Month: January 2015

Books to read this year – 2015

Here’s the list of books I will be reading this year [If you’re curious, here’s the full list of my goals this year – Link].

The list has been compiled mostly from a self-help perspective rather than just reading-for-fun perspective. I have also added the purchase links of the books in case you want to read them as well. I might also put my thoughts on these books in separate blog posts once I am done reading them. 🙂

  1. The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses – by Eric Ries – Link
  2. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – by David Allen – Link
  3. One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work – by Stephen Key – Link
  4. The $100 Startup: Fire your Boss, Do what you Love and Work Better to Live More – by Chris Guillebeau – Link
  5. Steve Jobs – by Walter Isaacson – Link
  6. Delivering Happiness – by Tony Hsieh – Link
  7. Losing My Virginity – by Richard Branson – Link
  8. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work – by Mason Currey – Link
  9. Secrets of Power Negotiating – by Roger Dawson – Link
  10. The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation – by Ron Adner – Link
  11. Permission Marketing: The Marketing Classic for the Internet Age – by Seth Godin – Link
  12. Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious – by Gerd Gigerenzer – Link

Hope I finish what I started. Fingers crossed 😉

Happy reading!

 

Buying a cycle for instance, a secret design project, getting 1000+ blog readers, building a athletic body and much more…My plans for 2015

12_Jan_2015_todolist2015

2015’s here. Time to do things right and set some basics in place. Have learned few lessons last year applicable to work and life and hoping to go exponentially towards that vertical. As I believe : It’s the small things that matter. Hence, will be focusing on small things and some basics in work, health and extra curricular activities.

Before jumping right in to discuss what are my goals for this year, I think it’s good to reflect on the last year’s successes and failures first.

Good things happened in 2014 :

  1. Learned how a startup operates (not completely, but to an extent) while working in one startup, which I joined in early November 2013. – Menily [now Menias – Website]
  2. Learned why execution matters as went to an event which aimed at connecting creative entrepreneurs with people, skills and resources to turn their ideas into creative businesses – The Coalition. Pretty cool right? Not for me! Turns out I learned nothing except realizing that without an idea or direction and plus tackling procrastination (if you consider that to be a hurdle) no event or talk show is of much help.
    Coalition
  3. Traveled to Gujrat – Everything in Gujrat is as shitty as any other state in India except the sea view and few other places
    Gujrat 1
    Picture 2 from the trip : [Link], Picture 3 from the trip : [Link] 
  4. Started my entrepreneurial journey : Launched LETWALLINSPIRE, a to-be platform to inspire creative people via inspiring posters. [Website, Blog, Download inspiring wallpapers]
    Letwallinspire
  5. Semi-Graduated from College – Still have 10 backlogs left. [More on this in a later post]
  6. Created job for myself in one big USA based advertising intelligence company – Exponential. [more on this in a later post. Quick fact for now – Most people in the company (including the CEO) are very humble]
  7. Designed and launched MKA in association with Specta – An application aiming to improve our health related issues caused by sitting in front of computers for long hours via reminders. [Update : the team is working to make the application a smart one] [Check the app. here : Link]
  8. MKA got featured in national newspaper
    MKA in newspaper
  9. Learned to swim a bit – All by myself and a little help of Rahul. [Pic. – Link]
  10. Bought things from my wishlist – Still have few left. [More on this in another blog post]
  11. My cousin (male) married at the age of 35+ – Always happy to see these guys grow and getting wiser each day. They had their bad days in the past but succeeded anyway. [More on this on a later post]

Bad things happened in 2014 :

  1. Didn’t finish my course in college – Have 10 backlogs left.
  2. Procrastinated a lot – For instance missing deadlines on design projects or not going to gym often.
  3. Stopped playing football – I used to play every alternate day in my university.
  4. Stopped blogging – Didn’t blog since March 2014.
  5. Got some belly – Football and running was enough to keep me fit which I stopped doing.
  6. Bought books, but couldn’t finish – Example – The lean startup.
  7. Watched porn a bit more than usual (Ahem!) – Is it a bad thing? Still have to figure that out.

Looking at past is fun. Right? Anyway, let’s concentrate on this year.

GOALS for 2015:

  1. Write minimum 12 blog posts – Blog posts from now on will be mostly based on results from intentional/unintentional experiments in my life.
  2. Put this blog’s branding in place – Working on a new theme for the blog as mentioned above. [Not finalized but yes, this is what it will be] [Update : 100% done]
  3. Get 1000 blog subscribers/readers/monthly views – Writing good content which people will love to read/share will be the key.
  4. Make my personal portfolio website [www.sankalpsinha.com] responsive – My website’s traffic data shows that most people (atleast 30%-40% of them) visit the website from a mobile device. So bound to push it to a responsive layout.
  5. Travel and live in Singapore [minimum for 30 days] – I always wanted to travel to see places…people…good food. Why 30 days? Travel for me is to live and breathe the place not to sightsee them.
  6. Launch e-commerce website of LETWALLINSPIRE – Always believed that with right inspiration, people can go a long way. LETWALLINSPIRE is the result of that belief. [Website]
  7. Design minimum 20 posters for LETWALLINSPIRE – For e-commerce to be effective. [Posters designed so far – Link]
  8. Turn MKA into a smart application – The current version doesn’t take human interaction with the computer in account and gives reminder every 40-55 minutes irrespective of whether the user was active or inactive, which disrupts many engagements of the user with the computer. [Here’s the current version – Link]
  9. Host talks on building ideal lifestyle in minimum 5 colleges – Earning a decent money, working without stress, doing things you love – These are doable. I have done it pretty much and I think others can too. The talk will be based on how to design the ideal lifestyle for yourself.
  10. Read minimum 12 books [List link will be here soon] [Update : 1 book finished reading]
  11. Sketch minimum 100 sketches – Here are few I have done in the past – Link [Follow my sketch updates here – Link] [Update : 15% done]
  12. Learn 10 songs to play on guitar – Songs list will be here soon. For now I will be starting with Ed Sheeran’s Don’t. [Listen the original song here – Youtube Link]
  13. Eat healthy – Here’s my target per month – 30 Liters of milk [1 liter a day], 60 eggs (boiled) on average [2 per day], 60 cheese slice [2 per day], 7-8 liter of fruit juice [500 ml every alternate day]
  14. Get in shape – Have to figure out the best exercise according to my physic and need.
  15. Start cycling – Buy a cycle. Always loved riding one.  [Update : 100% done]
    My_cycle
  16. Manage finance better – Track every expense. [More on this in a later post]
  17. Be more open – Analyze how I react to people and their behavior and set few guidelines/principles in life so to avoid being a hypocrite.

The best way to achieve all this is to break them in easy and doable steps every month, week and days (if you’re so mad about planning). I generally plan out things for the month and then let things flow out according to my engagements for different weeks/days. Most of the times I have failed. But that’s how you get to know how you’re performing.

So here’s my to-do list for January 2015 :

  1. Write and publish 1 blog post [Update : 100% done]
  2. Plan out branding for the blog – So to have a theme and framework to write and focus on. [Update : 100% done]
  3. Learn bootstrap – For making my website www.sankalpsinha.com responsive. [Update : 100% done]
  4. Design 2 posters for LETWALLINSPIRE – To keep inspiring people irrespective of my e-commerce website. [Update : 0% done]
  5. Finish PPT about building the ideal lifestyle – So to reach out to college to let me host talks. [Update : 40% done]
  6. Finish the book : The Lean Startup [Online purchase Link] [Update : 100% done]
  7. Do 10 sketches – To get better at sketching [See all the sketches here : Link] [Update : 100% done]
  8. Learn how to play Ed Sheeran’s Don’t on guitar – To get better at playing guitar [Update : 0% done]
  9. Research on one secret design project – Shhhh! [Update : 100% done]
  10. Simplify Sankalpsinha.com’s about section – Because details when scattered add no value to the brand. [Update : 0% done]

That’s pretty much sums up my current priority for the year 2015 and this month (January). I will keep updating the list as I move forward. Let’s get back to work!

Have plans for 2015? I would love to hear them. Post them in the comments below.

Cheers!