SWIGGY GENIE

I just love the new initiative by Swiggy in #India, where they have rolled out Swiggy Genie to continue business during COVID19.  1. It is a great way to use Swiggy's existing ecosystem and network to provide customer service while opening new revenue stream. 2. This gives customers more options to choose from, especially in getting their essentials delivered. 
3. The large number of delivery guys that Swiggy has on its rolls will not only be kept busy but will also continue to hold on to their jobs.

What is also brilliant is the new layouts that have been rolled out for Swiggy Genie. It is a fantastic wordplay on popular #Bollywood movies, making the title more relevant to the context.

2015: This is How I am avoiding Resolutions

Another year has dawned on us. Phone calls, emails, SMSes, Whatsapp messages wishing each other Happy New Year have been exchanged. 

Now step back and think. What is so special about the New Year? It is just a change of date in the calendar. The sun rose on 1st Jan in the same way as all the other days before that, the weather and the traffic out there is also the same. Even the shows on TV are the same ones!

So then what has changed? The New Year may not change any of these but what a New Year brings with it is something called HOPE. With the advent of the New Year comes a strong sense of optimism. The belief that things will change from here on is what comes to the mind of people. And it is all of these emotions that make one to put together a list of resolutions. Most of them are well aware that they are never able to stick to their resolutions for a pretty long time but yet, year after year, they persist and put together another list, only to get disappointed over the next few days/weeks or months. 

It’s been two years that I have been blogging about how I do not keep any resolutions but rather follow my own model of doing things through the year. The benefit of this model is that there is no disappointment of a resolution breaking. 

So then what are my plans for this year? Am I sticking to the same model or is there a new model that I have developed? I thought a lot about this and then realized that this E Model that I have developed for myself works perfectly for me and at this stage I should not let go of it. Maybe, I should enhance it further, which means retaining a few Es , removing a few and adding a couple of other. Like I had mentioned last year, this E Model is a dynamic model which will keep changing and evolving with each passing year. 

So with that, I once again present my E Model to all of you, with the hope that some of you may also use it and benefit from it:

1. Experience: There are lot of people who like collecting different kinds of things – stamps, coins, match boxes. I like to collect experiences and call myself ‘Collector of Experiences.’ I try and find opportunities to try new things which just make life more exciting and meaningful. At the start of last year, I jumped off a cliff to experience paragliding. Towards the end of the year, I got to experience watching two tennis legends playing live - Roger Federer and Djokovic playing a set against each other at the ITPL. This year also, I plan to try a few new experiences.

2. Exploration: Travel is an important part of my life. One has to have wanderlust in life to truly become an explorer. Travel and reading are the two biggest teachers of life. As long as you have these two teachers in your life, your learning will never stop. One of my personal goals every year is to visit and see atleast three new places. Even when I am travelling for work, I endeavor to check out a few interesting sites of the place that I am visiting. This year will bring its own set of travel diaries. 

3. Extraction: This is a big word. It means absorbing and learning new things either through reading, videos, work, training, etc. Extraction would also mean writing and blogging and extracting thoughts and stories from within. Last year was a slow year for extraction and the plan this year is to rectify that. 

4. Entertainment: All work and no play can make Jack a dull boy. Philosophy of life couldn’t be truer than this. There is so much of content that exists out there – movies, TV Series, YouTube videos, award winning ads. Amongst all the other things that I intend to do in 2015, keeping my entertainment quotient high will be clearly one of the priorities. 

5. Engagement: This is a new E that I am adding to this model. Social media has become an extension of our life and it is something that can’t be escaped. So the best way is to embrace it. But in 2015, I do not want to limit my engagement to the online world. I intend to engage with my friends and families in the offline world too. I will be taking initiatives of catching up with as many people as I possibly can and connecting with their lives once again. 

6. Evolution: This model is incomplete without the addition of Evolution to the model. While I get busy in new experiences and extracting more from the lessons of life, it is also important that I evolve as a person. This evolution has to be mental, physical, financial and intellectual. I would like to see my net worth and balance sheet evolving. I would like to see the log of my running kilometres evolving as well as my acts of empathy and kindness evolving. My relationship with my colleagues and my team should evolve towards a better side. 

Overall, I should evolve as a better human being and the true measure of this will only come from others and their opinion about me rather than my own opinion about myself. 

All of these elements of the E Model are going to be subjective in nature and I will have no way of appraising myself if I do not put down a tracker that is quantifiable and measures how I am doing against each of these elements. So a Tracker has been put in place. 

Before you decide to implement this model in your life, do note that there are two other Es that come as companions for this model – Expenditure and Execution. You cannot win with this model if you do not take the companions along! 

Looking forward to the ‘Exciting’ times ahead in 2015!

2014: A Year where no Resolutions shall be broken

Happy New Year Readers.

As I hit the road called '2014', I can see 2013 in the rear view mirror going further into the opposite direction. Very soon, it won't be visible but it shall be remembered as the road I traveled on. 

This is the time of the year when people will try to make resolutions and try to live up to those resolutions for a short while before letting go and waiting for another year to give it another attempt.

I realized the futility of resolutions a few years back and was constantly pondering over what I should be doing to do the things I want to do without the fear or the guilt of breaking my resolutions. That’s when I wrote my blog at the start of 2013 called 2013: No Resolutions. Just Follow the Es. (http://fugleman.blogspot.in/2013/01/2013-no-resolutions-just-follow-es.html)

This approach was very helpful and allowed me to go ahead and do so many things without bothering about breaking resolutions. In the year 2014, I would like to continue with the same approach and the same model called the ‘E Model’ but with a different set of Es as it is a dynamic model that keeps evolving with every passing year. 

So what is this ‘E Model’ and why will it ensure that I do not break any resolution? The simple reason for that is because this model allows you and encourages you to do more and achieve more rather than restrain yourself.

Without further explanations, let me list down my ‘E Model’ for 2014:

1. Experience – Life is all about experiences and I like to call myself a Collector of Experiences. To me, an experience is a vast word that comprises of many things. Travelling and exploring new places is an experience as much as going to a new restaurant is. Trying a new adventure sport is as much an experience as attempting to learn a new language is. Reading a new genre is as much an experience as writing a novel is. I am sure that you have got the gist of what an experience can really mean. Experience is nothing less than an ocean that has been formed by small and big moments, which have turned into memories, to create an experience. For me, that ocean still needs lots and lots of such moments which I shall be collecting throughout the year. 

2. Earn – Collecting experiences is not an easy thing. It costs. Hence it is critical that I earn more than before through better performance, smart financial investing and other possible avenues. But earning financially is not the only thing that I am interested in for 2014. I am keen to earn the respect of colleagues and peers by the work that I do. It is important that I earn the trust of the consumers as a marketer by doing better and sharper marketing. Last but not the least, it is extremely important that I earn good Karma by my behavior and deeds and take a small step in being a better human being than what I was in 2013. 

3. Exercise – Every sportsman will tell you that ‘Health is Wealth’ and it is even true literally in their cases. But the reality is that only if you are healthy can you experience more out of life and earn what you intend to earn. So I will use 2014 as a year to exercise more than before and move to a healthier body and a healthier mind.

4. Exchange – In the times of social media and messaging platforms like Whatsapp, while the friends list has grown tremendously but most of the exchange of expressions and emotions take place only through status messages and emoticons. 2014 shall be the year where I make an attempt to change that. No, I have no intention of cutting down on the time that I spend on these platforms but what I surely intend to do is to catch up and meet friends and family in person and exchange thoughts, conversations and emotions face-to-face and in person. I would also like to use 2014 as a year to meet new people, form new relationships and expand on my bonds with people. 

5. Entertain – This one is about the attempt to escape reality and the current environment for a few hours every now and then to see the movies/TV Series/Music Videos that exist out there as well as the ones that would come out in 2014. 

6. Enjoy – While I may attempt to list down all the things that I want to do in 2014 and also achieve some of them, the truth is that I do not have control beyond a certain extent to what lies ahead. There would be ups and downs, achievements and misses and it is a part of the deal. Instead of mulling over those that I can’t control, my attempt for 2014 would be to enjoy life and its big and small pleasures, knowing well that I am trying and taking an approach that lets me grow and emerge a better individual with more knowledge than before and hopefully a broader horizon to view things. 

I hope that this model makes 2014 a great year so that I can look back at the end of the year and say that it was an eventful year with lots of excitement that I lived with great exuberance!