Last weekend we made a trip to Gorai Beach – in the northern part of Mumbai. Even though it was a Sunday it was empty!

We took an auto from Kandivali East from our home. The auto guy asked us how do you want to go – trick question. The wife smartly answered – whichever has less traffic. The meter reading came to 7.3 ( return it was 5.5 ) – and he took us for a ride through winding roads.

We reached the Gorai Creek and got into a Ferry. Many had come with their 2 wheelers and I was wondering why they will need it. On the other side it became apparent. The beach was quite far. Autos were plying for Rs.50. Horse cart was Rs.80. And its fun to take your own 2 wheeler if you can. Worth it.

And the beach was dreamy! – not like the Chennai ones with sand getting into ones toes. The sand was black and wet. And it was a huge beach. We had to walk half a km to reach the water – which was very shallow.

The car waalae had brought their cars and were driving it really fast splashing! I was looking at them expecting someone to drift.. but no one did – boring Indians.

We had a betting game on which snail will go out of the box first!

The last Ferry is at 9:30PM. For the beach to ferry ride the Auto guy charged Rs.60. I made a mistake should not have asked – should have just got in and directed him to Ferry place and quietly given Rs.50. The auto guy was saying the rate will keep increasing as time goes on. He did have a point – he had to return empty from the Ferry spot.

We got back to the creek had dinner at Deccan House/Place ( food was good but nothing memorable ) and got back home on a honest auto.

Next trip we are planning to visit the Pagoda – which is a detour from the Gorai beach ( auto was quoting Rs.80 ) – had we started earlier we could have covered both places.

I always thought the 4 Hour Work Week book was a scam. This is a shining example for the adage – Do not judge a book by its covers.

This book is a Whack on the side of the head  ( another good book! ) – made me rethink what I am doing with my life.

Here are the important take aways :

1. Work less for Better Productivity.

I did not end up working 4 Hours per week ( yet 🙂 ). But I definitely work lot lesser now. However I am more productive than before.

What am I doing different?

a. No more FB, Twitter, Google Plus ( adding for posterity’s sake…I had to think hard to remember what was the other one )

b. No more checking and responding emails round the clock. I batch them. Best part is some of the issues will get resolved by itself by the time I check. Now I check emails around 10am ( when I come to work ), 2pm ( after lunch ) and 5pm ( before the team goes home )

c. Give aggressive deadlines. I have started biting more than I can chew – and guess what I chew more nowadays! – This is the insight I got from Goal 2. Having cushion is bad.

2. No more news. 

I had stopped reading newspapers long back. But I will keep myself up to date on Twitter and news sites. Of late I was feeling that what I am reading is totally biased and “news” as I always thought was someone’s view and that too with an agenda. ( reminds me of a  Hindu Ad I saw in 2000 on Mount Road – we offer news without views ).

So I gave up news entirely. I have no idea what games are being played, what scams are being unearthed – what plan is being hatched for the tax money that I am paying. Instead I hear it from friends or glance at the headlines on the newspapers lying on the floor as I walk down the stairs in my apartment. ( ps : almost 90% read Times of India and 90% of the time there is no news – only a big Ad on the front page ).

3. Non Work Time.

a. I go home by 7:00pm. Earlier there was no end time. Since I am working on a startup I should put 80 hour caffeine filled weeks right? Wrong. We need not burn ourselves to reach our goals – we have to just work smart.

b. I take Sundays off and don’t take up any work.

c. I removed the email icon from the home screen of my phone. I can still reach by going to applications but this has reduced the threads running on my head.

d. Most importantly – if I am in a train or just woke up or going to sleep or going for a run and I cannot work on it or respond – I simply don’t open emails. This simple discipline has made a big difference to me.

So – this is me. If you don’t find me on twitter or facebook and want to talk to me – call me or email me or use ApartmentAdda contact us page like one of my acquaintances! And btw – I will be calling you too – I am going to do social networking once again!