Author: alearningaday

I’ve had a very inspiring last 12 hours as I just interviewed Dan Pink (“A Whole New Mind,” “Drive,” and “To Sell is Human”) and Patricia Ryan Madson (“Improv Wisdom”). These interviews will be up on RealLeaders.tv in the coming week and I’m looking forward to revisiting some of the great ideas both of them have shared.

For today, I’d like to leave you with an idea from Patricia Madson – notice your gifts. We can all get so wound up in our world and our problems that we forget to notice the number of gifts we receive every day. There’s a farmer toiling many thousands of miles away thanks to whom we have food on our table. We use technology created by others in large parts of our days. All of what we use in a day is created by someone else, managed by someone else, and improved by someone else for our benefit.

Take 5 minutes to notice these gifts today and say thank you where possible. Writing thank you notes is amongst the best things we can do..

I experienced bad service at a hotel the other day and pointed it out to the manager. The manager apologized and said my next meal would be on them. That’s it. Problem solved.

This may be much better than most services that put you through bad customer service and do nothing to make you feel better. But, it does surprise me that we think that throwing money at the problem is a solution.

You were treated badly? Sorry about that – your next drink is on me. Problem solved.

Does throwing money at a problem ever help? Does taking your spouse or girlfriend out for an expensive meal ever solve an underlying issue?

Money is a tool. It can help. But, what we’re really looking for is care and attention. If we can’t get that sorted, money only aggravates the problem.

(On a hilarious note, the hotel ended up charging for my next meal anyway and I was too tired to point it out. So much for the communication between the manager and the rest of the hotel)

At my previous apartment, I set up my WIFI router once and never touched it for the rest of the time I lived there. It always worked. I just had to switch it off when I was traveling and switch it back on.

The last month has been a different matter. The modem is connected via a cable modem connected by the cable in the picture below and what I’ve understood so far from our service provider’s tech support is that it frequently results in a loose contact.

So, every time there’s a loose contact, it requires a tightening and a switch off/on. Sometimes, a simple switch off/on will do. I have tried switching cables, applying duct tape on them to hold current position, etc. This is pretty frustrating and if any of you know the solution to this, I would appreciate it.

I realize I’ve learnt 2 things from this experience. First, true empathy comes from failure. It’s hard to empathize with someone who is going through difficulty if you’ve had it easy. Six months ago, I had very less empathy for WIFI issues but now, I can feel the pain.

Second, as frustrating as this is, this is still a first world problem. There are many who’d love to have problems like this. Worth scheduling a daily reminder on our phones to remind us of this from time to time. Perspective is what we need most.

A manager I worked with recommended the following plan-the-day structure (screenshot below) as a way of keeping track of everything you’d like done in a day.  In addition to that, he rightly pointed out that I didn’t keep an archive of tasks done to refer to in case it was ever necessary (like I might have done if I were using a notebook).

I have been using this over the past 2 months and I have found the in-built archiving feature useful since I automatically create a new page for a new day by copying the previous day’s page and making edits. While his structure was a sketch in his notebook, I’ve been using Microsoft OneNote – I’m a huge OneNote fan and here again, it is perfectly suited to this need.

Overall, I’ve been happy with this system and it’s definitely help me keep things organized and focused. In case you’re open to trying out a new system, I hope it helps you too!

Sometimes, showing up is awfully hard. Monday mornings have that effect on us. Maybe that’s why Woody Allen attributed 80% of success to showing up.

When you’re stuck wondering whether to do what you want or what you committed to, remind yourself that “want” is very short term. Notice how a good wake up song and some water on your face make you ready for a day when you might have considered staying in bed just 5 minutes back?

Doing what you don’t want to do is a big part of showing up. And developing the habit of showing up is as big a long term win as you can find.

This week’s learning is part 3 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2)

Thanks to frequent warring among Italian states, rich citizens in Florence lent money to the government and received interest in return. These investors were then allowed to sell their bonds to other invest, thus creating a “market” for these government bonds.

We are all affected by the bond markets in 3 ways –

1) Most of the money we put away for our retirement are reinvested in the bond markets
2) A fall of value of government bonds results in higher interest rates resulting in painful consequences for borrowers. Let me explain that –

Let’s assume you own Japanese government bonds worth $100,000 dollars that normally gives interest of 1.5% (=$1,500). Now, the Japanese economy is doing well and the markets value these bonds at $102,000. Thus, the interest rate goes down to 1.47% (1,500/102,000) to compensate. Similarly, if the Japanese economy is doing badly or if investors fear a Japanese default, the value of these bonds will go down so the investors get a price that compensates the risk they take.

If the goes down to $80,000, the new interest rate is 1,500/80,000 = 1.88%. All of a sudden, the whole Japanese economy suffers a massive rise in interest rates. Thus, the bond markets control every price of stock, mortgage, or loan you pay! And the power in the bond markets is that it can punish poor financial regulation by reducing value of bonds, raising interest rates, and thus, making a deficit even harder to meet.

Sketch by EB

Thus, a downward move by the bond market leaves the government with 3 options –

1) Default on a part of its debt realizing the bond market’s worst fears
2) Reduce expenditures to appease it
3) Increase income by raising taxes

While bonds were created to control government spending, it has ended up dictating it in a crisis.

And, like the Bond created by Ian Fleming, it has the license to kill.

There are many movies, books, and blog posts that talk about the importance of savoring time with our loved ones. I’m not sure how many of those have any real impact. And I’m not sure how many of us savor it nearly as much as we should.

I’ve had long stints away from my loved ones for many years now. First, thanks to education and then work. The ‘loved one’ group has expanded from family to include many close friends (framily). These stints will soon get tougher now that I’m married. But, they do add so much perspective as I realize that the real time I get to spend with those I love is very limited and I’ve got to make the best of them. The trips back may be short in length but they can be very meaningful.

That’s my goal for this 2 week trip with a short trip back with family included. Life isn’t short but moments where we are truly alive can be woefully short if we aren’t conscious about how we spend our time. So I’m very excited about making it meaningful, and looking forward to savoring every moment.

If/when you meet your loved ones this weekend, I hope you’ll lead the way with lots of big tight hugs. Life is all about creating moments and we get very few with those we love. Make it meaningful. Savor it.

Now that all the noise about the iOS7 and iPhone 5S/C launches have died down, I’d like to share my vote for the best part of the launch. While I’ve enjoyed iOS7 so far, my vote for best feature is iTunes Radio hands down.

I honestly can’t get enough of it. I believe music listeners are of 2 kinds – ones who love to own their music and ones who don’t care. The latter have the likes Spotify taking care of their needs while the former have options of buying CDs/MP3s from Amazon or from iTunes.

I had decided to invest in all media on iTunes but I was stuck with a problem over the past few months – discovery. I had a very random method of discovery – the largest sources of which were a couple of friends who used to send me good songs to listen to. I used to occasionally check out Grooveshark’s “most popular” list to figure out what’s new and popular. But, no more Grooveshark after 100% legal of course.

To cut a long story short, after many attempts at finding new good songs, iTunes Radio has been a blessing over this past week. After fiddling around with various stations, I searched for Coldplay and found a Coldplay station that plays songs similar to Coldplay. As you listen, you have 2 very powerful options –

1. Play songs like this one. Their algorithms must be very good because by the 3rd day of doing this often, 1 in every 3 songs were songs I already owned! They’re “getting” what I like listening to most of the time. I’d like my Avicii station to do better but I guess it’s still work in progress.

2. Add to iTunes wish list. After a bulk buy of music, I’ve been spending most of my monthly budget on TV shows/movies since. Now, all of a sudden, I have 20+ songs on my wish list and this isn’t going to stop any time soon. What a fantastic business idea!

In short, I love iTunes Radio and I hope you give it a shot.

A footballer is only as good as his last game. If his last game was bad, he might not even get a chance to play the next. You don’t earn your salary because of the value you’ve added in your life to date. You earn it because of the value you added last month and the expectation on the amount of value you will add only goes up.

Not learning or growing on the job might have been an option when all workers were standing on an assembly line. It is not an option now.

Learn and get a shot at playing the next game or watch someone with more hunger take your place.

So, what are you learning on the job that’s making you better?

Dramatic headline, I know. Allow me to explain.

I was in the midst of a really crap day a few days back. There were a couple of things that just seemed to be going against what I’d hoped for and this was compounded by a few minor annoyances that always loom like mountains on a bad day. I wasn’t feeling all that great either – I’d initially thought this was more mental than physical but I realized later it was a case of food poisoning and took me the best part of the day to recover.

I remember taking stock at mid-day and asking myself what my learning was for the day. I spent a few minutes thinking of something profound I’d learnt.

It turns out there was no profound lesson. I just learnt that some days..well..suck. It’s just part of life.

The moment I realized that, my focus shifted to getting done with work for the day and catching some sleep. If possible, also indulging myself in something that would take my mind off things (this didn’t happen). The day didn’t get better but the next day sure improved. On some days, that’s a big enough win. 

And, on a related note, when I’m not feeling all that good, I drink a lot of hot water. It seems to have a therapeutic effect. Do give it a shot.