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I love web apps, everything Apple, post-work martinis, good seafood, dark chocolate, coffee, Mumbai city and living well.
I am the founder of DeskAway, a simple yet powerful web-based work tracking tool. DeskAway is ranked in the top 30 hottest startups in India by TataNEN.
Things have worked out kinda well, for instance...recently, I have been named a Paragon 100 Fellow (Asia’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and social change makers), shortlisted in BusinessWorld's Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs in India, featured on the cover of India Today Aspire (The Young Guns), showcased on CNBC's prestigious TV show 'Young Turk Innovators' and interviewed in VentureBeat and NYTimes by a prominent Silicon Valley journalist.
I am currently working on a book on Web 2.0 & SaaS to be published in late 2010.
I often reminisce about the best 7.5 years spent in Chapel Hill, NC.
When not in front of the computer, I spend my time reading, writing, playing golf, tennis (am a Federer fan), doing yoga thrice a week, and traveling to distant places (love Mykonos and the rest of the Med. coast) with my wife and family.
I believe in doing what you enjoy even if it is different and doesn't pay you well in the beginning. Setting off on your path is more important than following the herd. It is extremely important to be happy at the end of each day.
This is an updated stream of my work+life activities of a life in progress.
Just got back from an amazing trip to Mauritius - an island in the Indian Ocean. One week of just clear turquoise waters, sun, sand, surf, Mauritian Phoenix draft beer in the afternoon, aperitifs in the evening, some tennis, a couple of spa experiences and a daily exceptional gastronomical experience!
I am a sucker for beach vacations. This one was a truly remarkable getaway to pause, clear my mind, rejuvenate, refresh and to give work/life its true meaning.
Time blocking is a technique I used while writing my book. I would finish all office work before 2pm and then either seclude myself in my cabin or head to the Kala Ghoda Cofee shop to write till about 6pm. This helped me prioritize DeskAway stuff every day (since I now did not have all day to mull over certain things) and give only importance to the things that mattered!
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I think the key to a happy life is being content with who you are and where you are right now. Life is an awesome journey. That is not to say that you should settle for average or a life you are not happy with. You can and should work hard to where you want to be, to achieve your goals and dreams, but don't wish away the present moment for some future happiness that you think you will achieve by copying someone else's lifestyle. That is the recipe for waking up one day when you are 40 years old and realizing that you spent your life chasing happiness, while you had the means to be happy all along.Everyone always wishes for something they don't have. Maybe you want to be like someone else in certain ways, maybe you want to live someone else's life because you think yours sucks. Truth is, you may not have an easy life, but it is your life. You are not in control of the cards you were dealt when you were born (your parents, your city, your country, your skin color, your religion and so forth). What you are in control of is what you do with those cards that you were dealt. The rest of your life is what you make of it. If things are hard and you take a victim mentality (moaning and complaining about how hard you have it), then chances are pretty good that your life will not magically get better and you will live a very mediocre life at best.
"It's not an easy life, but it's MY LIFE"It is your life, your adventure. It is a gift. If you are lucky enough to have your freedom and your health, then I believe that anything is possible. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Right on the mark! So very very true.
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Just read a great article on maintaining a work-life balance while building your business or even slogging in your job - Balancing Acts: If Not Now, When? A couple of interest excerpts from the article:
The reality is that when you are entangled in an entrepreneurial life, there's never a right time -- for anything. There's no right time, because there's no time (and usually no money, either).... An entrepreneurial life becomes all about postponing -- "When we break even…," "When we get that contract…," "When we hire that salesperson…" -- ah, yes, that's when our lives can move ahead.... The fact is that while you are building (and building, and building, and sometimes rebuilding) a business, you are also composing a life.... There are personal opportunity costs to starting a business if it causes you to postpone making a life.... If the entrepreneur doesn't build a high wall around his or her personal life, the business is sure to overwhelm it..... But we took those trips and did other things we could ill afford because we knew we had to keep living and squeezing as much joy from life as we could under the circumstances..... Gary and I managed to separate our reactions to our business situation (depressed) from our feelings about our personal future (optimistic)..... If you allow a business, even a successful one, to dictate the terms of your life, you will always find reasons to delay making the big personal decisions....
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A must read article for everyone - Find Your Purpose
I was going through this "not knowing your purpose" dilemma when I moved back from the States in early 2005. Some questions that started echoing in my head were: Why am I starting a software services company? What value am I adding? What am I doing that is so earth-shattering? Am I looking to make more and more money or was there something more magical under it all? I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur but why I was doing certain things was a huge question mark. You know that something is not right when you don't feel fully satisfied at the end of the day.
After quite a few months of self-inquiry, we ultimately transformed our little firm into a Software As A Service (SaaS) company and launched DeskAway in late 2007 - our purpose shifted from having no purpose at all to being a company that provided the right tools and information so that people can simplify their work lives, plan smarter and achieve more in less (or same) time. After all, you want to get your work done fast so that you have more time to play!
I think its made so much of a difference now - work is no longer work. It's a coming together of a team that wants to build something useful for other businesses globally. Our day is made when we get an email from folks from different parts in the world saying that their business has changed for the better after using DeskAway - this feeling is something that I can't even describe. Even in your personal life, knowing where you are headed and what you want to do is extremely important.
I meet a lot of people around the age of 22-34 who practically have no clue as to what they are doing. They are drifting in the endless ocean waiting for the current to take them somewhere.
This article will ignite your mind and hopefully recharge your batteries so you can go figure out what the hell are you doing here!
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