Year In Review - 2021

If I were to sum up the year with a phrase it would be - “Between dream and miracle”

Top lessons

• Making a dollar is still difficult
• Lead with your quirkiness
• Attract with consistent output

Peak wins

• Started a podcast and reached 1000 downloads
• Started homeschooling kids
• Validated the need for Gravitas WINS course

WINS Flywheel

I use WINS framework as a personal flywheel. WINS stands for: Wealth, Insights, Network, and Self.

WINS is a systems framework, which means that when you improve a factor, you make the whole better.

This year, I was able to push the flywheel a little further than the last year. It still got to get its momentum, though. Having this framework in mind helped me drop any activity that didn’t fit into one of these four buckets.

If this flywheel interests you, you should check out the course.

Wealth

• Gravitas WINS course: I took the course for six more cohorts this year. With 30 students, I have validated the need for the course. To my pleasant surprise, I also completed two corporate cohorts.
• Multiple streams of income: This has been in my wish list for way too long. This year, I was able to bring it to fruition. Even though it was sporadic, I’m happy that I was able to realise this goal.
• First Angel Investment: I invested in an e-commerce startup. Another first. I knew the founder for few years and he bootstrapped this startup for 6 months. My investment was on him rather than on his company. Since I released the first tranche of the investment, we had regular calls reviewing his strategy and tactics. Even though there were many bumps, he has been scaling the startup so well that few VCs expressed interest in next round of investing.

Insights

I follow SDL as a learning framework. It is one thing to learn from books and videos. But no learning can come closer to learning by doing.

I started three initiatives to market my course. But they took a life of their own. I loved each of these, because it kept me looking forward to each week throughout the year.

• Gravitas WINS Show: Every Thursday, I conducted a live meeting to discuss topics related to leadership. When I started, I didn’t expect that I’ll run forty shows in a year. I didn’t also expect that I’ll come to love it. It was became a great marketing asset for the course, since many people knew about the course and join it. You can watch all of the episodes on YouTube.
• Gravitas WINS Radio: I started a podcast in April. Initially it was a monologue, but I converted into an interview format in July. It gave me an opportunity to connect with some of the amazing people.
• Gravitas WINS Book Club: In May, I started a book club on Clubhouse. We reviewed individual books. Later we went deep into The Psychology Of Money, reviewing each chapter. The highlight of these sessions was a 11 year old reviewing a chapter. I was so glad I could bring out the best in wide range of audience.

2021 was the first year I took month long break from all activities. Why? Because taking a break is good for you and your heart.

Network

The beauty of thinking flywheels is that when you conceive a flywheel properly one aspect leads to the other automatically, increasing the momentum of the flywheel.

Because of the three activities I conducted, I expanded my network. Not only I expanded, I was also able to build deep connections with some of them.

Self

• Homeschooling: I have been researching about homeschooling since 2015. Whenever I discussed with my wife and kids, they were not interested. I didn’t want to force them into it. This year, they were convinced about the benefit of homeschooling. Kids have embraced it well. They are happy to share all their learning in their YouTube channel.
• Travel: Like everyone we were locked up because of the virus. Even when so many of my friends started traveling, I hesitated. Finally in December, I took courage and traveled to Bangalore and from there went to Wild Planet Jungle Resort. We loved it. The place and their hospitality was what was needed to refresh the weary souls.

Retros of the earlier years

I’ve been publishing annual reviews almost every year. You can read them to understand the journey I’ve come through.