How to do a TODO list?

I have tried a lot of software and apps to maintain my todo list. I was thrilled to get the sync functionality and see my lists updated across devices and platforms. The biggest problem with the system though was in the simple idea of 'out of sight is out of mind'. I often have many items in such electronic todo lists, that they are hidden away in multiple projects/folders and often out of my sight. This affects my focus. To improve this, I have now gone back to using a paper based todo list on a daily basis. I still have some tasks hidden away in those projects and folders. However, I have found that having my list in front of me throughout the day helps me focus. Having a paper-based list also feels good as I physically check off each item from the list.

Two notebooks: 'TODO' and 'Brainstorming'

Because of my detail-oriented nature, I have often found myself making a list and then adding a whole bunch of details on the page as I progress the day. This is inefficient and as the space gets cluttered so does my thinking. So I started to dumb it down. Now I have a separate notebook fully dedicated to only maintaining running todo lists. I have another notebook, which can be called a brainstorming notebook. As I discussed in another post before, how it is very important to jot down the ideas. That's actually the real way to think. So this brainstorming notebook is to help me think through stuff. It gets cluttered and that's ok because my todo list is neatly written in my 'TODO notebook'.

How to maintain a neat list?

The idea is quite simple. When I start the day, I write down today's date and then jot down the things I want to accomplish. I often try to break it down into granular tasks as those are easier, faster and thus more likely to be completed. I have found that big tasks are easier to postpone. Smaller tasks are quickly finished and you can check off things from the list which makes you feel good and energized for the next tasks on the list.

I don't try to cross anything and add stuff in between. It is a one dimensional list. One the checkbox I might cross it with an arrow indicating the task has been moved if I move it down into smaller tasks. During the day I keep adding simple tasks when I come across them and then keep checking them off as I do it. What's left is again written the next day. This is supposed to make me feel guilty for not completing the task and thus I try to do it the same day more often.

What about long-term tasks?

You can easily have one more page at the front for monthly list which lists down your goals if you don't want to use apps at all. Even make up a calendar and put down important events for the month before starting. This can make it a lot of fun. Don't try to fill too much of 'tomorrow' and 'later' tasks in your today list. If it is simple and clear with high chances of doing everything today, it is more likely that you will be able to do it.

Should I have a separate TODO list for work and home?

Some people prefer to have a separate list. However, I think as most of our time is spent at office it means you will end up realizing some home tasks while at office. You might even be paying the utility bill while at office. Unless you want to carry around two TODO notebooks with you all the time, it makes sense to just have everything in the office notebook itself. Then if you don't want to carry the notebook home, you can simply get a stick-it note and jot down your remaining 2-3 home items and take it with you. Having everything in one place makes sure it’s all in front of you, always.

What about my outlook tasks?

For me typically outlook tasks are not tasks but rather follow-up items. It is good to flag them as it provides quick access to them when you have to reply. I typically flag them and jot it down on my notebook as well so I can keep track of it.

In conclusion, having a neat looking physical todo list that's always in front of you makes it likely that you will be focused. Keep tasks granular and check off items as you do it. Pat yourself each time you do something and move on to the next item!

Read More...

Inspired by The Happiness Advantage

I have recently come across this book and corresponding TED talk by Shawn Achor. I am writing to share my thoughts around it. When I first heard Shawn's findings, I was able to immediately connect with his ideas and agreed with them. The core thought is about how the universe's misconception with happiness. The way we are brought up has made us believe that happiness is something we achieve at the end of success. This whole idea, according to Shawn, is flawed primarily because once we reach our goal, there is always a next one. The goalposts keep moving and thus we can never truly reach the end of it, to feel happy about it. When I applied this to my life, this explains everything. With every achievement, instead of feeling happiness I just kept moving my goal. The same is true today. I should be grateful and happy for what I was able to do while working on my next goal. But without this realization itself, that seldom is the case. Shawn further argues that if we turned this around and put happiness first, we can see improved performance in our work lives which can lead to our definition of success faster. When I think back about the best things in life that I am proud of, I remember myself in a happy state of mind. A happy state of mind can lead to clearer thinking, while we are prone to make wrong decisions under stress. That brings us to the next question though.

How do we achieve this happy state of mind?

Shawn distinguishes between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure can come from short term things while happiness is a state of mind. We can feel pleasure by playing video games for hours and hours. But that doesn't change our happiness state sometimes. As pleasures often lack something meaningful, it can lead to discontent within ourselves. But then how do we pursue happiness without pursuing pleasure? I have been searching for this for a while. Shawn again has answer to this. He argues that through practicing simple techniques daily one can attain peace of mind and thereby happiness. He specifically suggests doing five small tasks daily for 21 days or more. These small tasks include writing three things you are grateful for, writing one good experience for the day, write one thank you note to somebody, meditate for 2 minutes and exercise daily. The idea is to develop these habits that generate positive energy within us by forcing us first to search for positive things in our lives and eventually and eventually making it an automatic thing.

As I have changed careers I have noticed how there is little correlation between money or position with happiness. I have seen poor people happy and rich people unhappy. I have seen employees at the lowest levels with a calm state of mind while senior managers panic. These observations prove that how our mind perceives that things around us can affect the way we feel about it. It has many a times very little to do with outer world itself and much more to do with what we are looking for. One parallel I can draw is from when I was studying words for an exam. When I learned a new word. I often started coming across them again and again at various places. Perhaps because now I was looking for it, I was finding it more often. To train my mind to look for happiness may do something similar and help me find it!

Does it work?

I am myself still in the process, I would say. So I wouldn't be the best example for this. However, I would like to mention my friend who introduced this concept to me. He is an epitome of living a meaningful life. After leaving a high paying corporate job, he went to become a teacher for underprivileged kids. He is not only taking classes but working on the complete development of these children. His life is truly meaningful. After taking a 60% salary cut, he works for 16 hours a day and still tells me that he can only remember two instances in last one year when he was unhappy about something. He attributes some of this to his regularly following Shawn Achor's 5 habits everyday without fail. He has a notebook specially for this. He calls it 'The Gratitude Journal'. He believes it has made him appreciate the things around him a lot more and feels truly blessed to have all the people in his life. Yes, it works!

How to implement?

Keeping the tasks simple is important. Make sure it doesn't take so much of your time that you start running away from it or making excuses that you were too busy and didn't have time. I spread it across the day. I usually wake up in the morning and send a thank you note/email to someone. Then after getting ready for work, I meditate for 2-3 minutes. This has a calming effect on the mind. Simply concentrating on my breathe slows things down. Then during lunch time, I usually go to gym to exercise. Then at night, after lunch I sit down quickly for 5 minutes to write down 3 things I am grateful for and one good experience. Excluding exercise, it just needs 10 minutes to complete these small tasks and if you are making excuses you are giving the stress a chance to creep back into your life!

If just one of you start following this technique, I would be happy that I returned the favor by making this world a happier place. Instead of chasing success, chase happiness, do meaningful work and appreciate small things in life. Success will find you.

Read More...

[Recent Buy] SeaDrill Ltd. NYSE:SDRL

Seadrill Limited is an offshore drilling contractor providing worldwide offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industry. After touching a high of $48.09 in October 2013, the stock has been under some pressure with market giving too much emphasis on outlook for reduced capex and slowdown in the industry. The stock closed at $34.11 on 22-Mar-2013, offering a very attractive yield of 11.49%. I think Mr. Market is offering a clear bargain here. The stock has underperformed while the market continues to rally. The recent earnings call clearly demonstrated existence of backlogs running through 2015 with more deals expected to come through. This makes dividend quite safe for the next couple of years. One thing we have to accept is that energy demand is going to continue to increase with continued global recovery and sooner or later capex would have to be increased. When that happens, Mr. Market won't be as generous as he is today. Moreover, after such a big run in the equities, such bargains are quite rate these days.

I will start building position Seadrill Ltd, starting with 10 shares that I bought yesterday. This new position adds to my existing high exposure to energy sector (now over 15%), but I’m comfortable right now as that is where the value is.

Read More...

Python Code to Extract Bloomberg Stock Price

Latest Stock Price

To extract latest stock price data from Bloomberg website, you can use the following  piece of python code. You will need to have python installed and save this code into a .py file to run. This is a very efficient piece of code as it uses the json format and doesn't scrap from the entire webpage. Assign the 'ticker' variable below with your desired stock ticker.

import urllib
import re
import json

ticker="AAPL:US" # simply replace this with your desired stock ticker

htmltext = urllib.urlopen("http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/watchlist/recent-ticker/"+ticker)

data = json.load(htmltext)
print data['last_price']

1 minute Stock Price Data from Bloomberg

import urllib
import re
import json

ticker="AAPL:US"
htmltext = urllib.urlopen("http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/chart/data/1D/"+ticker)

data = json.load(htmltext)

datavalues=data['data_values']
for datavalue in datavalues:
    print datavalue[1]
print "number of data points" , len(datavalues)

Read More...

[Recent Buy] Bank of China Ltd 3988.HK

I recently added two positions of Bank of China Ltd. listed in Hong Kong stock exchange (ticker symbol 3988.HK). This stock can be bought in lots, so you can buy stocks in multiples of 1000s. Friday closing price was HKD 3.39. Though I first purchased it at 3.57 and then last week at 3.42, owning two lots now.

Currently trading at a 5-year lowest price-earnings ratio, this market leader (Market Cap 900 billion HKD) is available at a discount and a bank to consider investing in if you want to be part of the china story. It is also a dividend payer with a yield of 6.54% and a 5-year dividend growth rate of 12.79%, bringing the Chowder number to 19. With payout ratio of mere 30%, and price-to-cashflow of 4.17, there is easily room for this to grow over the coming years. It has exhibited very strong growth over the past 5 years with Sales growing 14.10% and EPS growing at 17.87%! ROE is at 18.50% as well. Further, the dividends could increase if CNY continues to appreciate.

All the financials are looking rock solid for the bank while it is attractively valued with a lot of upside. I bought two lots as I wanted to add exposure to financial sector (I did not own any financial stocks till now). This gives me geographical diversification as well.

Read More...

Achieving Inbox Zero

I have found myself multiple times in this situation where I have too many emails in my inbox, some I have even read and just haven't been able to decide what to do with them. Every time I open my email account there they are, staring at me and reminding me of the constant mess that exists. Recently I started searching for a solution to this problem. I am now practicing a system that I found to be working for me so far. I'm going to share with you how I achieved Inbox Zero and you can too.

The multiple account problem

I, and I'm sure many others like me, end up creating multiple email accounts for multiple things. It seems like such a good thing to do to separate out the different aspects of our life. We have different accounts for social networks, for email clients, work email, junk ads, website sign ups and so many others. I finally stopped to take a look back at what a mess I have created by creating so many accounts. I ended up eliminating some of the accounts that I don't absolutely need for my existence. Further, there is a way to forward all emails automatically to another account. I recommend that one must have not more than two accounts for personal emails now. One for more 'official' personal usage like important tax registrations etc. and the other account for everything else from social networking to personal emailing to shopping website sign ups. The key is to control the spam that these websites send by unsubscribing to newsletters etc.

When Labels became an Overkill

When I first started using gmail I absolutely loved the idea that you can label things, so much that I created and kept creating labels for everything. Last week when I checked I had over 40 labels and I was spending time trying to figure out which label I must have applied for which email. It clearly had failed its original purpose of making it easier to find an email. The feature I used the most was searching gmail archives rather than going by labels. Perhaps that was gmail team's original vision regarding Archives anyways. For those who don't know, there are two things you can do to a fresh email after reading. You can either trash it or you can archive it. Once you trash it, google automatically deletes those emails after 30 days. Once you archive, it disappears from the inbox and goes to the archive. It then stays there forever to be searched whenever you want. Google provides enough space to arvchive your important messages and keeping it forever. After using my gmail account for almost 8 years now, I have still only half filled the provided space, and that space provided by Google also keeps growing so I'm not really worried. Now before archiving these messages, there is an option to apply labels to them.

My 4 Label Email system

I have now simplified my label system to have only 4 labels. Now the idea is to put everything that needs regular review into one of these four categories and the rest go into archive without any labels. I will be relying on the gmail's search system rather than my 40 labels to find something. 

Now coming to my 4 labels. The first and most important label is !Action. This is applied to items that I'm working on or supposed to work on, finish and perhaps reply. Once I've 'completed' the action, I archive these emails. The second label is !Hold. This is applied to important pieces of information that might come in handy very soon. This can include things like a movie ticket or a flight booking information. Once I don't need it anymore, I simply move this to archive. My next category is !Read. This contains all the emails that contain important information that i need to read before archiving. This may contain important news articles or other announcements and reports. My final category is !Waiting. This is for emails where I'm waiting for somebody else to do something before I can proceed with my part.

It is an extremely simple system but it works, at least for me. I have seen some people put another label called !Someday/Maybe. As of now if some action is required it is put in my !Action folder, not necessarily differentiating something that I need to do now or 3 months from now. I do use a TODO system where I might move tasks that are too far away and don't belong email folders. I'll discuss my TODO system another day.

But do remember

The system might be in place now but what's important is to stick by the basic rules.

1. When you open an email it doesn't belong to Inbox anymore. You need to either trash it, archive it or label it.

2. Regularly review the items in the 4 categories. Doing the !Actions, Reading the !Read items and following up appropriately on the !Waiting items. Archive it in the end.

There! You have my system. Give it a try and hope you experience the same good feeling of control when it comes to email and to your life.

Read More...