• I had recently moved from professional services to systems engineering (someone who now had a Sales KRA) – and I genuinely sucked at closing.
• In my previous role a professional services engineer, I could get by doing my job, by knowing just two or three technologies really well. But as a Cisco pre-sales guy, I was expected to sell “anything Cisco makes” – which was a lot.
• I’ve always been a perfectionist – “If it’s not upto my satisfaction – I’ll not deliver it.”
• As a result – I couldn’t cope up with the job’s expectations. I started missing deadlines. Many of my presentations went lack lustre. I became a liability for my sales counterpart.
• I had recently gotten married AND gotten enrolled in a executive MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University – which demanded mandatory attendance 6 days a week!
• I wasn’t able to give proper time to any facet of my life – my marriage, my studies or my job. There were occasions where I’d go from office to my MBA classes, then take a cab to the airport. The next day, upon returning to Delhi in the evening – I’d attend a 3 hour lecture before going home.
• When in the class room, I was working on compliances and cross-references, responding to RFPs, replying to my mail, creating BoQs – while all the time thinking – Sure buddy, THIS is how you’ll pass Cost Accounting 101.
• The pressure had gotten to me. Something had to give.. and it did. I had to decide and let go of one of these facets of my life. I quit my MBA – something I had worked so hard to get into 😢😢.

“You have to be so disciplined that even your distractions become focused.” ― Onyi Anyado

• We tend to be lackadaisical at times – Knowing your calibre – Work that can easily be finished in X minutes, usually stretches to hours.
• When there’s a clear list of prioritised tasks in front of you, sometimes I see you gravitating towards the task that’s neither important not urgent (but perhaps provides you a technical challenge that excites you).

• “What I do” is more important that “How I do it”. What’s the point of being effective if you’re not efficient! For every task assigned to me – I always look at the opportunity cost; and what is their expectation in terms of my responsibilities. I then juxtapose it with my current list of tasks and determine how I can find time to complete the additional work.
• Three times a day, at scheduled times (10:00 AM. 1:00 PM. 3:00 PM) – a reminder goes off on my phone asking me – Are you being productive or just being active? 
• • I agree with Tim when he says “Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.”
  • I force this question on myself – Am I just inventing things to do, to avoid the important stuff?
  • I study my RescueTime report to see what are the top three activities the I use to fill time to feel that I have been “productive”
  • There’s a post-it note next to Mom n Dad’s photo frame on my working desk that reads “If this is the only thing you’ll accomplish today, will you be satisfied with your day?”. This small note acts as a constant reminder to me, to be “effective” rather than efficient!
• I do not multitask. I CAN’T multitask. I pick up one task at a time focus on completing that before moving on to the next.

Your work laptop is just THAT – a tool to get WORK done.

For the past few months, I have been goading you to respond to a bot on Slack everyday at 8 AM. This bot asks you four questions, collects responses and shares them with me:

• How are you feeling today?
• What did you Achieve yesterday?
• What will you Achieve today?
• What’s blocking your progress?

• Do not EVER open the lid of your laptop screen unless you have a clear list of priorities and tasks that it’ll help you achieve.
• Remember, a carpenter uses his saw and hammer to get his work done, a gardener has a hose and a hedge trimmer. You, my friends – have your laptop.
• When you’re in front of your work laptop – Work! Don’t have Facebook or Whatsapp open somewhere in the background – Sign out of any non-productive applications which pop up unnecessary notifications. I’m myself guilty of having gone down the rat hole of scrolling through status updates simply after clicking on a ostensibly benign notification asking “Did you see X’s comment to Y’s post?”
• Turn off all notifications and distractions – focus on the work at hand.

Challenge yourself on every task you perform. Set deadlines that are “impossible” to achieve

Imagine that you’ve planned for this amazing vacation with family which you’re really looking forward to – it’s your well deserved time off, where you’ll have fun with your loved ones. The last thing you’d want is for a customer or a co-worker to call you up while you’re enjoying the cool ocean breeze (or fresh mountain air, if you may).

• Spend more quality time with family?
• Learn a new skill
• Set up a part time business while working your 9-6 job.

Perfectionism is your enemy!

Jot down your affirmations and read them to yourself periodically

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” -Mark Twain

An affirmation is a promise; an oath; a vow that you make to yourself. Affirmations allow you to put into words who you are, who you want to become and what you wish to achieve. They’ll remind you of your own beliefs and values which you wrote down at a time when you had clarity of thought, focus and motivation.

• Every obstacle I face is molding me into the person I need to be.
• The work my company does, contributes in the progress of this great country.
• Entrepreneurship is a path of service and prosperity.
• The passion I have for my work enables me to create real value.
• There are no limits to what I can achieve.
• My reputation is more important than profits
• I always treat my team with respect and dignity.
• I am assertive when the situation warrants it.
• My work makes a difference in this world.
• My courage, self-confidence and unwavering belief in my entrepreneurial dream keep me laser focused.
• My creative mind plays an important role in all of my decisions.
• My integrity influences every aspect of my business and personal life.
• I am a lifelong student.
• I am responsible for my success and failure.
• I surround myself with people and things that inspire me to live my full potential.
• I help others climb the ladder of success as I make my way to the top.
• My financial abundance is a by-product of chasing and catching my vision.
• I take entrepreneurship seriously, without taking myself too seriously.

Plan your tomorrow… tonight!

• We normally tend to pick up the easiest task, or the most interesting task – even if it’s not high priority.
• If you were to plan your next day – you’ll feel guilty writing the “easiest but less important / critical / urgent task” at the top of the list.
• Without a plan, we tend to lets ourselves get away by answering email, and attending to other low priority tasks. This leads to stress towards the end of the day – when your customers or your manager will call you to ask for status.
• By planning your day in advance – You are committing the “future you” to do the things the “present you” won’t do.
• If you plan your day the night before – you’ll not only be able to get more done in less time, you’ll also add clarity to your day.

“Someday is not a day of the week.” -Denise Brennan-Nelson

The magic of having BIG, ambitious goals – and writing them down

I remember reading about this story of a professor who asked his students to spend 2 hours writing down essays providing excruciating details of “what will a day in their lives look like, 10 years from now” – they had to describe what job they’ll have, how many children, their spouse, the kind of house they’d be living in, the cars they’ll be driving, etc.

“You have to dream, before your dreams can come true.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Tools I use to achieve peak performance everyday

“Don’t count the days, make the days count.” -Muhammad Ali

1. A Broken clothes hanger converted into an iPad stand
2. A Generation 1 iPad used only as a stopwatch.
3. An A4 size paper which is my “Daily Achievement Blueprint”
4. My timesheet log (A ruled moleskin notebook)
5. My daily journal (A ruled moleskin notebook)
6. My Idea pad (a waiters pad)

• Each night, before I sleep, I fill up my “Daily Achievement Blueprint” (DAP)- it’s a document I received as a part of having attended a Udemy course facilitated by one of the best speakers I’ve listened to – Mr. Chris Haroun. Click here to watch this course.
• On the top 30% of this paper, I list down my 5 top personal, work and education goals. I also mention my “North Star” goal – the most important goal for me to achieve out of the above 15.
• On the bottom 70% of this paper – my entire tomorrow is broken up into “30 minute chunks”. I fill up these time slots on what I will work on at these times of the day. This is my map – this is what holds me accountable to myself. Whenever I’m jotting down my tasks for the next day, I can glance up at the top 30% of the paper and compare how this task ties in with my long term goals – it also allows me to prioritise each task.
• This way – when I open my Mac the next day, I already know what I need to start working on.
• My work desk also consists of a make-shift iPad stand which let’s me prop up a generation-1 iPad that I bought in the year 2011. This device serves just one function now – that of a large timer.
• Whenever I start any task (anything – be it me calling someone, someone calling me, my writing a proposal, replying to my email, writing a blog post, communicating with my team on Slack, etc) – I rush to start the clock to know how much time I will spend on that task.
• In my timesheet log, for each task I worked on, I scribble down a quick description of the task and how much time it took me to finish it.
• For the times when I travel, I carry my DAP in a A4 size folder which has a clipboard in it.
• Right before dinner, I spend 5 minutes writing in my journal – it’s a summary of how my day went and how I  could have done stuff better.
• Here’s what I realised after the first few days of writing in my journal – it started to depress me to write down how my day went. My journal entries looked like “complaints about my past 10 hours”. So I decided to incorporate some of the ideas of Tim Ferriss’s 5 minute journal into my journal entries.
• Basically, Tim says – Visit your journal twice a day; once in the morning – where you write down:
• • What 3 things that you’re grateful for?
  • What three things would make today great?
  • Jot down a few of your daily affirmations… then in the evening, you visit your journal again to list down:
  • 3 awesome things that happened today
  • How could I have made today even better?
• Finally, wherever I go, I always carry a small “waiters pad” with me – something that’ll fit in my shirts pocket or slide comfortably in my jeans. This is my idea pad. Any time I think of an idea, I have this pad handy to jot it down.
• An idea need not be a business idea – it could be an idea for a better way to do the work we do at Zindagi, an idea about a new blog post topic, something very operational which I would forget if I don’t get it down on paper immediately, etc.
• The “idea to have an idea pad” is borrowed from a man for whom I have a lot of respect. Best selling author and successful entrepreneur, James Altucher.

What do you think?

Too Jurassic?

Too Claustrophobic?

Summary

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs

“My mother said to me, “If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general, if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”

– Pablo Picasso