DATED – 19th March 2016

For those of you who read my last blog – ‘When is your party’, I had briefly mentioned about my first achievement being on achieving a certain amount of sale on my new venture – www.e-ceramall.com. One of things we are working on is to get funding to push the project at a faster pace.

Last week, I presented to a couple of investors together. One of them has been in the field of startups for a long time. Overall he liked the concept and thought it was quite unique. But on one slide, he caught me totally off guard. I was talking about the revenue; it was a big number and hence the profit. He asked me, “Do you have a plan to achieve that turnover? Or do you just think – ‘ho jaayega’ (it will be done)? It doesn’t work like that. Most startups in India fail because they like to speak big numbers, but don’t have a plan to achieve it.”

It made sense to me. Invariably, whenever we have to sit, think and plan, the mind doesn’t want to go to the fine details. Somehow we tell ourselves and others, ‘ho jaayega…’ We feel that somehow it will happen. I am sure all of us reading this blog would have at some point of time (if not every day) said – ‘ho jaayega…’

• It’s your son’s marriage. The guests are to be transferred from the hotel to the marriage The number of cars are limited. The thinking is – ‘ho jaayega…’ Some guests are invariably stranded waiting for cars to come
• You are starting a new business. But have you worked out in details as to how and how much will you have to earn to make it worth the time you are putting in every day?
• As a sales person, have you thought on how will you reach your targets for the month? Or is it always the last week where you push yourself and create havoc in your life?
• As a fitness instructor, do you plan for your class and work systematically on your students’ health? Or do you rely on your knowledge and think – ‘class toh ho jaayega…’’
• If you wish to drop 10 kgs in six months, have you decided – HOW? Or do you just get joy to declare that number, thinking – ‘ho jaayega…’ Only to be disappointed three months later that not even a single kg has been dropped.
• While you are preparing for your exams, have you planned your studies? Do you know by when which chapter should have been done?
• While you are planning for a trip, have you checked out the Internet for places that might interest you? Or do you simply go by the itinerary given by your travel agent?
• Have you planned finances for your future? For your children? I have seen a large number of people taking things for granted with regards to finance. ‘Ho jaayega…’ is very dangerous thing to say / think when it comes to money.

I think this is a very common disease. Most of us don’t want to take time to plan for things in life – small or big. We just seem to have faith in God and circumstances that everything will be fine, all will fall in place. But my question still will be – HOW? It is great to have faith in God, but the plan has to be ours. Long ago I heard this saying, that is so relevant here – ‘If I do my Best, God will do the Rest. But if I continue to Rest, God also continues to Rest.’

Vis-à-vis my life –

I was flabbergasted as I thought about this question a little deeper after the presentation. There are enough areas of my life where I have also been thinking – ‘ho jaayega…’ But when I ask myself – HOW? I am short of answers. I have decided to sit down and answer a few HOW questions to myself.

I am not saying that everything in life must be planned to the core. That might become too boring and it will leave no room for surprises. But all the important things in life must be planned. Those things that will decide the future course of your life must be pre-planned.

For most of us, planning isn’t natural. But, take it from me – that’s not the most ideal way to live. To me, relying on circumstances and God without planning is like having a body without a soul. It’s a heartfelt request to all my dear readers – From today onwards, for all the important things of your life, PLAN and then say, ‘ho jaayega…’