

Out of sheer lack of good shows to watch in Anime genre on Netflix, I took a leap of faith in watching a food related anime series. I was pleasantly surprised by what I got myself into.

Let me say this. If you appreciate good food, you will fall in love with this show.

The show emphasises the art of making a good dish or a meal. Let's you understand the story being every dish and how it evolved. The sensory assault or arousal that each bite evokes with taste, smell and visual appeal. At times outlandish, but then that is anime for those who have never gotten hooked to this genre of story telling. By the way, it's got a good story line and well written characters.

I will not elaborate the storyline. Go watch it if you love food related stuff. What's truly amazing is the fact that the artwork (most of the anime are hand drawn), is truly work of art. The visuals created are truly amazing, be it the glaze, transparency, viscosity, moisture, heat, dryness, crispness, gelatinous or any other 'ness' that one can associate with describing food.

Rich ramen, steaming hot

I slowly but surely got hooked on to this show and am about the close in on the last third season. I have started enjoying the process of cooking food my self. I may not be capable as a sou chef, but can definitely see myself as kitchen porter. heh!

If you love food related shows, go watch. You will always remember it like a good meal you had on a hot summer holiday at beach resort. Or something in those lines.  Bon appetit! 

Do It, Even If They Say It's Stupid

There are so many things that I have done in life which I might have second thoughts about. So many.

Perhaps I should not have done it. Perhaps there were other ways to handle it. Perhaps I should have listened to my premonitions and not be reckless. Perhaps.

All the regrets would add up to nothing but a pile of 'what if's'. Of course not very thing that i have done have been worth while. Sometimes a little objectivity and rationale should have been in place to stop me from making really really stupid mistakes. Mistakes like not having a plan B when failure would take away a sizable chunk of the gains made.

One of the biggest stupidity I did was to quit a comfortable engineering job seeking an unknown career. It took the next 10 years or so to give me the clarity through various jobs. But still, the journey was worth it. Having said that the other stupidity, in professional capacity, was to get emotionally attached to the job and not quitting when I should have. This cost me far more than anything. I do believe I wasted 5 years of my career in roles I overstayed on. That was so stupid of me.

It's not just in my profession, but also in life, relationships, actions and many more. I have stories that have stuck with me. Stories of making decisions and not making ones that cost me money, time, opportunities and relationships.

Biggest regret was not in taking a decision. The biggest ones were when I didn't take any decision and just let it pass. All because of my fears of failure or being afraid.

Or perhaps ... of the unknown. Baka! 

Getting Yourself To Start A Habit

Lately I have been experimenting a lot with changing my daily patterns. Like many others, I have also become a victim of wasteful habits. Be it watching TV or spending a lot of time on the smartphone or leaving things half way through (even that can be called a habit frankly) or just not focusing on anything particular.

I gave it a lot of thought and realized that it would make a lot of sense to focus on small things and then extrapolate it to bigger goals or intents. This way I would not get overwhelmed with tasks or disheartened with failures. Small successes and failures are manageable.

I remember the first habit I tried to build. Read a book. So many times have I left books half way through. The fact that I read a lot of non-fiction, business and scientific books,  mean that there is no need to finish any book. In fact you can also start mid way if you choose to. Anyways, that was not the intent. Completing the book meant learning something the way the author intended you to understand or read.

You may want to learn a new skill or perhaps learn to cook or practice and improve your musical instrument skill. But there are so many times you might say to your self "from today I will practise playing my guitar daily. And then in a matter of few days, something comes up and you miss out on one of your practice. You procrastinate or get demotivated and think to your self "I am pathetic" , or worst, your mind locks out the very thought, never to bring it up till the next time (weeks or perhaps months later). So, what does one do?

Here is my technique, that might help ....

Step 1 : The Setup
Step 2 : Execute Habit
Step 3: Improvise

Step 1 : The Setup
Fix a time of the day to action the habit. Add a reminder on your smartphone (daily reminder) to alert you to action your habit. Some habits cannot be done on specific time of the day. In that case, identify cue's that trigger the action. Let's way you are watch or listen to tutorials on the go when travelling to or from work. In that case, your cue is commuting. Or perhaps a team break or lunch break or morning walk etc. When this even occurs, you get the cue that you need to initiate your habit task.

Keep a diary or a wall calendar to tick dates on which the tasks were executed. Calendars are better as they hang on the wall and are always there in front of you. additionally tell a friend of family member about your intended habit and request them to remind you (occasionally) just as a back up.

Step 2 : Execute Habit
So what is it that you are planning on doing? If its something simple like taking your morning pills (medicines), then its just mere execution of task. But if your habit involves something that takes long time and bigger effort then you need some basic planning (example - reading a book or studying a subject or learning to cook etc). Here is what it really boils down to ...

Break down activity into small chunks. Meaning short duration and simpler tasks. Which means, in case you plan to read a book then read for half an hour or one chapter a day. Small chunks are easily digestible and less annoying or difficult. If you are learning a subject, plan the chapters and concept to be learned on a calendar or paper and tick them off as you cover them.

When you complete a task, you can reward yourself. Do it initially and not always. Use rewards only when the habit bring attempted have a degree of difficulty or pain associated with it. Like say you plan on getting in shape by hitting the gym. After a gym routine, your body might get tired or experience muscle pain. You may choose to reward yourself with a week end massage to relax your muscles. By the way, who doesn't enjoy a good massage.

Step 3 : Improvise

Remember, if you need motivation, your habit has not yet been formed. A habit comes naturally, or as they say, its second nature.

I remember when I decided that I wanted to learn painting. The biggest hurdle was not that I couldn't paint well. In fact getting myself to sit down with paper and colors was the biggest challenge. Once you kick off painting habitually on a regular basis, then the next step of evolution, that is to improve your skills, kicks in.

This is a transitional phase that you will experience. You will naturally want to spend more time on the habit or perhaps increase the difficulty level. Keep reviewing your activity on a weekly basis. 

If you are skipping activities, you might want to reset some motivation and reward for your routine. Review them to check if they end up helping you achieve goal or not. Keep improvising.

Remember, not being able to form a habit is ok. You can always attempt it again, and again ... True failure is not attempting at all.

URI : The Surgical Strike | India's Zero Dark Thirty

Uri: The Surgical Strike. Movie Scene. 

We as a nation have been attacked so many times that one tends to forget which specific attack this movie was based on. The last chapter titled "Bleed India With A Thousand Cuts' hits hard. The ugly truth about Pakistani Army sponsored terrorism in India, not just Kashmir. Don't forget Punjab.

For a moment (at least when watching this movie), suspend your thoughts on jingoism, government propaganda, pro-Government agenda and what not. Just try and watch this movie as is. Just try.

It is a movie worth watching. Energetic, Emotional, Entertaining, well crafted and well performed. The story had its flaws. For me it was the limited depth of character development. Still, you did felt for them when the time came. You will understand what I mean when you watch it.

My first, and surprising eyebrow raiser moment was when I saw Swaroop Sampat on screen after, I don't know, how many eons. Her performance just made me realize why I loved watching her get back on screen. The sound design in this movie was damn good. This is a movie to be watched in a theater. The story telling was a mix bag as who ever wrote it was trying to compliment documentary style narration with a protagonist centered story telling. That too when the spotlight of the story is an event and there are many conjoined facets to that story.

The movie style technically is a copy of American 'Zero Dark Thirty' with sound design inspired from several sources including 'Dunkirk'. At least its implemented well.

Now for the jingoism and propaganda part ...

Why do we need movies like these?

People have short memories. Generations are unaware of what the previous ones endured. The learning are easily lost in the vastness of information. Capitalist and Socialists countries are well known in making propaganda material. Be it to justify wars or glorify achievements (sports, technology, exploration, success etc.). Of course there are manipulations and distortions in the truth, but awareness is better than non at all.

Uri reminds us how leadership, decision making, execution and logistics are applied in taking national decisions. Irrespective of which government runs this country. This is a movie for all of us, the collective. We should remember what happened to us. How we responded and endured and grew from there on, as citizens and people. Not all of them are great, not all are success, not all are good. But we should remember so that when the time comes, we are well informed before taking the next decision as a society.

Movies like Uri, Parmanu, Border etc are needed just as individual biopics are needs to tell stories. Stories that shed some more light beyond the limits of a rectangular patch of print space or the click baiting article for views. If you hunger for some  more truth, do some more reading. :)

Staring like the Rock

Searched "staring" on Google and found an explanation that said it all :)

No one can stare like the Rock / Dwayne Johnson does. Sometimes I feel he was a lot meaner and meanising when leaner in his WWE days. "Staring" :  https://g.co/kgs/xLkd8u 

The End Of Insurance Agents As We Know It

Your insurance agent is online and faceless.

Technology and innovation is changing things around us for better or worst. The one constant in all this is change, the only constant. Nothing that's old school will last and soon shall become a legacy.

The same is true for our insurance agents too i suppose. I have been managing my policies through my insurance agents for all these years. Both life policies as well as health policies. Recently I got in touch with my insurance agent who is a working professional and a part time licensed insurance agent. I was surprised to know that she had discontinued working as a agent. The Insurance provider had added a new clause asking all agents to acquire a minimum number of new policies per year to ensure that their licenses remain renewed. And the renewal will be done yearly.   

Now, this might not sound as a unreasonable demand from the Insurance provider. But look at the current climate. Private players in the insurance sector are getting more and more aggressive with innovative policies to lure the customers. To add to this, most policies can now be purchased online without much hassle. There are successful and growing services that allow not only to purchase policies from multiple providers from one location, but also do the price and feature comparison before making a purchase decision. They also identify the right policies that would suit your needs. What ever they might be.

So, now you can purchase a policy where ever you are and at what ever time of your convenience. You can research policies and buy online with just your mobile phone. Pitch that against a agent who keeps calling for appointment or cheque collection and limited options for policy purchase and you have the inevitable solution staring right at you. To make matters worst for themselves, many agents dont even sell the best suited policies to their customers as the commissions on the policies are low.

New technology does not destroy industries or professions. They just weed out the redundant, out dated and the down right ineffective (or become ineffective) methods of doing things. Today online services (like PolicyBazaar, Coverfox, Acko and more) are the new agents. Faceless, on demand,  intelligent and customer driven.