Published December 15-19, 2022
16
Digital Devices
My digital devices are not my life; my spiral writing notebook and pen is. I can travel without my mobile and iPad, but not without my notebook. Having said that, digital devices are now extensions of our body and we have to accept that. In my case, the three primary devices are my mobile, desktop and iPad. The secondary devices are my desktop at work and my laptop.
My mobile is a Samsung Galaxy A52. I use it for a few basic things: WhatsApp, checking email when I don’t have access to my desktop or iPad, and some utility apps (Clock – for the alarms, Google Pay, Amazon, Swiggy, EazyDiner, BBC, Maps, and the occasional use of Spotify, Paytm, Uber and Ola). I am not much of a photos person so the in-built camera does the job well, except when I am on vacation when I carry a separate Canon digital camera. Of late, I have also been using Amazon Music for my songs collection.
I generally ignore any incoming call with a number not in my contacts. If someone calls repeatedly and doesn’t message about the purpose, then I may send the number to my assistant to call and check. This has worked well for the past few years, except for the one time when my wife, Bhavana, misplaced her mobile and tried to call me from a shop and I ignored those incoming calls. I got quite an earful after that and then decided that if I get 2-3 calls in quick succession, maybe I should answer! I also will ignore incoming calls if I am in the middle of something – choosing to return the call at a time of my choosing rather than interrupt the flow of what I am doing.
When at home or office, I use the Windows desktops I have at both places. I like the full-sized screen and keyboard, with the external mouse. I am not much of a laptop person – I generally find the keyboard and screen too small. Most of my substantial writing happens in the mornings on my home desktop. My Windows laptop is only for travelling. Dropbox ensures my files are synced across devices.
The iPad Pro is my other primary device. My browsing generally happens on the iPad because Safari has a “reader view” which enables me to mail articles (rather than just links) to myself or others as plain text. I read books on the iPad either via the Books app or the Kindle app – second best options after hard copy.
When travelling, I take my Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones. The noise cancellation is absolutely amazing. On flights, Hindi songs on my mobile and the QC 45 transport me into my own world.
17
Messaging Apps
Closely linked with meetings is messaging. We have to constantly interact with others. It is not always possible or even necessary to meet them in person or call. That’s where the messaging apps come in.
There are three messaging apps in my life: email, WhatsApp and Slack (recently switched from Flock). Maybe because I am an older person, email is much more central to my life than the other two. I check email multiple times a day (Thunderbird on desktop, and the native apps on the mobile and iPad); I do try to reply to most messages within a day or two. In my email inbox, I use a few folders to organise messages. I don’t use a lot of them because the search function tends to work quite well, and every additional folder means additional bandwidth to be used to decide when the message has to be moved. I like the inbox to be as clean as possible. A zero inbox is a rarity – I normally get to that state only when I am going on vacation. But that’s a momentary high because very soon the new emails arrive in the inbox!
I resisted WhatsApp and Flock for a long time but eventually had to give in a few years ago. My colleagues at work found it hard to send me an SMS or an email of something that was being discussed in a WhatsApp or Flock group. The one advantage I have is that I have very few people directly reporting to me. I also ask them to make decisions on their own as far as possible. So the inflow of messages that need immediate action are limited.
I try to avoid checking messages when I am in a meeting. There is nothing so urgent that it cannot wait for a few more minutes. It is also extremely disrespectful to the other persons in the meeting when one is on the mobile; it is the clearest indication that one has “switched off”. There are perhaps only 3-4 people in the world whose call needs to be answered right away. For me, they are my immediate family and Kalpit (Netcore’s CEO). Everyone else can wait.
I have muted notifications for most individuals and groups, and there are no sound alerts when new messages come in. My approach, like dealing with incoming calls, is to control when I see and reply, rather than being in a continuous reactive mode. Also at times, the impulsive answer can land one into unnecessary trouble. Wrong words spoken or messaged cannot easily be taken back.
It is very important to ensure that our lives are not run by our messaging apps. We need contiguous time to think, read and write. Every interruption brought about by a message requires a context switch, so it is best to control when we see them rather than letting them run our life.
PS: Among other apps, there is a game I play for a few minutes daily (prodded by my son, Abhishek) is “Clash of Clans.” I think everyone should have a game where they can create a mini-world and play for years. There’s a lot to learn from games – how they use micro-incentives to create long-lasting habits. (I have been playing CoC for nearly 7 years. The only rule Abhishek and I have is that we will not spend any money in the game.)
18
Social Media
My attitude to social media is one of benign neglect. I have accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn, but I am not very active on either. I had an unused Facebook account which I deleted a couple years ago. The reason for abstinence is two-fold: the social media platforms are designed to “hook” and become addictive, and in my blog, I have a very good alternative for expressing myself.
In a recent interview, I was told that as a founder, I am making a big mistake by not being active on social media since it can go a long way towards employer branding and attracting talent. While I agree, I believe the costs will be much higher than the benefits – and there is an alternative middle path. Once you get on these platforms, it is very difficult to exercise self-control. There is always someone to be responded to, and in the desire for immediacy and brevity, it is not very difficult to make comments that one will regret later. Reputations take years to build, but only moments to destroy. In the desire to be witty or cheeky, it is possible to overstep the line easily. It also becomes difficult to draw the line – whom to respond and whom to ignore.
I remember when I had an active Twitter presence – around the time when I had started Niti Digital in 2012. At that time, I got some very obnoxious comments from people because of my political support for Modi and BJP, and questioning how I had earned my money (the IndiaWorld deal). My initial temptation was to respond to each of these trolls and set the record straight. But a wise colleague said that this would be my biggest mistake because that is exactly what they wanted – a verbal joust and there will never be a path for me to persuade or win the argument. The best solution was to ignore them and not let what they were saying affect me. This was one of the best pieces of advice I got. It was then that I also decided to stop blogging because I realised that even though I was working on the political periphery, I would eventually become a target and my words would be twisted irrespective of what I said.
My middle path is to write on my blog – a passion I rediscovered in April 2020. By this time, the active political pursuits were behind me. What I do on LinkedIn (with the help of a colleague) is to post a link to my blog essays and media interactions. Keep it simple. There is the downside of limited engagement, but in today’s world, there are multiple ways people will reach out to me in case they have to. Besides, I am a very reluctant active conversation starter!
Social media, as the world has discovered through the years, can cut both ways. I have made peace with my digital minimalism: writing on my blog, reposting on LinkedIn, and staying away from Facebook and Twitter, except for clicking on the occasional links to interesting content sent by friends. There is much more to life than scrolling through the endless feed of mind-numbing content.
19
Money
I did not grow up with money, but I was lucky enough to end up with a lot of it when I sold IndiaWorld in 1999 at age 32 for $115 million in a largely cash deal. My wife, Bhavana, ensured my feet stayed firmly planted on the ground, and success did not go to my head. Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. And entrepreneurs know that failure is many times more likely than success in a venture. Two decades after the IndiaWorld sale, as I look to the future, my attitude to money is to use it to leave a legacy and build institutions that can be enduring and great.
There are three key questions to address when it comes to money: how to earn, how much is enough, and what to do with it. For me, the earning question has been easy to answer – it’s always been entrepreneurship. I am not much of an investor either in startups or stocks. For me, it’s the joy of solving problems, of creating solutions, of building products and companies. This is also a path ridden with micro-failures – more than 30 in my three decades as an entrepreneur. But there have been two macro-successes in IndiaWorld and now Netcore.
I recently calculated the CAGR on the per share price for Netcore over the past decade. Since we don’t yet have an investor and therefore an external validation of the share price, I did my own estimation of what I think Netcore is worth. The per share price has grown at a CAGR of over 25% over the past decade. And I am confident that if we keep running the business well, we can repeat a similar CAGR growth for the next decade. 25% for 10 years means a 10X increase in value. I don’t have the mindset of an investor – I like to do things myself and am willing to bet on my capabilities. I will get many things wrong in the journey but as long as they don’t kill the business, I also have the confidence that I will get a few things right. This is exactly what happened in both IndiaWorld and Netcore. “Consistent compounding” is a great way for wealth creation, and for me, entrepreneurship is the best approach to making it happen.
How much is enough? It is a question each of us has to answer. All I can say is that it is better to keep one’s needs simple, rather than get into the spending mode. There is no aspiration for a bigger car or bigger house. There is not the desire for being richer than someone else for there will always be someone up the ladder irrespective of where one is. So, keep one’s needs minimal, and the mind is much more at ease to enable the focus on the business.
What to do with the money? As I have crossed 55, I have started to think about the future a lot more. One idea I have is to use a significant part of the wealth to build institutions for freedom and prosperity in India. I want to look at creating one new institution a year for 10 years. That becomes a good legacy. I want to bring my entrepreneurial approach to solve problems in the social, political, academic, cultural and economic (SPACE) arenas. The US has many examples of great institutions – from the universities to the think tanks to research powerhouses. It is something I want to start thinking and working on in the years to come.
I still remember the gist of what Bhavana told me the day after I sold IndiaWorld: “We have got a lot of money at an early age. If you keep thinking about it, you will not do anything productive in your future life. Think of us as custodians of God’s money on earth. There is a purpose for the money. Figure it out.” And that’s what I have to do now!
20
Health
In the prime of our life, many of us do not pay much attention to our health – though this is changing rapidly, especially among the young. I am not the gymming type. I do a morning walk for 35 minutes 5 days a week, and that’s about it. At some point in the past, I used to do Yoga daily but that did not last long. I do control what I eat, and ensure my weight stays in the 65-67 kgs range. I look at my health through the BETH lens – blood, eyes, teeth, heart.
I get an annual blood test done, so my sister (a doctor) can track my health parameters. Many years ago, she started me on daily cholesterol medication (statins) – given my high levels then. That brought it under control and it has stayed that way since. Every year, I put the test results into an Excel file so I have my full progress report available at a glance.
Eyes have been a problem since age 10. I have high myopia, and now, perhaps borderline glaucoma. For the latter, I have to put eye drops daily to keep the eye pressure under check. For the former, I use progressive glasses – it is amazing how well these work.
Teeth was a recent problem – four wisdom teeth needed to be extracted, and some fillings and cappings needed to be done. I have now started taking better care of my teeth. I use the Oracura water jet for proper cleaning daily.
Eyes and teeth care both need good ophthalmologists and dentists one can go to every year for checkups. The mistake I made was that I skipped dental checkup for a long time. I learnt my lesson. Dental tech has also become very good; the nightmare scenarios of pain I remember from childhood are no longer the norm. So, there is no excuse other than laziness to not get periodic check-ups done.
That leaves the heart. A check-up every five years or so is a must, especially if one has a family history. Listening to signals from the body is very important – there are generally early indicators which we must not ignore.
Health cannot be delinked from food. I have a disciplined Jain diet (though I make an exception occasionally for potatoes). Once the pandemic started, I did away with a full dinner. So, it’s a heavy breakfast, moderate lunch, and some fruits (banana and apple) in the evening. No drinking or smoking. With food, it is very important to be able to say No to temptations.
Health is wealth, as has been so well said. Without good health, it is very difficult to lead a good life. Too often, we delay taking care of ourselves until things are irreversible or it is too late. Having a good doctor is the first step to ensuring one stays healthy to lead a full life.