Author: gaucho Page 2 of 5

November’2019 at a Glance

On December 1, 2019

Back to Journaling through Evernote

I love to journal.
Here. There. Everywhere.
This. That. Everything.
Somehow this habit starting waning, once I was out of college and in the corporate. Once a week was the best I could manage, reflecting on my thoughts and actions. This also affected the frequency of the blog posts. Only one blog so far this year.

*Sigh*

Probably two reasons:

The writing felt mentally and physically taxing
I didn’t figure out a ritual for the journaling

After various iterations, I consistently stuck with journaling by doing the following.

Typing onto Evernote desktop app but still using pen and paper besides, for any mental prompts.
Opening Evernote just before I left from work or right after a shower once back home.

I managed to journal for 4 days of the week at the least for a full month. Getting somewhere.

The format is pretty simple:

1. Create a notebook just for reflections. I named it ‘Daily Reflections’.
2. One note for each month. 30 days of inputs in each note in the tabular format

Books, Audiobooks, and Content

November was a good month in this aspect.

I finished 3 books:

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
–> Amazing book, a must-read. Amazed at how pretty much everything can go wrong in an operating theatre. A newfound respect for doctors.
What I talk about when I talk about running by Haruki Murakami
–> Found this a bit bland. Stopped reading after 65% of the book. I will come back sometime later.
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
–> Impressive read. The author is the creator of Dilbert Comics. Grab this book if you would like a to figure out a sure shot way to succeed.

I finished 2 Audiobooks:

Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
–> An astounding 90 minute listen. I listened to it twice in a week. I’m a huge Tony Robbins fan by the way.
Zig Ziglar Motivation – #MentorMeZig || A compilation by Evan Carmichael
–> Not really an audiobook but nevertheless a 2 and a half-hour worth of pure gold. I look up to Zig in his diction and presence while speaking. Best said by Seth Godin to Tim Ferriss, “Zig is your grandfather and my grandfather. He’s Tony Robbins’s grandfather. None of us would be here if it weren’t for Zig.”

I listened to both of them while commuting from and to home. I was big on these kinds of content but stopped owing to some negative views about positivity and motivation. But coming back to them, I did realize the positive change in the day and also how I was feeling about it. It surely helped me a lot and might help you too

Next on the list:

The Game by Neil Strauss
War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Bigger Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews

Movies and Series

Watched only one movie: ‘Jalikattu‘, a take on how the animal instincts of humans come into the fore.
After mindless wandering on Youtube and regretting the next day, I made just a small shift here. Just one episode per day. I picked up ‘The Good Wife‘ and managed to stick to ‘one day-one episode’ with occasional binge-watching.

Will you disappear again?

Haha! Hopefully not. Let’s just hope I push out one blog post per week. I am a massive procrastinator. 34 posts published so far and I have 32 in the drafts. Anyways, I have the ideas, prompts, and titles for the next set of blog posts.

Paris Brest Paris: A Glimpse of How it Went
Paris Brest Paris: Through Pain and Paradise
Road to Paris: Parting Thoughts
–> A continuation of Road to Paris: Initial Thoughts
Tour De Europe
–> A series of blog posts documenting my recent travel to Paris, Switzerland, Prague, and Rome.

A trip through negative self-defeating loop

I pushed myself to the extreme while participating in Devil’s Circuit. I injured myself and got sick. I recovered but fell back to sickness again in a fortnight, after I gorged on a shitload of peanut butter and chapati for dinner and went on to do some ungentlemanly things for the night.

I was in deficit of any motivation and inspiration in this period. I was just meandering again but there must be a tipping point for this. Every trough must be followed by a crest.

I came across Soundarya Balasubramani’s blog. Her profile was a bit envious. I usually go through a self-defeated loop of jealousy but this time I decided to break the chain. At this instant,

Stopped focussing on myself. Everything is not about me. Suffering comes from three thought patterns: loss, less, never
I went out for a run. Action precedes feelings and emotions. I don’t feel good and run. I run to feel good. Story follows State, followed by strategy.

State –> Story –> Strategy

Next time whenever you feel low,

Change your state by simple priming.
Tell yourself an enabling story. Focus on the present and not think about the time you have wasted.
Now you can think about the strategies to move forward.

Thinking in a low emotional state will only lead you to dead ends instead of options.

I came across this Reddit page about Brian Tracy when I was in this low phase. I managed to keep it simple and took only one thing from it:

Writing down my goals(8-10) twice a day – once before I leave to work and once I come back.

More motivation nonsense? Well, I don’t think so.

This one thing single-handedly made a difference in November. That’s why you are seeing this blogpost (while the last one was in Feb). You must try it out.

What next?

Endurance sports is a lower priority for now. They do take up a lot of time. Laser focus on career. But I’m still hitting the gym and also got a pull-up bar installed at home.
My Birthday is coming up. I plan to spend that day either at Craig Studio, climbing stuff or enjoy a game of soap football.
Get those Blogposts out. Damn it!!

Road to Paris: Initial Thoughts

By gaucho

On January 24, 2019

In Escapades, Reflections

Introduction

2 years have passed since I joined the group rides with Hyderabad Bicycling Club.

(One of the few pictures I took on that day-none including me)

I did my first Brevet in July 2017 which ended up with a Late Finish.

(Vishal had a Tyre burst and I finished late)

(What’s a Brevet? Coming Up)

After some dejection and disappointment and a 4 month break, I completed my SR series starting with 200 BRM on Nov 4th and finishing with 600 BRM on Jan 6th, 2018.
All of these Brevets were possible with the help of my cycling friends who had lent me their bicycles for those days.

(Lessons from a Super Randonneur)

Post the SR, I happened to get into distance running and completely sidelined cycling. I ended up finishing two Full marathons, one in the month of April with a 6 hour finish and the other in August with a 4h 37min finish.

Post the second marathon, I was in a fix.
Should I set forth a running goal such as Comrades which is a 90 km road run or the Vibram Hong Kong 100 which is a 100km trail run.

Or put forth a cycling goal like the PBP or LEL.

A couple of reasons gravitated me towards cycling:
1. Events like PBP and LEL happen every 4 years whereas the Ultramarathons happen almost every year. Taking into account the long wait and unforeseen future circumstances, one point for cycling.
2. I enjoyed doing the Brevets more than the marathons. More sceneries and more conversations. (No offence to the running folks :D)
3. I was eagerly waiting to have a cycle of my own throughout college and since it was an expensive affair, I had held back for 2 years. Post graduation, I had started working and was ready to take the plunge.

I made up my mind and started zeroing on the bike. Though at the start I was more inclined to an adventure bike – something close to a Specialized Diverge I ended up with a bike of race geometry in mind. After guidance from the team at The Bike Affair, I brought home a Merida Scultra 300 🙂

This Blogpost is all about that once in a lifetime opportunity (or at least 4 years) to explore the beyond and push the human potential. My resolution to participate in a 1200 km race in Paris and the initial thoughts on this and things to be prepared for.
Glossary

What is Randonnuering
Paris-Brest-Paris
The Eligibility for it
The Training Plan
The Gear
Visa, Travel and Expenses
Parting Thoughts
Bonus

What is Randonneuring

You might be wondering what randonneuring is all about.

A Brevet/BRM is a long distance cycling event. The smallest one is 200 km and the longest one I know is 1400 km. In order to check if the riders are indeed riding and not taking any shortcuts or any other means, each of these distances have checkpoints between them where the volunteers put a stamp mentioning the time.

For Example, you can see in the Brevet Card(which is given to you at the start) that at every checkpoint there is a stamp of approval along with the time of arrival.

The rules are simple:

1. Reach the checkpoints on time.

2. Complete the overall distance in the stipulated time.
200 KM : 13h30min,
300 KM : 20h,
400 KM: 27h,
600 KM : 40 h,
1000 KM : 75H,
1200 KM : 90h

3. Always have the safety gear in place
-> Reflective Vest
-> Head Lights. Tail Lights – one blinking and one constant
-> A good helmet

4. No drafting behind vehicles. Drafting behind riders is allowed.

It’s good to Carry some spare tubes and puncture kits though not mandatory.
Carry some cash, food, energy bars, painkillers and you’re good to go.

This whole sport is called Randonnuering and it is governed by a French body called Audax Club Parisien. The Indian events are organised by Audax India Randonnuers and Hyderabad specific events are organised by the Hyderabad Randonnuers team.

Some other terms which will clear any airs of confusion:

Super Randonnuer Series: A series of 200, 300, 400 and 600 km rides completed in one particular season. A rider who completes this is given the title of a ‘Super Randonnuer’
Randonnuer: A rider who has successfully completed a 200 Km Brevet.
LF : Late Finish. Finishing the course but outside of the stipulated time
DNF : Did not Finish.
Homologation: Unique number given to the rider after completion of a successful Brevet.

You can take a lot at the events planned for this year. Randonnuering season usually starts from November to October of the next year.

Paris-Brest-Paris

Coming back to PBP.

Paris-Brest-Paris or fondly known as PBP, is a 1200 km randonnuering event in France. Held every four years and with more than a century of history, PBP is the pinnacle every randonnuer would like to achieve.

Unlike other Brevets wherein anybody can participate, PBP has a two phase registration process-pre-registration and registration. This two step process is to ensure a better successful completion rate. The organizers wouldn’t want late finishes and DNF’s due to lack of proper preparation.

Pre-registration happens between Jan-Feb’2019 and registration happens between June-July’2019 with the ride being in August

The Preregistration

This is held on a priority basis wherein riders who have completed the farthest distance brevets in the previous season have the chance to register before the others. Hence the name pre-registration.
For Example, a rider who has finished 1200/1000 in 2017-2018 gets the advantage of registering before the 600/400/300/200 finishers. Similarly, the 600 finishers get the advantage of registering before the others. And so on and so forth.
You can imagine a virtual queue getting established with the 1000 and 1200 finishers at the front followed by 600 and the others.

The official Pre-registration dates are as below:

Why is this important?

The organizers of PBP limit the number of entrants to around 6000. So the faster you reserve your place in the queue, better the chances of your successful registration.

The Registration

Even after the pre-registration, a rider has to complete an SR series and submit the homologation numbers at the time of registration, no later than 18th June 2019.

With this two step registration process in place, riders will have a better idea as to what kind of physical and mental burden one might be facing in those 90 hours.

To recap,
1. Complete a 1000 or more in 2017-2018 to have better chances
2. Pre-register in the month of Jan
3. Meanwhile complete an SR series no later than June
4. Register yourself by submitting your homologations for all the SR Rides and confirm your slot.

The Rides

A day or two after I purchased my first road bike, I had a conversation with Rajesh Krishnamaneni,the power horse of Hyderabad Randonnuers who has conquered both LEL and Alpi 4000.

He strongly suggested that I ride the 1000 BRM rather than bank upon the 600 BRM which I had done earlier (remember the pre-registration priority ?)

The 1000 BRM was the toughest mental and physical strain I had endured. Vomits, diarrhea and also the infamous shermer’s neck.

(My neck refusing to sit up straight after hours of riding)

But it also gave me an idea of how much sleep I require, which food I am allergic to and also ride posture.

With the 1000, the 2017-18 season had ended and to ensure I had proper recovery, I skipped the first 200 and 300 Brevets in the 2018-19 season, and completed the 400 and 600 Brevets.

No worries. Brevets are held throughout the season and the next 300 is scheduled on Jan 26 and the next 200 on Feb 9 and Apr 20.

The Training

Paris Brest Paris is a different ball game altogether with 25-40% more elevation compared to the rides back here. It would be foolish to be under the impression that the Brevets back here are an adequate preparation.
For me, a proper planning would include:

Strength training regime to have a strong upper core
Technical Know-how in case of a mechanical failure with fixing a puncture being the bare minimum to handling spoke and saddle failures.
Training Regime including Cadence and Hill workouts along with Intervals.
Mental strengthening through meditation and mantras.

So far, I have been

Strength training 5 days a week for 30 minutes in the evening.
Cycling every other day for 90 mins
Endurance Rides on Sundays for 4-6 hours

Consistently sticking to this plan would really help build a solid base.

The Gear

The man can only do so much if the machine is not ready.

It’s been 3300 kilometers on my Merida so far. I plan to change the tyres and chain towards mid-July along with a full bike service.

I still need to make a couple of purchases

Good Bib shorts: cause 90 hours on the saddle is a sure sign of a sore bottom.
Strong and powerful Lights: Requiring minimum number of recharges along with being waterproof.
Saddle Bag: For carrying all that’s needed in those 4 days of time.
Thermals: It might get really cold, so more than 1 layer of clothing is definitely needed.
Bike Fit: Wherein the seat/saddle along with the handle is adjusted properly based on your body dynamics for increased efficiency and minimal discomfort.
Cleats and Pedals: Sports shoes don’t effectively transfer your energy to the pedals. Cleats improve pedal efficiency and also reduce cramping.

Visa, Travel and Expenses

VISA

After some quick searches, seems I can apply for Visa within the 3 month duration before departure and not any earlier. It’s good to have all the supporting documents ready as soon as possible with ITR being one of them.

EXPENSES

Coming up to the expenses part,

the registration fee for PBP is 130-140 euros i.e 15k INR
the flight charges along with VISA are coming up to 45-60k INR
During the ride, a good estimate for food, beverages, shower and sleep would be 100 euros i.e 8k INR
I’m not sure if there will be hotel booking in between the ride. Will update on this.
A couple of riders have already booked their stay and it’s coming around 2.5k INR per night. I’m still wrestling with options from Airbnb and Hostelworld.

Since I probably wouldn’t be travelling to Paris in near future, would love to go for sightseeing for a couple of days.

Each day of sightseeing might cost another 100 euros. 4 days of travel and down with another 30k INR.Coupled with cost of the bike, the brevets and the equipment, the overall cost would sum up to 350k-400k INR from October’18-August’19.

That’s some pretty good motivation to brainstorm for more parallel income streams 😉

Parting Thoughts

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Having a tunnel vision for the next 6 months and transforming into a fitter version of myself would definitely be uncomfortable.

Comfort is comforting. Discomfort is discomforting.
Let me search for comfort in discomfort and discomfort in comfort. That is when the magic happens.

( And also get rid of that tummy in the process 😀 )

BONUS

For Riders:

I have made a compilation(ongoing) of some of the online resources of the training plan, travel, blog experiences etc. Do take a look at them here. Might help with some or the other thing.
Audax will also be offering a ‘Randonnuer 5000’ award to riders who have completed 5000 km in the 4 year period of 2015-2019 which must include – a PBP, a fleche, an SR series and a 1000 BRM. With the Fleche coming up on Feb 23, be sure to not miss on it.

For Readers:

If this article has generated a minuscule of interest in cycling at the least, we do have a couple of events coming up in Hyderabad over the following two weekends. Do register. No worries about having a bike because you can always rent or borrow from a friend.

Jan 27
The Great Hyderabad Cyclothon
Feb 3
The Bike Affair’s Feb 50/100

Badminton, Barbecue, Burgers and more

By gaucho

On September 10, 2018

In Reflections, Weekly Newsletter

Team Lunch

As mentioned earlier, I tried a vegetarian diet for 90 days. With 30 more days to go, I was planning on having a sumptuous barbecue with a couple of friends, gorging on those tasty meat snacks. And lucky did I get! My team planned on an impromptu lunch at Barbeque Pride, Jubilee Hills. It was a very fun gathering, interacting with my teammates over lunch.

Badminton Tournament & Flash Mob

The Tournament

Soon after I joined ADP, I got to know that there’s a badminton championship being held for our Business Unit. With over 150 unique registrations, this event was surely going to be a competitive. Coming back from the marathon on 26th August, I decided not to practice for the tournament and rather rest those tired legs.

Two days before the event one of my colleague asked if I would like to join for a flash mob on the day of the event. The only time I danced in public was during my sister’s Sangeeth and that didn’t turn out pretty well 😀

But the thought of ‘getting comfortable with the uncomfortable’ made me accept the invitation and we had a practice session on Friday. Though I got repeated advice from the regulars to not think about anything else and just enjoy, it was pretty hard to shush away the pricking thought of being judged – ‘ What might they be thinking‘.

After a lazy sleep and waking up late, I rushed to the event arena on Saturday morning by 10 am. In brief, I lost my singles match in the 2nd round after getting a walk over in the 1st. After a last minute pair up with a new friend, we lost the doubles match in the 2nd round after a close 1st. We lacked the perfect coordination. And later, I paired up with Vineeta, my college mate and now colleague and we were given a direct walkover till semi finals where we lost. No regrets for losing since I had zero expectations. It felt great being back on a badminton court after a long while. The thought of having weekly badminton hours crossed my mind too.

The Flashmob

Though I’m calling it a flashmob we were actually 7 people in total 😀
After many practice sessions (where I sucked), the matches were put on hold around 2:45. I found myself trying to cope up with others and watching their moves but had a lot of fun. We performed once again in the presence of the leaders of our division and I had more fun this time around. Post this, I had my mixed doubles match and after that a lot of boomerangs and selfies 😉

What was a fun Saturday turned out to be ugly on Sunday morning with pretty bad body sores. I met up with my school friends in the evening and had a good burger meal at Burger King. The week ended with some late night journaling and reflections 🙂

Tipping Point

As a fresher when you join a company and assigned a team, you are usually kept away from any project related tasks and KT (Knowledge Transfer) sessions are held with any of the senior team members. You have two choices here: Be proactive and take ownership and learn things on your own or slack. I was slightly guilty of the latter but upon some much needed guidance from my senior, I was back on track.

The takeaway being don’t wait to be told what to do. Play around. Learn things. Discover things. Be proactive. First impressions matter a lot. Try setting a very positive momentum in a new environment, be it a new university or work location, so that you’ll have to live up to it later on.

Person of the Week

It’s Mohammed Furqan for this week. Close to 400 days ago, I met him at Master Orator Championship – 2017. From being a semi finalist in 2017 to becoming a 2nd runner up in 2018, he walked away with an Apple Ipad. He’s a photographer, speedcuber, beatboxer, orator, rapper-all packed into one.

Check out his blog here and you’ll definitely walk away with a lesson or two 🙂

Podcast of the Week

I tried listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History but I couldn’t continue after the initial 30 minutes.
But, I’ve listened to two really good podcast episodes.

One was about the the interesting things happened with domains during the dot com era.

https://www.gimletmedia.com/startup/domain-king-season-6-episode-1

The second was an episode with Manoj Vasudevan who was the World Champion of Public Speaking in 2017. He talked about becoming a master public speaker, how to be an effective leader and much much more.

http://theinspiringtalk.com/manoj-vasudevan-interview/

Moving On

I’m very excited for this week(and month) as I’m planning to publish a series of very informative blogposts. Lot of ideas for this blog but for starters, this week will be having two blogposts taking you through the recent Hyderabad Marathon I finished and also an Introduction to Randonnuering since Brevet season is just around the corner 😉 More details soon.

Apart from that, I’m still pending on Ryan Holiday’s ‘Obstacle is the Way’. It’s also Amma’s birthday this week. Let me know if you’d like a slice of the cake.

If you’ve this blogpost helpful and this blog informative, give it a thumbs up and also do share it with your friends 🙂

Post Run Recovery, Baby Steps in Career, MOC 2018 Finals and more

By gaucho

On September 4, 2018

In Reflections, Weekly Newsletter

Post Run Recovery

Post my first Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2018 (blogpost will be out soon), I didn’t find it very tiring as I expected it to be. The sores were minimal and had reduced to a minimum in 2-3 days with good amount of sleep and water. I also gorged on some chicken which I had avoided for the past 90 days.

All was not good though. The way I walk turned funny with me limping side to side. There were no workouts the whole week except for a very easy 3 km walk to get some bananas.

Baby Steps in Career

After my final semester exams in April, the following three months were unproductive due to uncertainty and lack of routine. I did not join the place where I did my internships due to a couple of reasons and I had a mix of good and bad interviews with various companies. Before it turned a bit too bleak, I bagged a job offer with ADP 🙂

This would be my third week of working at ADP and it’s been great so far. Amazing people, amazing culture and amazing benefits too :p
I feel this is a good platform from where I can launch my career. Though not satisfied with the way my engineering period has turned out with a couple of regrets, I learned my share of lessons and sky’s the limit henceforth 🙂

A visit to ISKON

It had been a while since I went to the Hare Krishna temple at Abids. This was the temple where my parents took both me and my brother for a visit since early childhood. From what seemed to be a quiet and serene place is bustling with activity with regular expansions without reducing the effect this place has on your mind. A must visit. Couldn’t get any pictures though this time.

Master Orator Championship Finals 2018

Coming to my favorite part of the week, the MOC 2018 Finals. MOC is always close to my heart. It completely changed the way I was. From being just a participant in 2016, I was the 2nd place winner in 2017 winning a Macbook Air as the prize. Too bad I couldn’t participate this year as I was no longer a student.

I was rooting for my buddy Mohammed Furqan, whom I met at the same Championship last year and later, collaborated on a Blogcast with him.

I was accompanied by my close friend Srikanth. Though I promoted a bit on social media and expected a couple of friends and acquaintances to show up, most of them didn’t. It kind of got me by surprise as to why people would lose such an opportunity to watch some of the best speakers.

The event started with a keynote by C K Kumaravel, CEO of Naturals Beauty Salon India. A 40 min speech which gripped me from the start till the end. Many one liners and quotes which kept us laughing and amused. After a short break, the championship started. Keeping this short(a longer blogpost about MOC will follow), I was happy and also sad to find Furqan winning the 3rd place. It sucks to be in any other place than the 1st. Followed by lunch and extensive interaction with many Toastmasters, we left the place with a lot of pictures and a lot many memories.

Tipping Point

I had a very big misunderstanding with a dear friend and that held me from talking to them for a couple of days. I think this happens in all our lives. It took me some time to clear my head and question my assumptions about the whole thing. The whole thing vanished just after a couple of minutes of careful conversation. So, the next time it happens to you- just try to question your assumptions of the matter and settle it 😉

Person of the Week

It’s Kamal Ravikant for this week. This guy is super smart and super reflective. I found his book ‘Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It’. Short but very helpful read.

You can check out this video as a started into his mind about Love and Entrepreneurship.

Podcast of the Week

This one blew my mind. Joe Rogan and Neil Degrasse Tyson’s interview was full of knowledge about the Universe. Neil is a very popular astrophysicist with excellent communication skills. If space and astronomy interests you, you can’t miss this one.

Article of the Week

You might be knowing Mark Manson from his book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k’. He also has a very popular blog and the article ‘The One for Rule’ had given me a new perspective about how to live life. In summary, Each person must never be treated only as a means to some other end, but must also be treated as an end themselves.

Must read!!

Moving On

A badminton tournament this weekend.
Reading Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
Start Listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History starting with King of Kings

How to Win Master Orator Championship (or come pretty close)

By gaucho

On July 18, 2018

In Uncategorized

Belief.
That’s where everything starts and ends.

To be honest, I think I’m far from a good orator. I cringed watching my finals video looking at the number of mistakes I did on that day – speech transitions, body language, conclusion etc. Lot many things. But because I earned the bragging rights of being the runner up of 2017 edition, I’ll walk you through whatever lessons I learned, the Do’s and Don’ts and a couple of takeaways from Master Orator Championship a.k.a MOC.

Before we go into this, let me give an introduction of what this competition is about.
Master Orator Championship is a public speaking competition for students of the age 18-24 from any recognized college.

The competition is in the format of qualifiers followed by semi-finals and then finals.
MOC 2016 had around 700 registrations and MOC 2017 had close to 2100 registrations and with the popularity of Toastmasters gaining ground and the thrill of owning a MacBook/Ipad and a trip to International Toastmaster conference is something every student wants a shot at, makes the possibility of 3500 registrations in 2018 not an exaggeration.

MOC goes on for close to 45 days and it’ll be easier if I break it down into 3 phases of the competition.
[1] Before the Competition
[2] During the Competition
[3] After the Competition
and by competition I mean the respective stages of MOC i.e the prelims, the semi finals and the finals.

Before the Competition

Belief

As I said earlier, everything starts and ends with the belief you hold in yourself. Some of you might have a belief that you are not a good speaker and there’s no point in participating here. That you are not ‘extroverted’ enough. Well, I was in the same place.But that is a misconception. Public Speaking is about sharing your ideas, thoughts, values and a lot more with the audience. A single sentence in a speech can completely change someone else’s life.During my initial college days, I shared the fear of audience with one of my dear friends, about how most of my classmates won’t heed much about my speech. His response completely changed my perception of Public Speaking. “Don’t think about the 50 people who don’t listen, but the 10 people who do and the 1 who gets impacted. ”
We all should focus on the Macro, the big picture and not the Micro, the trivialities.
The Macro being facing your fear of public speaking, the experience of sharing your ideas, thoughts and values, influencing and motivating a person.
The Micro being exaggerating your own thoughts of what the audience might be thinking and also the goodies and prizes.
Another assumption that goes hand in hand with the previous one is that public speaking is about theatricality and over the top emotions. Well, that is another misconception. This is where I would recommend you to watch two of the best Toastmaster speeches available:Dananjaya Hettiarachchi World Champion of Public Speaking 2014 – Full Speech
2015 World Champion: ‘The Power of Words’ Mohammed Qahtani, Toastmasters InternationalBoth these speeches were so minimalist and elegant with the right amount of motion and movement.One thought for now. Don’t you think with some good content, you can replicate the same? I definitely think so.Start to the competition with a positive mind and the belief you can win and you just might surprise yourself.

Speech and Speech Structuring

Your Speech is the crux of your time at the competition. Everything starts and ends with it. If you haven’t made a draft yet or have no idea where to start from, a good starting point would be to watch a couple of speeches, along with the ones I mentioned above. Listen to the popular TED talks, Josh talks, commencement speeches and surprisingly, product presentations- particularly Steve Jobs. Also look at how Steve Jobs is a master of Public Speaking and Influencing.

During another Toastmaster event in 2016, called Fun and Furore, I had the chance to witness a speech by Mr. Rajdeep Manwani.
There, Mr. Rajdeep shared one technique in speech structuring, which I think drastically improved my speech’s effect. It was to divide the speech in 3 particular bits – the introduction, the body and the conclusion. This one you must already have an idea. But these three division can be told at different places of the stage, likely the left, right and the center. A simple idea but worked really effectively to drive my particular point.

You can also notice this technique in use with this particular blogpost.
Do your Warmups

It must have been a while since you last spoke on the stage so it would be a good practice to give a couple of seminars, presentations and speeches in your class and preferably with an audience and not an empty classroom. This will get you used to the adrenaline rush before giving a speech.

Once you are done with your initial draft of the speech, practice in the presence of a friend and take feedback. Not just once or twice but multiple times. And preferably try to record your performance and review it, because only then will you be able to correct your mistakes. The frequent culprits being – speech transitions and body language.

Another good practice would be to attend any 1 or 2 Toastmaster Club meetings as a guest. If you are in Hyderabad, you can check out the Hyderabad Toastmasters for any meetups. If you are from Guntur, check out Guntur Toastmaster for any events. The idea behind this is to accustom yourself to the introductions, how timers work and you also have a chance to interact with some experienced Toastmasters and take up some pointers from them. Also check out this evaluation criteria and rate yourself in your practice sessions with the help of a friend or family member.

Before moving on, a small recap of what I did and could have done before the competition.
What I did:

In 2016, I gave a practice speech to my classmates. It was about startups and how they progress to becoming an MNC. It had a negative response, with most of them unable to follow it since I didn’t structure it properly. Lesson learned. Also, you might think that you have a great speech material but you never know if the audience is following it or not until and unless you test it.
In 2017, for the prelims and semi-finals I practiced a lot in front of a mirror both at home and in the restrooms at the venue before the start of the competition. Works like a charm 😄 And for the finals, I gave practice sessions in presence of my close friend. I was so uncomfortable initially that I had to ask her to turn around and listen to it for a couple of attempts and then face me directly. Worth the effort 🙂

What I could have done:

I had the idea of practicing my speech in the college auditorium just for the feels but I didn’t actually put that into action.
Recording a video of the practice sessions to correct my body posture and transitions.

During the Competition

Get Comfortable and Confident

What do I mean by comfortable? The first one being having a really good night’s sleep and the second one is reaching the venue at least 1 hour before the scheduled time.

The day before my finals I couldn’t get enough proper rehearsals and I considered staying up till I get at least one right. But knowing better, my parents advised me to have some quality sleep. And it really helped me have a calm state of mind throughout the day.
And also, I was just on time for the finals with barely some amount of time for final rehearsals. So don’t overlook this fact.

Whenever there was time before the competition and I knew where the rounds might be held, I tried to acquaint myself with the stage. Even during the finals, I had a good opportunity to stay on stage and walk around for a good 10 minutes with only a handful of audience reaching till then. A must do I would say.

Look your Best and you’ll perform the best! This is a psychological feeling where the way you dress directly affects your confidence and also cheekily intimidates your competitors.

And wear a good smile throughout and be approachable 😀

Listen

In the prelims and the semis, you’ll probably be in a room with 15-30 participants, each taking a turn on the stage for the speech. And most of us sneakily try to practice our speech silently. Not a bad thing to do but you might miss out on other beautiful speeches.

Good practice would be to carry a notepad and jot down whatever you found interesting in the speeches or in the interaction with other people. I still closely remember many of the speeches as I had the habit of writing the speech title and the speaker name as a bare minimum.

Interact

MOC is the place where you’ll be meeting experienced Toastmasters and orators, helpful volunteers and a lot of students who have the same yearning to speak and share ideas. It’s one of those infrequent events where you are away from the usual college friends and atmosphere and can interact with people from various walks of life. Some from different colleges and some from different cities and states too.

We always think of having some conversations but end up failing cause usually we don’t know where to start. I kept having this same situation repeatedly and embarrassingly it happened with one of the District Directors too. I wanted to talk, but didn’t know how to start. I start with a random thing and then there’s an air of awkward silence. So. it would be good if you can list out a couple of conversation starters before leaving to the event and approach people and have a good time conversing.
What I did:

Adrenaline rush. The fear will definitely get on your nerves. Before my turn at the finals, I did a couple of wall push ups to pump myself up and I had a smile throughout 🙂
This was actually after my prelims but since I wanted to include under Interaction I’m putting it here. This was unexpected but I had a chance to ride back to Hyderabad from Vijayawada with the organizers and it was great fun. The commadaire they all shared was really wonderful. With all those hours, I had a feeling of belonging. This greatly reduced my fear through other stages.

What I could have done:

Record my performance with help from fellow participants and analyse it.

After the Competition

Be Mindful

In months leading up to the competition, I had read ‘Gita for Children’ and also got introduced to Stoicism. One common idea was that one should focus only on one’s efforts and not be concerned with the results. The fruits of our toil sometimes are never in our complete control. So if you didn’t make the cut to any of the further rounds or couldn’t be one of the podium finishers or couldn’t be the Master Orator, you will definitely notice feelings of pain, jealousy, disappointment and a couple of other negative emotions which is completely natural. Acknowledge the feeling and let it pass. Make it a point to congratulate the other contestants.

I was very eager for the results since I was very confident with my performance and felt I gave my best (until I saw the video 😀) and when I was announced as the runner up, I had only one emotion – disappointment which carried on for a couple of hours. I forced myself to smile throughout the presentation ceremony which looking back was not the best way to react. I still regret it. It was one of the most fulfilling days of my life and I didn’t have to ruin it myself.
Reflect

The competition ends. What’s next? A lot of things actually. Keeping the results aside. Evaluate your performance, list out strengths and weaknesses and points of improvement.
Follow Up

If you wish to be the Master Orator the following year, make up a detailed plan and put it into action. Participate in events directly and indirectly related to Public Speaking.

If you are graduating, join any of the Toastmaster Clubs. One might be in your organisation too.

Some of the best things happen after the competition. The District 98 of Toastmasters hosts some of the best events. After MOC 2016, I’ve been to Fun and Furore’16 and also Fun and Furore’17 after MOC 2017. They host some of the best speakers who will blow your mind. The events are not void of entertainment too. I witnessed improv comedy, played treasure hunt, and also took a shot at rhyming.

What I did:

After the finals, I had the opportunity to share some thoughts as a guest speaker for Guntur Toastmasters, Vignan Institute and also Telangana Public School. Think of various ways of how you can continue your interest of Public Speaking.

What I could have done:

Rather than sulking in the presentation ceremony, I could have enjoyed those few good moments. Unlike other competitions, the winners didn’t really get a chance to speak a few words. I should have went to the mike and thanked my parents and friends without whose tremendous support I couldn’t have accomplished anything worthwhile.

Final Words

Is Master Orator Championship just about the International Conference or the Macbook or the Ipad? or is it much more that?

How to Win Master Orator Championship (or come pretty close). When I first came up with the title, I had the idea of sharing whatever I had learned to you in order to better prepare yourself to win the championship. But as I reflected through the 2 years of association with MOC, I realized that the competition is much more than that.
To me, MOC was the place where I had made new friendships which grew stronger as the days progressed. Shootout to Mohammed Furqan, Bhavana Tadiboina and the whole lot of Guntur Toastmasters, TM Keerthi and TM Uday. Also, just watching the other Toastmasters speak was a delight. They become my indirect mentors.
And finally, I came out as a more confident and stronger person with the realization that no matter where you are presently, with enough smart and hard work you can reach the goal you set forth.
MOC was all of these to me. And in the long run, what now seems micro will be the macro 🙂

If you are a student just starting out or you are in your final years of student life.
If you have a magnetic personality eager to share something to the world, or believe the same personality exists inside you and need a chance to bring it out.
Show up. Make the plunge. And it will be one of the most beautiful journeys you will have ever undertook and you might win the Master Orator Championship in your own unique way 😉

Update 2019:

Another year has passed by and Master Orator Championship 2018 had amazing participants once again. The finalists definitely upped the level of the competition and it was a blast watching them speak their heart out.

How was their experience? Read on what the 2nd runner-up, Mohammed Furqan has to say about his shot at the championship.

Master Orator Championship: 7 Solid Perks You Get From Contesting

Master Orator Championship 2019 Through My Eyes

Meetups, Proteins and more…

By gaucho

On June 10, 2018

In Reflections, Weekly Newsletter

After a jolly Sunday celebrating my friend Akhil’s birthday, the week had more unexpected meetups lined up to make up for the lonesome previous week.

The FountainHead

The week started with me grabbing a copy of The Fountainhead, a classic by Ayn Rand which tells the fictional journey about an innovative architect Howard Roark and his struggles to achieve success on his own terms. The book definitely improved my vocabulary a bit though I’ve read 3 chapters so far.

The World Environment Day Ride

The Hyderabad Randonnuers in association with the Telangana State Pollution Control Board conducted a programme which consisted of a Green rally by school students, a couple of other ceremonies and a cycle rally for which, I was a part of.

Since I don’t own a cycle (yet completed the Super Randonnuer series :D, thanks to Mr. Vijay) I borrowed one from HBC_Necklace Road and cycled to KBR Park where the initial meetup of the riders was held and custom cycling jerseys were distributed. We rode to the Pollution Board present in Sanathnagar. It was great to see Mr. Marri Laxman Reddy, owner of the MLRIT colleges present there. He happens to be a competitive triathlete even at the age of 74. The rally started from that point back to KBR Park and the riders dispersed from there since it was a working day. A total of 27Km for the morning 🙂

4 Meetups

The first meetup was with Vishu, my friend right from school days. He wanted to watch deadpool-2 but I convinced him and we went for BBC’s Blue Planet-2 which is a documentary depicting ocean life. [Fun Fact: The ethereal snailfish is deepest living fish so far discovered]. It’s exclusive only for the PVR Cinema audience and definitely recommended.

The second meetup was with Srikanth, one of my first friends since the start of college and has remained close ever since. We drove close to 40 kms to and fro from our college and caught up on things post our engineering exams.

The third meetup was another dear friend with whom I watched Mahanati, an unofficial biopic of the yesteryear actress Savitri garu. Another beautiful movie with a run time of 3 hours. Must watch!

The fourth meetup was this morning where few of my college friends decided to meetup at Necklace Road, Hyderabad. One of our friends, who recently shifted her hostel didn’t wake up on time, so we had fun tracking down her hostel from previous info and finally reached her. This was followed by some tasty butter dosa as breakfast.

Proteins

Along with The Fountainhead, another book I started reading was the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. It’s caption being An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman. A couple of things really blew my mind and I specially gave attention to the chapter “Running Faster and Farther”.

You can start with the sample chapter here, which itself has a ton of information and new insights and definitely a must read!!!!

One specific mention would be eating 30g of protein before 30 minutes of waking up, which helps in reducing the fat present in our body. I decided to give this a try not because I had too much of body fat but as a source for my pre-run nutrition.

After couple of iterations, I fixed upon this recipe:

10 almonds, 10 cashew, 1 mango, 1 banana, 5 walnuts, 5 drops of honey in bowl coupled with a glass of milk and 2 whole eggs.

Having this for the past four days has definitely kept me full till almost noon(though I do have my breakfast after my run).

This week also saw me purchasing my first Unived product which was RUNN Butter, a nutrition source in between your long runs. I also wanted their Post Run Nutrition but due to budget constraints had to stick to one. And thanks to their Global Running Day discount, I got a 25% on my first purchase 🙂

Articles, Audios and Videos of the Week

The first is a fun Ted talk by Joseph Annamkutty Jose, who is a popular RJ in his city.

I’ve been listening to bits of Tony Robbins on Soundcloud whenever possible. He dives into the psychology of motivation. Really uplifts me. You can start by watching his Ted Talk here.

Another worthy mention would be Rohan Kamnath’s answer. He is one of those unusual guys who makes it to Stanford though he is from a lesson know Tier 3/4 college.

Moving On

Firstly, a couple of exciting 3-4 blogposts lined up and a probable guest post, which is a first 🙂

Secondly, will be beginning to start a strength training regime to compliment the running preparation I’ve been doing for the marathon at the end of August.

And lastly, it has been more than 30 days since I started reading one page of the Daily Stoic every single day. Might be confirmation bias but I definitely seem to have a better macro level perspective day to day.

That’s all for now folks! If you liked this post, do hit a like button and subscribe to this blog(if you haven’t already :D) and also share this with your awesome friends. Until next time…

Trip to Arunachalam, Intro to Cryptography and more

By gaucho

On May 27, 2018

In Reflections, Weekly Newsletter

The week started with a little bit of regret over me not able to attend this year’s Mango Ride, annual cycling ride of Hyderabad Bicycling Club or Eloquence 2018, the annual division conference of Toastmasters in Hyderabad. The first one was due to skin rashes which I was suffering since the 400 km Brevet in Dec’2017. And I couldn’t attend Eloquence for no reason whatsoever :/

The week before, my mom was requesting me to accompany her for a visit to Arunachalam. I kept postponing because I had other unimportantly important things to do. So on Monday, my mom gave an ultimatum resulting in me booking bus tickets for the travel.

The trip was for 3 days. I started writing about the travel and I realised it had already crossed 700 words. Maybe it’s worthy of a full length blogpost I guess, which I’ll be posting on Thursday under the Throwback Thursday category.

Coming back from the trip, I had a lazy Thursday.

On Friday I went for an easy run along with Gautam Pondi. Through the 12 km run, he gave me a lot of tips.

I’ll pin the two important ones here.

Get a blood test done. Realise your deficiencies(mostly magnesium, B12, Vitamin D etc) and use supplements for them.
Uphill and downhill running postures.

I had been procrastinating on a lot of things and the Cryptography course from Stanford University on Coursera is one of them. I finally started it with 6 hours of study so far. You can check out the syllabus here.

During the trip, Mom and I made a promise to ourselves to consume only plants, dairy and eggs(semi-vegetarian??). I also started my new journal this week. New pages kind of give me fresh enthusiasm for what’s lying ahead.

The week ended with me working on a changeover for my blog with some new ideas in the structure with this Weekly Newsletter being one of them.

That’s how my week went in a brief.

Book of the Week:

Rather, books of the week. With 4-5 new books at my disposal, I kept shuffling between them and ended up completing none. Those books were,

Finding Ultra by Rich Roll which documents his journey of Ultra Running and multiple Iron Mans

Start with Why by Simon Sinek which reiterates the fact that having a strong motive is very essential for success.

LinchPin by Seth Godin where Seth tells us how to become a Linchpin or an indispensable employee.

Other than this, I made it a morning routine for the past two weeks to read a page of The Daily Stoic everyday in the morning. It has short 1-page stoic philosophy which regularly makes me aware of what’s in control and what’s not.

Video of the Week:

Had to delete the history a couple of times but as far as I can remember two videos had sparked some motivation in me.

One is a Ted-talk by Gaurav Chaudhary, popularly known for his Hindi tech channel- Technical Guruji. His ending line was amazing “In any field, don’t think about money in your initial days. You’ll reach a stage where don’t need to think about it.”

Other is a compilation of advice from 10 great people. Kind of like a checklist we all should remember.

Tipping Points:

(for the lack of a better word, these are the points of big psychological thoughts for me)

Postponing the date of travel. I had an epiphany that this life was a blessing for me and I was thinking of putting it off for a suitable time in the future(which I may or may not be lucky enough to see). True fact.
I met a distant cousin of mine who’s of my age and is from one of the prestigious engineering institutes in the country. With academic excellence since childhood along with extra curricular achievements, she’s on her way to the U.S to work in one of the top global companies. No visa hassles and no money issues which most of us think about. It’s the result of all the hard work she put in.
I promised myself to raise the standard of the things I accept for myself.

I’m excited for the coming week as my training for Airtel Hyderabad Marathon starts from Monday. I’m participating in the 42km category and it will be my first competitive run after almost 4 years 🙂

Do share with me your experiences or tipping points or the videos/articles you found useful. Until Next week 🙂

Gautham meets Gautam a.k.a Pondiman ft Marathon Training + Blogcast Intro

By gaucho

On April 8, 2018

In Blog_Cast, Guest Posts

This was back in December 2016. The time when I didn’t know anything about Bicycling Clubs/Brevets.

After cycling 8-10 kilometers to my friend Vishu’s place a couple of times, I decided to up the distance and cycle 26 kilometers to Swathi Peddi’s place. A total of 52kms to and fro. This was a huge distance to me back at the time and a couple of friends were even worried about this and I didn’t let my parents know too. Huge deal back then!
( There’s been so much of change now. When I told my mom I was planning on running to my college she asked me on which day I was planning to? 😂😂)

So armed with a backpack with bottle and snacks, I started off to Swathi’s place on my Hero Razorback. It took me around 2 hours 10 minutes to complete and it wasn’t a piece of cake. As soon as I reached I had this victorious feeling. I was ecstatic and euphoric over my new achievement. None of my friends had done it before and it made me feel all the more special.

After some small talk, Swathi mentions that one of her colleagues had recently completed 600 kilometers on cycle.

My reaction back then

My inflated sense of achievement went for a toss. How can one cycle 600 kilometers??

That feeling was always at the back of my mind.

The next month I went to a Charminar Ride with Hyderabad Bicycling Club. My first ride with the HBC Folks. This followed with at least 2 rides with HBC every month. Most memorable was the Mango Ride. That was the first time I remember pushing my limits. This ride gave me the confidence to do my first 200km Brevet- one which I completed 7 minutes late after the deadline and gave a speech about it here.

By this time, I was already following Gautam’s exploits in the running world. The week before my first Half Marathon, I approached him for any suggestions he might have. He just said ” Eat well. Sleep well”. I approached him again for any pointers during my first Super Randonnuer (SR) – a series of 200, 300, 400, 600 kms on cycle.

In an year, one complete circle from wanting to do 600 kilometers to actually doing it; a journey filled with new friends and buddies, memories and pushing my limits, it was one of the best years I’ve had.

With the last day in my undergraduate nearing by, a thought of doing a run to college occurred. Exactly 42km- a full marathon. By this time I had an idea that one should not jump into any endurance activity without some pre-planned training regime. Again, I reached out to Gautam if he thought this idea might be feasible. Though skeptical and worried about injuries, he gave me the belief that it was definitely possible. He advised to take a final opinion from Gokul, the man behind The Bike Affair along with Krish Basu. Even Gokul said it was possible with the caveat being more focus on the race day tools and running form than on the physical preparation.

So this was when I asked Gautam if he could check my running form. And that following morning was the first time we met in person after months of online conversations.

Doing a 5km KBR loop with Pondi Express

Some takeaways from the Meet:

I had an okay running form. Not much to worry about as of now. Should focus on it after the marathon.
Race day clothing, hydration plan and route mapping are very important.
I was having a stiff shoulder while running. A couple of drills would help me correct that.
Apply vaseline to toes and sensitive areas to avoid blisters.
Don’t gulp down water as it might hurt in the gut after a while. Sip it slow.

After the meet Gautam took the time to form a training plan customized just for me.

I followed this with a bit of slack in the last couple of days which led me to postpone my day of run by a week. But, finally on 6th April, 2018 I completed my run- My First Full Marathon. And most importantly, without any injuries (so far :p)

When starting off something, one might get a lot of doubts-silly at times(most of the times actually). And it truly feels good when the person you approach replies back to you. Gautam Pondi was that person for me. I kept asking him questions but he always replied back with the same enthusiasm with his trademark smiley 😬😬😬

Podcasts, Books, Running, Cycling – I share the same interests as his name(except the extra H). He’s epitome of perseverance and determination with a child-like smile.

Enough of the fan-boyism. I was completely gripped with his responses for the Blogcast. Hope you are too. Head over here to check it out!!!

My Impossible List

By gaucho

On February 17, 2018

In Uncategorized

Skip to the bottom if you want to the WHAT, WHY & HOW of the IMPOSSIBLE LIST!!

But before that, you can scroll down through my incomplete “IMPOSSIBLE LIST”

WORK

Skills

CodeChef Certification for Data Structures and Algorithms
Intermediate MS Excel Skills
Digital Marketing Course (Before May 2018)
Machine Learning Course (Before June 2018)
Cryptography Course
60 Words Per Minute Typing Speed

Financial Independence

~~Earn money outside of Income~~
Increase money earned by at least 50% each month
~~February~~
March

BLOGGING
At least 2 Blogposts a week from March 2018
~~1 Subscriber for Blog 😛~~
~~10 Subscribers for Blog~~
25 Subscribers for Blog
~~500 views in a month~~
1000 views in a month

YOUTUBE

Post at least 2 Videos in March 2018

WORKOUT

Fitness Goals

Do a Handstand
Do a Wall Flip
Do a Back Flip
Develop 2 pack abs

Sport/Endurance Goals

Jog to college which is 40 kms away. Kind of a Full Marathon ( Before April 2018)
~~Complete a 10K Run~~ (PB 58min)
- Improve Personal Best to under 45 Mins
~~Complete a Half Marathon (PB 2 hr 25 min)~~
- Complete Half Marathon under 2 hours
Complete a Full Marathon
~~Become a Randonnuer~~
~~Become a Super Randonnuer(SR)~~
Complete a Double SR
Complete PBP
Complete LEL
Complete Spartan Race
Complete 1/2 IRON MAN
Complete FULL IRON MAN
Play a 90 minute Football Match
Make a clean dive

PERSONAL

Habit Goals

Meditate daily for 20 minutes
Maintain Daily Morning and Evening Journal
Daily 30 minute workout

Creative Goals

Early Morning Writing. At least 25 mins for 30 days
Take part in a Drama
~~Take part in a Dance performance~~
- Take part in a Dance performance which is not in a Sangeeth
At least one Theatre/Play performance
Solve 3×3 under one minute
Publish a Book (Before July 2018)
Learn to play Mouth Organ
Give a stand up comedy performance

Random Goals

~~Give a speech in a filled auditorium~~
Memorize If poem
Learn to cook the basic everyday meals

Family and Relationships

One family trip every six months
Adopt a child. (Inspired by my friend Swathi Peddi)

Travel Goals

Go on a road trip with my School friends

Places to Attend

SpaceX Headquarters
Venice

Events to Attend

Fun or Insane

Climb a building
Bungee Jumping
Sky Diving
Off Road Trail Biking
Deep Sea Water Diving

Book Reading List

Movie Watch List

CURRENT PROGRESS

Loading …

WHAT, WHY & HOW

The What

So, you must have got a rough idea about what an Impossible List is about. A thought, that it’s a effing bucket list or just another name for that.

Kind of! But not completely.

In the month of February, I was consuming content from College Info Geek and I came across this wonderful piece about the Impossible List. That was an inspiration for me to create mine.
Quoting Thomas Frank himself, the man behind College Info Geek- an Impossible List is “put simply, the impossible list is an ever-evolving list of experiences that build upon each other, help others as well as yourself, and implore you to take action. This is mine, which is, of course, ever-evolving.”

I pretty much implemented the same format as Thomas’ for my list but the only change was that I divided my Goals into three sections – Work, Workout and Personal, a format inspired from Noah Kagan’s.

To summarize,

An Impossible List is a collection of your Goals which you want to be accomplished in your life time. It’s not a bucket list which you do when you get some time away. An Impossible List reflects how you should be using your daily time.
You can divide into sections and sub sections for more definite structure but nevertheless you can invent your own format.
In an Impossible List, the goals keep evolving. Once you complete a goal, you cross it off and then set forth a new goal.
Ex: After completing my Half Marathon, my new goal looks like this.
- ~~Complete a Half Marathon (PB 2 hr 25 min~~
  * Complete Half Marathon under 2 hoursEnjoy your victory but get back in your race buddy. Race against time. Just kidding! No pressure

The Why

So, why to make an Impossible List.
I have three strong reasons as to why I prepared mine.

You’ll have a Vision:We have a tendency to drift through life when we don’t have a proper system or structure. When you make an Impossible List or rather do any goal setting excercise,1) You get a clarity. You set forth some goals and to achieve them you have to put in daily effort. Small gains daily get you there. It’s not a one day-get all scenario. You got to build up the momentum.
Ex: I can’t complete a full marathon on a whiff. There needs to be a daily preparation, weekly goals to be met and give my best when the opportunity presents itself ( or better, I make the opportunity).

2) Whenever an opportunity comes, you won’t fail to recognize it. or Maybe the Law of Attraction might work for you.

Ex: When you plan on doing a trek to himalayas, you start noticing price drops in airlines, or discounts on the trek gear. These things used to happen but you start noticing now.

And when you make your Impossible List public or share it with a couple of your friends, these two things happen.

You’ll be Accountable:You’ll have that positive pressure on you, now that you made a commitment which isn’t private. You can request your friends to give that kick in the butt whenever you slack.
Ex: Maybe make a pact with your best friends that if you don’t complete (this), (this ) and (this) in (this) time frame, you owe him a treat. He’s gonna watch you now!

You can Collaborate:After you make your list public, a couple of interested friends or individuals might help you in your pursuit.
Ex: They might call and drop by with some popcorn whenever you want to watch the movies on your Watch List, or help you by lending some books or maybe guide you with their experience in things which you are still a beginner. You never know.

The How

Make a ListFirst things first, just make a list.
Take a 10-15 minute break, write a couple of things down which you always wanted to do. Visit some lists and borrow stuff that resonates with you. No restrictions. Just keep writing. Need not be a one time thing. Add stuff whenever something strikes you. Make a List in either Evernote or Google Docs. Share it with your close friends or you can make it public on your Social profiles.
Revisit It ( and maybe update *winks* )

Sometimes you forget you made a list. So, make it a point to revisit the list at least once a week (Bare minimum). Add things. Remove things.

and lastly,

Put some effort so as to reach the point of striking out things in your list.

Ending with a quote-

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” – Robert Heinlein

It’s been 2 months since the start of a New Year. If those two months drifted away just like that, let not the other 10 drift the same. Do a goal setting exercise and make a list. And better yet, leave a link in the comments below so that we all can keep each other accountable.

And hey, do follow my blog, and help me cross one of the items on my list.

Gracias!!! Have a great year ahead

Lessons from a Super Randonneur

By gaucho

On January 15, 2018

In Escapades, Reflections

Hello there 🙂

It’s my 25th post on this Blog. Hope this one doesn’t disappoint just like the others didn’t.

*Wink Wink*

1500 Kilometres on Bike.
100.5 hours of journey.

The Brevet timeline was this:

2017

July 8: First 200 BRM
Nov 6: Second 200 BRM
Nov 26: 300 BRM
Dec 16: 400 BRM

2018

Jan 6: 600 BRM

I definitely picked up a thing or two over this period of time and distance. Let’s jump right in!!

1. You are the Average of the 3 riders you ride with!

My first two 200 Brevets, I used to either listen to podcasts or music while Cycling. This, to a large extent had an effect on my pace because I didn’t set a standard for me push for. Both the Brevets ended up being close calls. The first one I finished 7 minutes late and the second one I finished just a minute early.

And then in the 300 BRM, I managed to finish 35 minutes early to the deadline. And the 400 BRM, an hour early. What changed?

After learning from my mistakes, I decided to set myself a target pace and what better way to ride fast than to ride with faster riders. I joined and tried to be as close as possible to three other riders who were riding together – Mr. Ranjit, Ashish and Karthik. Though they were a bit fast and I couldn’t keep up with them at times, I still managed to be in close range of them reaching checkpoints just 3-5 minutes after they did. In the end, finished 35 minutes earlier along with them.

This worked in 400 BRM as well. I maintained a good pace till the halfway mark as I tried to be in close range to Ashish. I finished 60 minutes earlier this time. And in the 600 BRM, I tried to be in close range Colonel Devender Singh after the halfway mark. It was very testing as I had constantly push myself to stay close by.

That’s what setting a standard to reach does to you. You are constantly in check of yourself and you don’t slack seeing the other cyclists move past you.

So,

Evaluate yourself. What are the 5 books you recently read, 5 hours you recently spent on, 5 people you most hangout with, 5 favorite movies of yours, 5 websites you most visit, 5 Youtube channels you most watch and the list goes on.
When you set a new goal, increase your proximity with the people whom you think have already reached there.
Want to improve your technical knowledge, spend time and ask questions to people who already are strong at it.
Want to improve your confidence, spend time with people who are already confident and learn the nuances from them.

2. Confidence is Preparation

Just after starting the 400 km Brevet, I was riding alongside Ashish and he casually asked me how many practice rides I had done leading up to the 400. 20 kilometers is all I had done in the 20 day gap between 300 and 400. He was slightly shocked and reprimanded me for not respecting my body and pushing it all of a sudden. And in fact I did push my body. It couldn’t anticipate what was coming. And my body did react. Cramps, knee pains, extreme discomfort because I was wearing new cycling shorts directly on the day of the Brevet. I couldn’t correctly time my sleep and I was riding alone most of the Brevet.
Another mental block I had was that I didn’t know how to fix a flat in case it occurred. I would have to wait for a good Samaritan to help me. And another huge mistake was not carrying a hand pump along with me. Almost all riders were having a hand pump of different valve size(Presta) and the bike I was riding had a Schradder valve. In case I had some air issues or a flat in the middle of nowhere or in the night, I might have had to drop out from the Brevet.

I didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes again.

So leading up to the 600, I tried to as prepared as possible. Along with Ashish, I did a 100 km night ride to Yadigirigutta and back, a week after doing a 50 km night ride along Hussain Sagar. All these along with small distances of 10-15 kms plus a night ride a day before the Brevet and also a warm up ride the morning of the Brevet. A total mileage of 250 kms. I was now confident of my body handling itself.

I also gathered all the necessary equipment which I didn’t previously have. Goggles, wind cheater, patch kit, hand pump, mechanical kit. All set even for a mechanical failure. That boosted my confidence a lot.

When you prepare for the worst case scenario, you are completely confident. And you enjoy the ride!

So,

Next time you have an interview, do a background check. Prepare for all the questions you might be asked.
Next time you are giving a speech, practice as much as possible. You end up focusing on the content and message rather than on your irrational fears.

3. Being at your Best is not a Luxury, but a Necessity

2nd 200 BRM. Last final stretch from the start of Microsoft Hill to HBC, Gachibowli. I looked at my phone for one last time to check the time and the distance. Just enough time to ride easy and reach there. I then put my phone back in the pocket. Since I was drained of energy already, the first thought that came to my mind was to take it slow on the hill. But then, I had a premonition- that something similar to my previous 200 BRM where I was late by just 7 minutes might happen.
I pushed through the hill, raced through the traffic – all this while not having an idea about the time. I didn’t slack even for a bit throughout the final stretch. And when I reached the finish, I got the shock of my life.

I was just a minute early to the finish.

What if I slacked even for a bit? What if I let my legs rest even for a while.

This taught me a very important lesson. About being and giving your best even when you think you can slack. In this time of cut throat competition, being your best at all times is not a Luxury but a necessity. Not an option but a requirement.

So,

Next time you think of slacking. Even a bit. Maybe take a nap or facebook scrolling. Don’t. Be the best version of yourself at all times to be the BEST!

4. Only YOU can Define/Defy your limits

I talked about my 2nd 200 BRM. But my favorite and most memorable was my first 200 BRM.

Background: I wanted to become a Randonnuer before the Audax season ends in October 2017. I didn’t have a bike of my own back then(even now :p), so I borrowed it from my friend. For the same reason, I wanted to complete the Brevet on time at any cost and do the remaining brevets when I get a bike of my own. I was a bit overconfident at the start, that I complete half an hour before the deadline. I even asked my dad to reach the venue early to pick me up.

How wrong could I be?

I had to complete the last 10 kilometres in the last half an hour (that’s how I remember it). It seemed impossible to me. I had run out of both food and water to get back the energy I now had run out of. Strong urge to give up. Should I?

15 seconds later

I mustered every ounce of strength. After repeated screaming whenever my body pleaded to give up, I pedaled and pedaled and pedaled. Unexpected traffic in the last 3 kilometers came as a surprise but I still pedaled and pedaled whizzing through the traffic. I reached 7 minutes late.

Though the disappointment occupied my mind for the initial hours, upon later reflection I was amazed at how I pushed my body’s limits. Never before did I do anything of this sort. It was revelation to me. That our body and mind can be pushed beyond their limits.

I was so passionate of this incident that when I was competing in a major public speaking competition by Toastmasters, this was what I talked about. And I ended up getting the 2nd place with a huge trophy and a macbook air as the prize. Do check out the speech to realize the importance of having a strong WHY and about pushing through your limits.

So,

Next time, you think you have reached your limit. Think again. You haven’t! Be it in an interview or a negotiation or feeling tired of studying/learning. You can always up your ante.
Sometimes, you might be disappointed by your result at one particular point of time. But if you carefully pick your learnings from it, it might set you up for later success. A favorite failure in fact.
You only have the right to focus on your efforts and not on your results and rewards. Even the Gita echoes the same. The results are never in our hand(even if you think otherwise), because we are not the center of the universe and a lot of factors come into play.

5. You just gotta Keep Cycling

For me, cycling is going through two distinct phases.

Ebb and Flow!

The Flow: smooth downhills(or any downhill for that matter), relaxed talks with fellow riders, having the company of a group, tasty food and snacks you eat upon the pretext of burning calories, nightly escape from the sun.

It’s easy to cycle when you are in your Flow.

Then comes the Ebb:the testing uphills, unforgiving sun, chilling cold, cramps, knee pains, wrist pains, all kinds of pains, riding alone for large stretches without any moral support you get when you see another fellow cyclist, flats and mechanical failures, sour cravings because all the snacks you have are sweet and much much more.

This is when you get tested and a chance to push your limits.

In the 400 BRM, I was riding alone in the dark for 30-40 kilometers at one particular stretch around 2 pm. No one in sight. Mental pangs. I was in a emotionally weak state then. That’s when Colonel Devender Singh Duhan passed along and when I shared this, he said “You might think that riders ahead of you have it easy but remember that everyone riding their Brevet has their own challenges they have to face. You just got to keep cycling”.

So,

Next time you have a bad interview, try to focus on you what you did wrong rather than waste your remaining day brooding over it.
Next time you feel you are having a bad day, don’t go into a self negative loop. Stretch, walk, jog, shower- do whatever to keep you moving.

6. To get Help, you need to Ask First

I was hesitant in doing the Brevets because I didn’t have a bike of my own. It was very difficult for me to request repeatedly. Vijay Sir was kind enough to lend me his cycle for all the four Brevets. Most of the required things for the Brevet- be it spare tubes, lights, patch kit, hand pump, etc. I borrowed all of them too. I had to request multiple people.

(In Pic: The Beast Vijay Sir lent me)

There were times when I was a lot far from the starting point and I had to cycle there. I wouldn’t have been able to on time. I had to call out for help from passing by trolleys and mini trucks. Some rejected but there were many kind hearts who offered to drop me nearby without expecting anything in return.

A lot of us hesitate at asking. Be it with the doubts in our class or in times of need.

The universe doesn’t just hand you things. You have to go out and ask. Ask for help if needed. Because there are many people who might have gone through the same and they wouldn’t mind helping you if you show the required determination. Asking for help does not make you weak!

So,

Next time you need help, ask for it. Don’t shy away. We are all here to help each other.

Just receiving help is not the end. Whenever you have the chance give back to the society(or your cycling community). It should be a Chain Reaction as Mr. Sanjeev said when speaking about how riders who join a club bring in their friends who bring in theirs and thus spreading the joy of cycling.

(In Pic: Celebratory ride after my SR)

That’s how it went folks. Grateful enough to have taken these takeaways. Hope you keep them in mind and find it useful in future. You might have noticed the more references to interviews. It’s because I’m in my final semester of engineering and that’s the point of focus at this time 😉

Do comment down the lesson which you related the most to. Would love to hear 🙂
If you liked this format, do check out my previous post: 21 Life Lessons at 21.

And as always, Don’t forget to follow my blog if you haven’t already. Lot’s more interesting stuff to come.

Author: gaucho Page 2 of 5

Back to Journaling through Evernote

Books, Audiobooks, and Content

Will you disappear again?

A trip through negative self-defeating loop

State –> Story –> Strategy

What next?

Introduction

What is Randonneuring

Paris-Brest-Paris

The Preregistration

The Registration

The Rides

The Training

The Gear

Visa, Travel and Expenses

Parting Thoughts

BONUS

Team Lunch

Badminton Tournament & Flash Mob

Tipping Point

Person of the Week

Podcast of the Week

Moving On

Post Run Recovery

Baby Steps in Career

A visit to ISKON

Master Orator Championship Finals 2018

Tipping Point

Moving On

Before the Competition

During the Competition

After the Competition

Final Words

Update 2019:

Skip to the bottom if you want to the WHAT, WHY & HOW of the IMPOSSIBLE LIST!!

But before that, you can scroll down through my *incomplete* “IMPOSSIBLE LIST”

WORK

Skills

Financial Independence

BLOGGING

YOUTUBE

WORKOUT

Fitness Goals

Sport/Endurance Goals

PERSONAL

Habit Goals

Creative Goals

Random Goals

Family and Relationships

Travel Goals

Places to Attend

Events to Attend

Fun or Insane

CURRENT PROGRESS

WHAT, WHY & HOW

The What

The Why

The How

1. You are the Average of the 3 riders you ride with!

2. Confidence is Preparation

3. Being at your Best is not a Luxury, but a Necessity

4. Only YOU can Define/Defy your limits

5. You just gotta Keep Cycling

6. To get Help, you need to Ask First

But before that, you can scroll down through my incomplete “IMPOSSIBLE LIST”