Lobotics X

This week to mark the end of the year and in the holiday spirit, our office had fun events throughout the week. Friday was "Desktop Decoration" and each of us was expected to do up our desktops to look good. The winner would be that person who not only made his workspace beautiful but also meaningful.

Saying my physical design skills are average would be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, I tried and got in little items to make my desktop look pretty. A bag of animals that belonged to my daughters from a couple of decades ago was laid out neatly to indicator team working together as a team in the jungle called Mumbai. I tried brightening it by getting an Amazing and Pretty Person behind my desk. Her holiday presence overpowered the decorations. But, I was told that it doesn't count.

I was not happy. My workspace looked good, but I didn't feel like it was exceptional. And then I hit upon an idea. I could write some stuff on the glass of my office since I couldn't draw. And so came up with stuff to write which I called, Lobotics X.

Lobotics X became a list of my 10 favorite inspired, original and misquotes.
 

Smile!
It improves your face value.

Think!
Very few people do.

Love Your
Self! Family! Work!

Listen!
There's a reason you have 2 ears. And only 1 mouth.

Aika Jagacha! Kara Manacha!
Listen to the world. But follow your heart.

when you want to do something,
Do It!
Don't talk about it.

Be Honest!
It makes great sense. And you don't have to remember the lies you told.
 

Be Kind!
That's the only thing people will remember.

Follow your Dreams!
No one else will.

Live Today!
Kya Pata. Kal ho na ho.

Happy Holidays. And Best Wishes for an Awesome & Amazing 2020
To your families, friends, near and dear ones and YOU!!

This is the last post for this year and decade. And marks 10 years since I started this blog. To all of the people who read this blog, Thank You. You inspire me to keep writing. Here's to the next 10!

Chintan Baithak

This week we had a reflective meeting at our office we called "Chintan Baithak". Chintan means Thought and Baithak a sit-down. I guess the closest translation would be a "Thought Sit-down" or a "Reflective Meeting".

Our goal was to reflect on the year that went by, identify strengths and weaknesses of ourselves and our colleagues and elaborate on them to each other. It was an extremely interesting session. I learned more about myself as perceived by others in the 3 hours than I had in the last decade.

Ironically there were several positives that I took for granted and didn't really value. And worryingly enough several negatives that I thought of as positives. What I thought I was doing and or communicating and what was perceived didn't seem to have any co-relation.  I was like a sponge taking all of this feedback being given by my colleagues.

The Chintan Baithak was an eye-opener. And a reminder that we need to pause once in a while, at least once a year and talk to people and listen to their point of view. And to their perception of our actions.

Correcting the perceptions and making minor modifications to correct the gap between the purpose of the action and its perception is relatively easy. Once you understand the gap. The major issue is knowing that a gap exists, what the gap is and finally analyzing why there is a perception difference between what you are trying to do and what you convey.

This led me to wonder if there was anything I could do to increase my self-awareness. And as almost always I found the magic talk on TED. And the title was exactly what I was looking for a quick fix. Check it out.

Increase your self-awareness with one simple fix
Tasha Eurich

"Self-awareness has countless proven benefits -- stronger relationships, higher performance, more effective leadership. Sounds pretty great, right? Here’s the bad news: 95% of people think that they’re self-aware, but only 10-15% actually are! Luckily, Tasha Eurich has a simple solution that will instantly improve your self-awareness. As a third-generation entrepreneur, Dr. Tasha Eurich was born with a passion for business, pairing her scientific savvy in human behavior with a practical approach to solving business challenges..."

Getting Things Done

Earlier this week during a meeting with a couple of colleagues, one of them asked me a question I was least expecting. "How have you managed to keep your weekly blog going for 10 years ?"

I was surprised. Pleasantly. Since I had no idea that anyone other than Freia and Reia even read my blog. He further went on to say that he had tried writing and it ended after 2 attempts. As was the case with several things that he did. He wanted to know the secret of being able to take up and do things you want to. Consistently over a period of time.

I mumbled a few tips and tricks that I had used over a period of time. And told him my experiences and how my kids nagging, or rather the fear of my kids nagging, kept me going. And while this is partially true, it set me thinking. Could there be a methodology to being able to do exactly what my colleague was trying. And if I could figure it out, it might help him. And me, since I too struggle with the exact same problem on several occasions.

Here are 8 things that I believe might help.

1. Have Realistic Goals.
The probability of success of any goal is determined when you set the goal. If you set unrealistic goals, you have guaranteed failure, even before you start.

Don't start with running a marathon. If you want to run a marathon, start with a 10K goal. And depending on how comfortable you were and whether you enjoyed it, you can bump it up to a Half marathon and then a marathon.

2. Divide the Goals.
Once you've set a realistic goal, divide that goal into mini goals. Then divide these into micro goals. These micro goals should have a high frequency. Daily or Weekly.

If you want to read 20 books in the year, divide the target into 10 books in 6 months. And 5 each quarter. And then 2 every month. And 1 every 2 weeks. And if you keep up and don't miss your fortnightly goal, you'll end up reading 26 books instead of 20.

3. Have a Monitor.
A monitor could be your spouse, your kids, your parents, your friends, your colleagues... Enabling someone else to monitor your progress and hold you accountable will do wonders. Especially if its someone you care for and don't want to disappoint.

In my case my kids monitor my weekly blog. And when I fall a little behind, I get the warning message. Or call. And am left with no option but to quickly catch up.

4. Reward yourself.
A reward is always an incentive to get something done. A reward on completion of something makes the task easier to do, since you're looking forward to the reward. Reward yourself for meeting your micro goals. And mini goals.

As an example, maybe you love watching movies, as I do and don't like reading fiction, as I don't. You could  link the two. At a 1:1 ratio. And only watch a movie for the extent of time that you have read, or like in my case listened to your wish-list of books. And the thought of watching the movies will show you interesting ways to get the reading done.

5. If you miss a goal, don't let it go.
It will happen sometimes, or possibly many times that you miss your weekly or monthly target.

Typically most people will justify the circumstances and say that they'll do it later. And then get into the habit of skipping the missed goal. Till the goal is abandoned. Get into the habit of completing past goals, even if the due date is past. It could be difficult. And painful. But once you get into the habit of not allowing yourself to skip, you'll have an additional incentive to get it done on time.

6. Measure your Progress.
You need to measure your micro progress. Which in turn measures your mini progress and your progress towards the goal.

Map your measurements to your plans. And share your progress periodically with your monitor. Chances are that she will be asking for progress reports regularly. All of this will make achieving your goals that much easier.

7. Re-calibrate. When required.
While setting goals there are occasions when we really don't know how much time or how difficult it's likely to be. When you find that your goals may not be realistic you may need to re-calibrate.

It's okay to accept that the goal was not practical. Life, work and family trump personal goals. And circumstances as well as time could sometimes make achieving the original goal impractical. That's when you re-calibrate. Using the new knowledge you now have. And go about achieving the new goal.

8. Make a Promise. Or have a Bet.
To whoever you believe in. Your God. Your mother. Your kids. Yourself. Or have a bet that you cannot afford to lose.

As humans we tend to be more aware and keep promises made to others than ourselves. And pride ourselves on not breaking our promises. While this may not be scientific and may even defy logic, it seems to work. And if that doesn't work, make a bet which you can't afford to lose. You'll figure out a way to get it done. Since you can't afford to lose.

Climate Change

It's always assumed that older people are mature and wise and responsible. And the younger group of people are immature, unwise and irresponsible. This is a stereotype that our grandparents had about their kids, our parents had about us and that most of us have about our kids.

I've always been surprised to find that this is untrue about the current generation of younger people which includes my kids, my nephews and nieces, my younger colleagues and most of the younger people I know either directly or indirectly.

And the one place in which this is obvious is Climate Change. I know that I've done very little about it. And don't know any of my relatives or friends who've done much. Even more worrying is that we haven't even thought about it.

At the same time I do know that a lot of the younger generation have been vocal about it and some of them have even done things to make a difference. The people I know have not yet done anything to make a major difference. But I'm a firm believer of "a little is better that nothing". And even if they're vocal about it, which very few of us were, they are definitely doing a better job than us.

The understanding of what's climate change, how it impacts us and what can we do about it has mostly been mired in political debate. The truth is that there is no real scientific debate on the subject. Most serious scientists are in agreement about the broad facts, the impact and possible solutions to slow down the impact.

Do have a look at 2 of the many amazing talks on Climate Change. It's made a difference to me. And in small ways doing the little I can. I hope you do too.

Why I must speak out about climate change
James Hansen
February 2012

Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.

The state of the climate — and what we might do about it
Lord Nicholas Stern
September 2014

How can we begin to address the global, insidious problem of climate change — a problem that's too big for any one country to solve? Economist Nicholas Stern lays out a plan, presented to the UN's Climate Summit in 2014, showing how the world's countries can work together on climate. It's a big vision for cooperation, with a payoff that goes far beyond averting disaster. He asks: How can we use this crisis to spur better lives for all?

Losing Weight

In Sep 2018, I had a bet with Frank that I would lose 7 lbs by the end of 2018. And another 10 lbs by Nov 30, 2019. Frank similarly committed to losing a total of 13 lbs, 4 and 9 lbs in the same period. We would owe the other $1,000 per lb that we fell short of.  Hence each of us could not control what we would win, but totally controlled what we could lose. The high stakes also meant that I could not afford to lose. And I was reasonably confident of making the goal.

In Dec 2018, I did manage to lose the 7 lbs. This wasn't easy and took a combination of dieting, exercising, and on a few days starving. I cut off all desserts and sodas and this definitely helped. Since I had a sweet tooth. And as Ivy put it, "Didn't know that water is the staple drink. Not Soda."

Come 2019 and all was forgotten. I did not go back to all of my bad habits, but as my weighing machine would testify, by end September I gained back all of the lost 7 lbs and a few extra lbs in interest.

2 months to go. And the 10 lbs I had to lose, had become 20. It seemed that there was no way I would make it. And I could not afford to not make it. Learning from my previous tryst with the weight loss, I decided to try and do it in a manner that I would be able to keep it off.

I made a plan. Actually I made 4 plans. Plan A, B, C & D. I was hoping and would do my best to achieve my goal with Plan A. Plan B, C & D were backups, since I wanted to do everything possible to not lose the bet.

Plan A consisted of 3 parts. What I called (Actually I just made it up now), the DEF Plan. Diet. Exercise. Frequency.

Diet
The Diet was a healthy diet. And it was as much as I wanted to. It was anything and everything. Except Desserts, Bread & Rice. Consisted mainly of salads, fruits, meats, veggies, ... I wasn't obsessed and on the several occasions that I had to go out for dinner or have a meal at a relative's or friends place, I would eat whatever was served. However, I was extremely disciplined when I was on my own. Which fortunately was most of the time.

Exercise
I would go for 1 hour on the Treadmill. On as many days as practical. Again while I tried to be disciplined, due to my schedule it wasn't always possible. I just did the best I could. On as many days as I could. And averaged 3 - 4 days a week.

Frequency
I was using the Intermittent Diet Methodology. I would try and have my dinner by 9 pm when I could. And I would as far as possible have my first solid food after noon. In the intermittent period, I would have Water (Yes, I finally discovered it), Club Soda (You can't disown Soda, can you ?), Green Tea and Black Coffee. Lots of the Coffee.

Around Nov 15, I was close. But, not close enough. I started ordering the items I needed to carry out Plans B and C. And researched where I could execute Plan D. Just because I was preparing for Plans B, C and D does not mean I gave up on A. I continued doing Plan A.

On Nov 21, when I woke up, I saw a WhatsApp message from Frank. With a picture of him having reached his goal. He now had a 3 lb allowance for Nov 30.

I felt the pressure. And weighed myself. And I couldn't believe what I saw. I too had reached my goal. And now I too had a 3 lb allowance for Nov 30. I was almost home. 9 days to go.

While I tried to keep up the tempo, the allowance made me lax. And did not lose any more weight. The good news was that I didn't put on any weight either.

I had not lost the Bet. But did lose a lot of weight in the process. And I hope to make this WhatsApp message to my family come true.
"Least weight in the last 20 years. Max weight of the next 20".