My plans make the Gods laugh
Maybe the same applies to your plans too..
“There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.” ― John Kenneth Galbraith
If you would have asked me about my plans on 1st Jan 2021, I would have given you a list of goals that I was pursuing, and all my plans were related to those goals coming true. Many of those goals were always around family, money, security, friendships, travels, and hobbies. The overarching goals have almost always remained the same i.e. it’s always been about getting better at these domains and progressing therein.
But it’s the plans that I had in mind that never materialized, though many of the goals did. It wasn’t the law of secret or manifestation that was at play here, nor would I attribute it all to luck or fate. But I have one core message that all the progress can be attributed to, and that is “Seeking Quality”.
Let me elaborate on these -
Job #
I was doing well in my job, making pretty good incentives, enjoying great camaraderie with my colleagues but something was amiss. After careful consideration, I made up my mind to move out of my current role and had started interviewing with External Asset Managers/Banks in DIFC during H1 2021.
But in June ‘21, I got a call from another department in the bank and I got interviewed for the same at very short notice. I wasn’t anticipating it, I wasn’t targetting it nor did I believe I had a shot at it. Actually, I didn’t even know that there was a requirement in that division. And voila, I got selected and I happily lapped the opportunity to work with this team. As it turned out, H2 was fantastic, in fact, the best ever for me professionally and I couldn’t have been happier that this turn of events took place.
None of my plans had anything to do with it. The only thing that I guess worked out was my relationships with my line managers and peers. I delivered on the objectives in H1, treated everyone with respect, and took my job as an Advisor very seriously. I basically did what I was hired to do in the first place and went the extra mile to build great relationships. I guess the CFA charter also did help, but I’ll never know exactly.
Stock Picks #
For 2021, I had planned on reading annual reports of all companies before I invested in them. But I wasn’t getting enough time to do the same due to my commitments at work, my newsletter, and the podcast along with engagements with family and friends. The next best option was to select the professionals who could curate the useful information regarding stocks and provide me cherry-picked ideas to execute upon.
This search led me through various rabbit holes and landed me upon 3 people whose blogs/podcasts/youtube videos have been instrumental in my Portfolio build-up. Beth Kindig recommended NVIDIA in her newsletter for Premium subscribers and I loaded on it in April and had my first multi-bagger US stock in a very short span of time.
Similar things happened with IEX, Laurus Labs & Deepak Nitrite in my India portfolio. These were covered extensively by SOIC (Ishmohit Arora) and his analysis was spot on with these picks, resulting in 50% + gains on my India portfolio.
And the final name that I learned a lot from is Gautam Baid, author of ‘Joys of Compounding’. His videos/book have cemented the idea of ‘pursuing quality’ in my mind and its become my go-to mantra in 2021. As he stated in his book “If it’s worth doing, then better do it well.”
I wasn’t able to do individual stock analysis, but I went through every video of SOIC on Youtube and even subscribed for their Annual Membership for INR 11,000. I have already made 50X of this investment to date from SOIC content. I went all-in on Beth Kindig’s work on her website, regularly attended the webinars, read all the posts therein, and again, subscribed to her premium newsletter for USD 500. This investment has become 10X in less than a year. The only money I spent on Gautam Baid was USD 15 on his book and USD 80 on 2 of his courses on Chapter App. The wisdom gained from him cannot be valued in dollar terms but it’s been a game-changer for me.
Podcast #
I desire to teach students but did not have a platform to do so. I have made a lot of costly mistakes in life only because the guidance came very late to me i.e. in my late 30s. I would like to cut short this time for many students and help them avoid the traps that could prove fatal.
I was inspired by Morning Brew’s success story and it sparked an idea of starting our own podcast channel to take the message of intelligent investing to the world. I needed a partner in crime and hence made a cold call to one of my batch mates in CFA classes i.e. Jai Lawrence. I didn’t know how he would react, I didn’t even have a concrete plan but the call went great and the journey began.
We have recorded 15 episodes in 2021 and we look forward to publishing 36+ in this year, and reaching a bigger audience in ME and abroad.
Did I have this in mind on Jan 1st 2021, absolutely NOT. But all I did was pursue an instinct that nudged me to make a call and see where it goes. It took a call, clarity of what I intended to accomplish, pursuit of quality in our work and maybe he agreed because few of us were the most vocal in our classroom with questions and answers. Every time Vishal (tutor) had a question, a few of us would always raise our hands. Maybe, that already bonded us in a way, that’s when the call made to him became a formality. Better Bets Pod has been a joyride of sorts and I look forward to the chapters ahead.
Now that 2022 is here, for the first time I am not penning down any goals for 2022. I do know the direction of my goals i.e. Richer, Wiser, Happier (taken from the title of William Greene’s book). But instead of thinking about specific goals and becoming the butt of jokes for the almighty, I will be focussing purely on the process that worked for me in 2021 and double down on those in 2022. Also, I will be cutting down on processes/protocols/habits that did not serve me well in 2021.
Few protocols to be doubled down on -
8-hour eating window and 16 hrs fasting daily
1 + Thank You Letter every week
Connecting with 7+ people every week (outside of my BAU)
Tipping people more often, which requires me to carry cash always. Also, to contribute 10% of all my income for causes that make a difference (it was 5% in 2021)
Only doing Cohort based courses instead of self-paced ones
Regular meals with loved ones
Scheduling to read/listen to Nutrition and longevity-related content on Fitness Fridays (Friday=Fitness)
Scheduling separate days for Blogging/Podcasting/Stock Research/Google Alerts for my Personal Portfolio and finally, reading all newsletters/blogs I am subscribed to
Journalling all stock ideas i.e. decision to buy or sell or even inclusion in the watchlist
Few protocols to be abandoned -
Read voraciously. This hasn’t worked for me since I land up forgetting everything I read. Going forward, I choose to read slow, read deep, think about what I read, contemplate and synthesize my learnings in my journal (Evernote)
No Assumptions about anyone delivering on their task on time. Everyone is busy and driven by their own incentives, they may not have your objectives on top of their mind. So why even expect that to be the case. I will follow through till it gets done. And I will follow through till the end.
I would not indulge in any activity without practice. With practice, the probability of succeeding only goes higher. Without it, you're almost certain to experience a failed attempt, especially when it counts the most.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.” - Steve Jobs
In 2022, I only want to pursue “Quality”. If I’m reading something, quality would be determined by the number of learnings I have been able to distill and into my mental frameworks. If I am entertaining relationships, then the quality of those relationships will reflect on their durability over time. If I am following a workout or a nutrition plan, then quality will refer to its contribution to my goal of longevity. If I am on an assignment, then quality will be determined by the amount of difference my involvement makes to the assignment at hand.
If there is no quality - in people, in reading, in routines, in courses - then I am out. I shall have Quality as my North Star this year.
What’s it gonna be for you?
I thank you all for taking time out to read my publications and I hope it’s added value to your decision-making process in 2021. If you’d like to share feedback or share your learnings from these writeups, then I would be more than happy to get on a call/Zoom.
I wish you all a fantastic 2022 and may you achieve the best that this year has to offer you 🤗