business models that i love July 16, 2008
Posted by deepali in corporate america.1 comment so far
I have been thinking lately about the products I use and what value I see in them. It occurred to me that there are a few that I picked up on a whim, and have now become indispensable. In my mind, this is an important component of a successful product – being able to integrate into someone’s life without effort.
So here are the products that lately been of value:
1. Pandora Radio. A lot of my friends have been using this for a while, and I’ve only just jumped on the bandwagon. Recently, I realized that one of the first things I do when I arrive in the office is go to Pandora’s website and start my musical adventure. I didn’t even notice when that happened, but it is generally the second or third tab in my browser (after my timesheet and gmail). For those who aren’t familiar with Pandora – it’s internet radio that helps you identify new (and old) artists that are similar to ones that you pre-select as favorites. Right now, I’m listening to “Alice Russell radio”.
2. Whole Foods. Call me a sucker, but I love good customer service. I like to walk into a place and have the people working smile and be friendly. I am even more pleased when I ask a question and they can actually answer it. And I love one-stop shopping. I can go to Whole Foods for groceries, lunch, conveniences, birthday cards, a quick drink, etc. They are also, for the most part, in line with my values. With a few exceptions, I don’t worry about the products they offer. I know they were produced in an ethical and sustainable way. Plus the vegan raw garlicky kale is my favorite food right now.
3. Facebook. This is another one that took me a while to get into. But when I finally did, I realized that it’s also a great one-stop shop. I can stay in touch with friends, I can see what people are up to, I can plan parties and events, I can keep track of birthdays. Right now, I’m excited about the DC Acro Yogis and their awesome flying pictures!
4. Backcountry.com. I’m not into buying a lot of things right now, but Backcountry has pretty much everything I need for outdoors activities. In addition, they run Steep and Cheap, a great place for deals. It also helps that I get a discount. But I really love their customer service (I’m sensing a theme).
Next up, the companies that drive me nuts!
rethinking goals July 15, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals, personal growth.add a comment
I’ve learned a little something about myself this week. If I set a daily easy goal, I have little trouble accomplishing it. Even easier is if it is a weekly goal that requires a certain number of days (ie, yoga 4x a week). It becomes a daily-weekly hybrid with flexibility.
But what about a goal like “write an outline”? That’s a monthly goal of mine, but one that is coming dangerously close to not being met. What I need to do is make it more actionable on a daily basis, so I have something to track over the month. Since I’m still in the data extraction process, I can break it down into reading X number of reports a day. When it comes to the actual outline, I can count the number of sections needed (it’s a research paper, so it’s fairly standard) and maybe plan for a certain number of sections completed a day.
The important thing is that I add some concrete accountability to my goals. Otherwise, they don’t really get done (as I’m learning!). So tonight, I’m going to sort through what I have and have not done, and then work my way through the number of days left to work out some daily goals.
How do you work out your goals?
july goals check-in: week 2 July 13, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals.add a comment
I worked too much this week which didn’t leave much time for my goals:
1. Climb 2x a week. I made it to the gym once, which wasn’t bad after a long weekend climbing trip.
2. Practice yoga 3-4x a week. I think I did yoga once this week? Not so great.
3. Walk to work 3-4x a week. I did this only twice.
4. Have a strong outline for my thesis. Still data mining!
a random sort of epiphany July 13, 2008
Posted by deepali in misc.2 comments
You know that your job is your career is your life when you start using the methodology you use at work in your personal life.
Advice is officially useless to me unless you have some population-based data and statistical analysis to back it up.
always do what you are afraid to do July 11, 2008
Posted by deepali in budget, goals, happiness, personal growth, travel.4 comments
I spent the past week reading articles and posts about the economic downturn and its impact on people’s lives. It makes me start to wonder if leaving my job (right after getting a promotion + 10% pay raise) is such a smart idea. Certainly, my mom is freaking out about it.
In addition, I’ll be on a fellowship salary while in Mongolia, which is a major major paycut (like 75%). On the upside, the cost of living is much lower, so even though I might not be able to contribute to my retirement savings, I am not likely to go into debt.
I also plan to travel afterwards, which means I’ll be without any income whatsoever for almost 6 months (unless I can find something simple somewhere, such as teaching English).
Financially speaking, it seems almost silly. I’m taking a paycut, I won’t be contributing to retirement, and I won’t even have a salary for a while. I also will be eating up my savings quite a bit. If I were just out of college, it might make more sense, but I’m 30 and at a point where I should be more “settled” (as my mom likes to point out).
But some things, I think, can’t be measured in terms of finances (or even common sense, perhaps). Some things require a leap of faith and trust in long-term gain. This fellowships fills a critical gap in my work experience, and that it is with a prestigious institution will only open doors wider.
I am committed to my career path now. I could take an easier path and stay at my current job and still do relatively well. But I’d like to move beyond that and do something bigger. And for that, I need this fellowship and the future opportunities it brings. I also need some time to travel unencumbered with work constraints.
On the plus side, my financial issues will be clear. I’ll have renters in the condo, I’ll be debt-free, and I’ll sell most of my belongings. I’ll also have a healthy amount in my savings account. And, luckily, I’ve been very good about thinking about retirement savings for the past 10 years (thanks mom!), so I’m in very good shape now so that one or two years missed will not be a real problem.
And being in an LDC means I don’t have to worry about as much stuff. If anything, that’s the best part about this!
So it’s really not that big of a leap of faith, and from my perspective, not at all nonsensical. It is, however, a step outside the comfort zone. But as I think about more, I am less and less afraid of making a bad choice. For now, I am confident that this is definitely the next step for me.
out of clutter find simplicity July 8, 2008
Posted by deepali in happiness, personal growth, travel.10 comments
Lately I’ve been pondering my forthcoming flight from this city, and what that means in more practical terms. Specifically, what I am going to do about the place I live, about my rental property, about all my stuff.
In the past year or so, I’ve decluttered to some extent, but I’ve also picked up some new items. The difference this time is that the new items are essential and thought-out – they weren’t impulse buys to sit in a box for years.
As the pile of stuff dwindles, I find myself with fewer things to worry about. More importantly, I find that I worry about more important things. Without a car, I don’t fret about car repairs. This leaves me more time to spend on interpersonal repairs.
Last year, when I had plumbing issues in the condo, I found that I spent a lot of time dealing with that issue, to the detriment of my work commitments. As someone who always has too much on her plate, this type of distraction can be very devastating.
I would love to sell the condo, but this is not a good time. So for now, I’m hoping to find renters who would do a 2-year lease. I’m willing to lower the price and lose any profit in the hopes of reducing some stress and hassle in my life. I would set up a system whereby they could handle maintenance issues and I would be billed directly (or they could take it out of the rent). In this way, I hope to find a little more simplicity.
Another thing I’ve discovered lately about simplicity is that it means that everything doesn’t need my full attention all the time. I have learned to prioritize, mostly based on deadlines. This means that even though I will want to sell furniture, I don’t need to worry about that immediately. It is freeing to put that at the very bottom of my to-do list.
My life will never be simple, in terms of what I do and what I want to do. But it can be simple in terms of where I focus my attention.
july goals check-in: week 1 July 7, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals.2 comments
1. Climb 2x a week. I made it to the gym once, and then I went on an outdoor climbing trip for 3 days. Check!
2. Practice yoga 3-4x a week. I only made it twice this week, but that’s mostly because of going out of town mid-week.
3. Walk to work 3-4x a week. I did this either 3 or 4 times, so check!
4. Have a strong outline for my thesis. Am still working through the research part….
mid-year resolutions check-in July 3, 2008
Posted by deepali in goals.2 comments
So my mid-year check-in should actually have occured mid-May, but better late than never!
The goals I set for this year and how I’m doing:
- Take the lead class in February. This did not happen due to an injury. I’m now eyeing August for this.
- Pay down all my debt and start aggressively saving. I’m a month away from being debt-free and I’ve got a decent cushion in savings. I also started contributing to my 403b.
- Practice Level 3 yoga regularly. Not there yet. Maybe by the end of the year?
- Take a vacation. A real vacation. I went to Malaysia and Cambodia and had a great time. I’m also going on a climbing trip this weekend, and hopefully going to San Francisco and Utah later this year.
- Finish classes and my thesis and graduate! Finished my classes! And am on track to have a draft of my thesis by mid-August.
- Learn to manage anger properly. Hit or miss with this one.
- Lose 10 lbs. I will not repeat the plan I had for this; suffice to say it was highly unrealistic. I haven’t actually lost any weight since the beginning of the year (but haven’t gained any either!), so I’m trying to buckle down on this.
Resolutions #2, #4 and #5 are on automatic, so I’m not really thinking about them except to keep doing what I’m doing. #1, #3, and #7 are part of my current monthly goal setting, so I am focusing on the month-to-month. That leaves me to develop some strategies for #6. Help?
In addition, I have to add a few new goals:
- Learn Mongolian. I have to at least be familiar with grammar and basic vocabulary.
- Develop my project(s). I will have two projects in Mongolia, so I need to work out some detailed plans for them (which includes additional funding for one of them).
july goals July 2, 2008
Posted by deepali in carnival, goals.1 comment so far
My July goals (the first three are adapted from previous months):
1. Climb 2x a week. I’ve stopped being overly ambitious about this, and am just going to aim for 2x a week. By the end of the month, I will be flashing 5.9s.
2. Practice yoga 3-4x a week. I’ll include restorative and nidra yoga in this, once a week. I am really trying to make my yoga practice stronger because I’ve noticed some definite improvement in flexibility lately.
3. Walk to work 3-4x a week. This is proving to be a great frugal hack, since I don’t have to pay for transportation.
4. Have a strong outline for my thesis. Breaking this down further – finish research by the 18th, giving me two weeks to develop an outline that I can write the thesis from.
And in other news, I’m in three carnivals this week:
Festival of Frugality at Budgets are Sexy
Carnival of Money Stories at My Good Cents
Carnival of Personal Finance at Greener Pastures (love this theme!)
