Final Report

 

So here it is! My final report card. Its almost two months since I first decided to get things in order and came up with 10 things I wanted to do before December and then go out for a 15 days holiday.

 

2 months down the line, and things have changed so much. What this exercise has taught me is that the world is full of uncertainty and we shouldn’t take anything for granted. But first of all, lets have a look at the final report card –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – Easily one of the most exciting and challenging task I’ve ever initiated. Setting up an end-to-end channel, which meant lead generation through internet and mobile, call center set-up for calling on those leads, and then documents pick form the respective cities, was a huge challenge. I did manage to set-up the entire model, and though the numbers aren’t happening, this project is one of the most talked about initiatives in my organisation.

1. Online budget tracker – I’ve set up a proper budget tracker but couldn’t get it online. It was too complicated to set up an online system on our intranet. Now all my regional marketing managers send me the updated tracker every week.

2. Loyalty Program – It was an ambitious project which I thought of in last quarter. But things have changed so drastically in last few months that we don’t require this program for at least another year or so.

    

3. Physical fitness – Two months of regular fitness activities and I know I’m much fitter now. I feel much better physically and I also have a toned up body. I know nobody will tell me to lose weight anymore

    

4. Books – I’m glad I did this. I Don’t waste my time on phone chatting or messaging people till morning anymore. Now I read before I hit the bed. In last two months, I read 5 books and the sixth one is also almost over. I finished reading ‘When a tree shook Delhi’, ‘The Afgan’, ‘The white tiger’, ‘The long tail’ and ‘India Unbound’.

    

5. Cooking – I can live on my own now. I can cook the basics

    

6. New dance / Language – A complete failure this one. Couldn’t even start (in fact I didn’t want to start before I knew I would be able to finish it).

    

7. Cuisine – From knowing nothing at all, now I can easily talk a lot about Chinese cuisine after ordering delicious food without even looking at the menu.

    

8. Discover new places in Mumbai – This was always going to be easy. Initially I wanted to explore at least 5 new places in Mumbai but in two months I explored more then 10 new places.

    

9. River rafting / para gliding – I know I would never have gone for rafting had I not included it in the list. Its just that I was too lazy to do anything like this. Para gliding didn’t happen but now I keep my eyes open for all other adventure outings like rappling and trekking. And I know very soon I’ll be out doing something like this on some weekend.

 

Last couple of months have been eventful to say the least. There have been many ups and downs both personally and professionally. When I thought of setting up the alternate channel, I never thought this will prove to be the turning point of my stint in my company. Thanks to this initiative, I can breath easy even now when people around me are feeling the heat, and I know it has made my year.

 

Almost two months of continuous jogging has made me fitter. I love this part of the day. So much so, that I got up early in the morning and went out jogging even when I went to Delhi for the weekend. Not because I had to – but I love doing it.

 

During this time, I read a lot. And there are few obvious merits of reading. Hence I’ll not even touch upon them. But I never thought my reading would help my employers save some money. I’m sure my telephone bill for these two months would be half of my previous bills. Instead of messaging and chatting for hours before sleep, I read now.

 

In fact, everything that I did, taught me a lot of things. And the blog did help me in reminding myself of my goals and the progress. So much so, that I’ve already started making a list of things I want to do this new year. And very soon, I’ll have my list of 10 things I want to do in 2009.

 

Progress report IV

 

Now when the festive mood is over, its business as usual. people are back from their holidays and there is a buzz in the air again. And thank gods for that – things were really boring for few days.

 

Coming back to my experiment (10 things to do before December), lets see the progress first, and then I’ll tell you how I feel about it.

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – Easily one of the most challenging task I’ve faced in recent times. Things are in place now – waiting for the numbers to happen. This might change the way we look at internet as a medium in my company.

2. Online budget tracker – I have to close this in November. At times its difficult to deal with the IT guys but there are no two ways about it. Guess its time to pull up my socks and make sure that it happens at any cost

3. Loyalty Program – Don’t see it happening. At times you feel helpless – this was a very ambitious project but thanks to the recession, not many seem interested at this point of time

4. Physical fitness – The best part of my experiment. Though I didn’t go for jogging a couple of times, I make it a point to take out some time and atleast work out at home

5. Books – I have already read three books – When a tree shook delhi, The Afgan and The white tiger. I’ve started “The long Tail”. Its on internet and its future

6. Cooking – As mentioned in my last report, I’ve removed ‘made new friends’ from the list and added cooking to it. And I’m glad to announce that I managed my first Daal and rice this weekend. Will learn how to cook chicken this week

7. New dance / Language – Given up on this. Simply because of lack of time. To do a basic course in Salsa, I require atleast 14 classes. I don’t have so many weekends before my december deadline gets over. But I promise I’ll learn Salsa once I’m back from my holiday in December

8. Cuisine – Since I’ve become very health conscious these days, I’ve decided not to have spicy Chinese food very often. But I already know a lot about Chinese cuisine by now

9. Discover new places in Mumbai – I did go to a lot of places last week. But only one of them was a ‘new’ place for me. Ironically, I’ve been staying in Mumbai for so many years now but I went to the famous “Bade Miyaan” joint last week

10. River rafting / para gliding – Done with rafting – para gliding and trekking shall happen this month. Though I already have some plans for this week end and its my best friend’s birthday next week end. So I guess this will have to wait for some more time

 

Halfway through the experiment, and I’m already glad I decided to do it. My life has become much better now. Work-wise, the internet channel is proving to be a great challenge and might go a long way if I manage the numbers.

 

I have cut down on my coffees or shakes thanks to my jogging routine. Instead of meeting people for coffee or other stuffs, I finish my work early and rush home, so that I can go for my jogging.

 

And instead of wasting my time over phone, I read before i hit the bed. No more messaging and chatting on phone till early morning now – though I’ve lost some ‘budding’ friendships because of this, but I’m happy anyways.

 

I’ve literally lived in town for almost a year but I had never been to “Bade Miyaan”. Back then, I was more then happy with Leopold, Mondygar and our favorite restaurant next to the sea. But going all the way to “Bade Miyan” at 2 in the morning and then having that amazing Chicken Tandoori was an experience itself.

 

So, overall, my life is much better now and I feel good about myself. I also did a shoot after almost two years. It was for a print campaign for an NGO called ‘Disha’. They wanted a male model and the agency approached me. Though I had a total of 4 shots, it took me hours to complete two shots. The other two are still due and shall complete them next week sometime.

 

And there is a sad news. Turbo died yesterday (If you still don’t know, Turbo was the name given to one of the fishes I had – the other one is Xeta) I don’t know how it happened. But when I got up in the morning today, she was dead. I’m planning to get a couple of more fishes to accompany Xeta. Though during one of my house parties last week, a friend of mine begged to add some alcohol to the fish bowl. This was at around 3 in the morning when everyone was high and they wanted to see how the fishes react. Thankfully, I wasn’t high and somehow convinced them to leave the fishes alone.

 

And in all probability, I’ll get two more fishes today. The problem is that I’ll again have to think of more names now.

 

Progress report – III

 

Its that time of the year when nobody wants to work. Everyone around you is in festive mood and the last things that he/she wants is to talk about work. And this mood is very contagious.

 

I had a tough time myself. You don’t feel like doing anything when you see everyone around you in the holiday mood. But I did manage few interesting and good things this week.

 

Out of the 10 things I decided to do, the new sales channel and the physical fitness part have become my obsession now. And I’m loving every bit of it. Lets see where do I stand now at the end of November –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – This is very challenging and turning out to be good fun. Visiting the Call Centre has been a great experience and I’ll discuss that later on. Being a Diwali week, the progress in terms of lead generation and disbursal hasn’t been great. But I guess the time has come now – wait for the next week report

    

2. Online budget tracker – A new proposal has been made and sent to the IT team. Awaiting their revert on it

3. Loyalty Program – Tough times for such an ambitious project. Though my Boss is with me on this, we are having a tough time justifying it to the senior management

    

4. Physical fitness – Loving every moment of it. I have been very regular and doing it diligently. I’ve shifted my focus a bit and now I’m doing some weight training also ( afterall, I need to tone up a bit). Though I’ve always believed that there are only two types of people (apart from the professional body builders) who want to show off their body. The first type are the film stars and the second type consist of the ‘wannabe’s’

    

5. Books – I’m done with “The Afgan”. It was an amazing book and I intent to read it once more very soon. Due to the book, I also read a lot about the Taliban and and the so called ‘jihad’. Will talk about these later sometime

    

6. New Friends – I’ve learnt one thing from this exercise. You can force yourself to make good friends. You just meet people who can or cannot be your friends. Though I keep meeting new people but I don’t think I can make good friends for the sake of doing it. So, I’m removing this from my list and I’ll add another one instead. I’ll learn to cook. More information on this will come next week

    

7. New dance / Language – Going by the current situation, I guess learning Marathi would be a great (life saving) idea Anyways, my friend has already figured out some Kaytee’s salsa classes and we shall start next week

    

8. Cuisine – Being a Diwali week, I stayed away from Chinese food. Though I plan to learn how to cook Chinese food

    

9. Discover new places in Mumbai – Add Sahara Star’s Lagoon Lounge to the list. And this is by far one of the best places I’ve been to. Overall, the place is much better then the two places I visited before this.

    

10. River rafting / para gliding – As mentioned earlier, I went for river rafting last to last week and loved it. planning to go for para gliding and trekking this month

 

From the beginning itself I knew few things would be very difficult. Specially when a lot depends on external factors. I’m glad the 40Mn channel thing is shaping up well but I’m finding it difficult to start the other two (professional) things.

 

As mentioned, I’ve removed ‘make new friends’ and added ‘cooking’ instead to my list as I don’t want to force myself to make new friends.

 

And yeah, during the Diwali cleaning, I came across a lot old cloths and other things which were kept inside somewhere. The cloths went to an NGO near my house (lovely place – will talk about it sometime). I also found one small Fish bowl and decided to use it. So, I went and bought two gold fishes and hence I’ve two fishes staying with me. Everyday before coming to office, I give them some food and its always good to see them swimming around in the bowl when when I get back home.

 

I’m thinking about naming them now. I thought of a few names but still not sure. But atleast I’ve two new friends staying with me.

 

Progress report – II

 

I’m already into the third week of my “10 things to do before December” experiment, and my life has become more interesting now. Though I’m not sure if its because of the experiment or some other reason, but the last few days have been exciting to say the least.

 

From partying till 5 in the morning – to almost being “picked up” by two women after the party – to enjoying every bit of rafting which almost looked like a disaster at one point of time (give me more such weekends), last week was full of action and fun.

 

Though few things are looking increasingly difficult, I’m on my way to finish few things much before the December deadline. Here is how I stand after two weeks of my experiment –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – Just when you think the most difficult part is over, something else comes up which looks like an uphill task. The good news is that I’ve managed to start the channel. Call Centre is in place, I’ve hired people in the 6 cities, media is in place and calling has also started. Now the major challenge is to make sure that things are working the way they should and we manage to clock 40Mn in next 2 months.

 

1. Online budget tracker – The tech team has rejected my plan. Now I’m working on preparing a sheet myself which can be installed on the intranet – still in the planning stage

    

2. Loyalty Program – There is a lot of pressure on the cost front. I’m still negotiating with the agency on the overall spends. The blueprint is ready and I just need senior management’s approval on this. This will go very high up in the hierarchy for the approval

    

3. Physical fitness – Though I was not as regular as I should be, but its because I was too tired after the party on Friday and then had to go out rafting on Sunday. So, I missed out on Saturday and Sunday

 

1. Books – After completing “When a tree shook Delhi”, I’m halfway through “The Afgan”. Again, this week this activity took some beating as I had a hectic week

 

1. New friends – I did meet few new people this week. Though I guess I missed out on two women who looked more then interested, I did meet 3 very interesting and nice people when i went river rafting

 

1. New dance / language – This is one task which looks very difficult given the time frame. This one requires time and I only get time on weekends. But then weekend is the only time I get for other activities. I’m not trying to justify my failure till now, neither am i suggesting that I’ve given up on this. I promise I’ll try and give you some good news in my next progress report

 

1. Cuisine – Continuing my effort to learn more about Chinese food, I went to 5 spices in Bandra for lunch. And by the way, did you guys know that in a Chinese meal, each individual diner is given his or her own bowl of rice while the accompanying dishes are served in communal plates (or bowls) that are shared by everyone sitting at the table. In the Chinese meal, each diner picks food out of the communal plates on a bite-by-bite basis with their chopsticks

 

1. Discover new places in Mumbai – I had promised myself to discover 5 new places in Mumbai. 2 weeks into my experiment and I’ve already discovered 2 new places to hang out in Mumbai. Last week, I went to JW Marriot’s Lotus Cafe and this week, I had dinner at Sun & Sand and loved the sea side view

 

1. River rafting / para gliding – Done with river rafting. It was great fun and I loved every bit of it. So much so, that I wouldn’t mind doinf it over and over again. Infact, I’m already looking out for people who would do it with me again. Para gliding is scheduled for first week of November and i’m really looking forward to it.

 

All in all, if I look back at these two weeks, I’m happy with my progress. The only disappointment till now has been the dance/language thing. As I mentioned, I’ll try and do something about it this week.

 

Last but not the least, I’m enjoying everything that I’m doing. These are the few things I always wanted to do but never really pushed myself to do them. I’m glad I decided to do this experiment.

 

Progress report – 1

 

Its more then a week since I decided the 10 things I wanted to do before December. And this is my first progress report. And trust me guys, its not as simple as it sounds. But I would like to believe that I’ve done a good job in the first week and shall carry on with the same dedication before the deadline.

 

So, here is my progress in the first week of my experiment –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – This is one of the most challenging task. The idea is to set up a whole new process for “unconventional” channels like internet or mobile. The Call Centre set up is done and I’m in the process of hiring FOS in the top 6 cities. The media plan is also ready and I expect to start it this week

    

2. Online budget tracker – This is an internal process and might be painful. I’ve initiated the process though I’m not very sure how much time will it take

    

3. Loyalty Program – This is one project I really want to do. Imagine a 100Mn loyalty program for my DMAs all across the country. I’ve the blueprint ready with me. And I’ve also roped in country’s best CRM and DM agency for this

    

4. Physical fitness – This is definitely the most enjoyable among the lot. I’m loving every moment of it. I go to a park close to Inorbit Mall for jogging and then do some weight training after that. I also went for swimming twice in between

    

5. Books – I’ve never been an avid reader. But now I read for atleast an hour before I sleep (and I feel its better then talking over phone till midnight). I’ve already completed “When a tree shook Delhi”. I started “The Afgan” yesterday

    

6. New friends – To be honest, this is a very tough ask, specially when you hardly get time to socialize. But I have time till December and I know I’ll manage.

    

7. Dance / language – I’m very excited about this one and looking forward to it. In all probability, I’ll go for Salsa classes. Infact, I’ve already asked Ships and this other friend of mine to find out the details

    

8. Cuisine – This was not very tough. Incidentally, two of my ex girlfriends were crazy about Chinese food. And after a very long time, I swapped my credit card at Mainland China

    

9. Discover new places in Mumbai – As mentioned earlier, its difficult to discover “new” places in Mumbai. But I did discover a new Movie theater in Bandra. Me and Ships went to this very “shady” movie theater to watch Daniel Craig’s movie

    

10. River rafting / paragliding – Almost went for River rafting this weekend but couldn’t get the bookings done. Infact, most of the guys are excited about this particular piece and we shall go this weekend

 

It has been an exciting week to say the least. It was somehow different from the normal. The small “multiplex” in bandra reminded me of few of the movie theaters in small towns. Pillow fight in between a Movie was funny to say the least. Infact, at one point of time, I did think about a trip to Singapore also.

 

The stage is set now and I’m sure I’ll be able to finish all the 10 tasks before the December deadline and shall be able to go on my well deserved vacation.

 

10 things to do before the new year

“We all work hard today for a better tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will say the same thing to ourselves and this will go on. We will keep working hard, making our today difficult, for a better tomorrow which never comes.”

 

And I guess I’ve had enough of this. I wish I could leave everything, pack my bags, and travel all around the world seeing new places and meeting new people. I know I cannot do this now. But there is hardly anything I’m doing anyways. I work the whole day, go back home, meet few friends at times, go out on dates few times, go to parties on weekends, or just watch TV the whole day.

 

But I want to do new things now. There are so many options but I’m content with the life that I live. So, I’ve decided I’ll try and change few things. I’ll do new things and try and make my life more interesting.

 

So, I thought of few things that I would like to do in the near future (when tomorrow comes), and do these things now and not wait for the tomorrow which never comes. Hence, here are the few things that I’ll do before this year ends.

 

I’ll go out on a vacation of at least 15 days in December – and hence, I’ve set short term goals for myself so that I can complete them before I go out on a vacation. Though I don’t want to discuss my professional life, I’ve also included my short term professional goals in the list. These are the things I will do before I go out on my vacation –

 

Professional –

• I’ll set up a 40Mn/month channel from alternate sources (internet, mobile, etc)

• Set up an online budget tracker for my regional marketing spends.

• Start the Loyalty program for my 4000 DMAs in the country

 

Personal –

• Will give at least an hour to physical fitness everyday – already started – went for swimming this weekend

• Read at least 4 books – any four books to start with – started with “When a tree shook Delhi” on the weekend

• Make 10 new “good friends” – Men & women

• Learn a new language / any form of dance – this seems difficult because of lack of time – but I’ll try, I don’t promise

• Learn about new cuisines – am not a foodie – but I’ll develop taste for new cuisines

• Discover 5 new places in Mumbai – to eat and to party – though there is hardly anything left to “discover”

• Go for river rafting and / or para gliding

 

I also wanted to add few more things but I guess I shall start with these. These are very simple goals which are very much achievable till December. I might add few things in between but I’ll not remove anything from the agenda.

 

I’ll give the updates on the things and my progress at least twice a week. I shall complete all of these so that I can go on my vacation peacefully. Once, this is done, I already have things in mind – things I would do from January to April.

 

PROGRESS REPORT – 1

PROGRESS REPORT – II

PROGRESS REPORT – III

PROGRESS REPORT – IV 

FINAL REPORT