Application of the patterns: A Journey – “The Making of: The modern You – Uncover P3”
Walt Disney’s Four C’s
“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making his dreams come true.
This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s.
They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence.
When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way.”
– Walt Disney
Purpose:
To showcase:
- Consistent small progress made over a period of time can make a huge difference in achieving a mountainous goal.
- How the application of patterns helped me in achieving the dream of writing a book.
- How Time Machine helped to recollect the finer details of the past and helped me to keep on track.
- Technology is an enabler.
- The process of publishing a book and making it accessible to all.
Part 1 – Inception, Tiny Executions, MVP:1 Release
Before practicing the patterns, like many, when I get dream sparks, I think on them but don’t take any action most of the time, or at times I try to do some work towards the idea. However, the desire dies down and I tend to fall back with inaction after a few days, and continue on with regular activities without pursuing the dream.
In 2007, I started working on a book but after writing a few pages, I stopped working on it.
For almost 10 years, deep inside, I had this unrealized dream as a resilient virus, but I didn’t know where to begin.
Mid 2017, I started to invest time in reading a good number of books and watched many TED talks & motivational videos. From those, I got several pointers and with my experience working in the technology industry for about 18 years, I put together a set of patterns which I have explained in this book under section 2, and started practicing them in my day-to-day life and begin to reap positive results.
Pictorial representation of the execution of MVP release is shown below:
Buy from Amazon – Print Copy
Buy from Amazon – Kindle Version
Go to “Headstream – DreamBigBuddy coding club”
Want to continue reading this book online?
Continue reading, Have Fun !
(Please don’t forget to purchase a copy of the book for yourself or as a gift to an aspirant)
Please help me to do my moral loan soon 
Application of the patterns in the making of this book is as follows:
Three important things I continued to follow throughout the whole period of making of this book, which helped me to keep the momentum and drove me to completion are:
- Yogic Practices
- Time Machine
- Egg Hunt
Yogic Practices – Raise Up Early, Articulation & Sun Salutation:
When I had most of my time booked for activities, I wondered how can I get more time. My options were to stay late or rise up early. It was apparent that rising up early was the best choice because it could provide a fresh start and time for some exercise.
Initially, I was wasting time by looking at emails and social media that ate all of my early morning time, and I still wasn’t doing what I actually wanted to do. I realized that if I don’t stop the distractions, I will never be able to do any work towards my goal.
By waking up between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, I was able to gain an extra 2 hours of time that I didn’t have before. By forcing myself not to think about any other activities, I was able to focus just on the goal and had the creative juice flow.
When you want to do work that you are passionate about, you will be able to wake up early.
Routines –
- Drink a cup or two of water (to clean up the gut).
- Do exercise – strengthen articulation (each body joint rotation), Sun Salutation (12 times)
- Provides warmup and full body exercise in 20 minutes.
After that, I normally have time for about one and a half hours until 6:30 AM to work on the passion I want to pursue, like writing this book, creating materials for Headstream (DreamBigBuddy – coding club), etc.
Then I continue with the normal day routines. This way, I don’t have to steal time from family and other fun activities in the evening or weekends.
Time Machine:
I started logging notes of what I did every day. They consisted of the start and end time, and I even began highlighting the things which I liked most. Initially, I was less productive in utilizing my time, but over time by identifying and fixing the time drains, I was able to increase my productive/creative work.
Time Machine also helped me to go back and recollect what I was doing in the past and also helped me to increase my productivity gradually to a much higher level.
Self time accounting will reveal behaviors about you and provide you the opportunity to correct yourself at your own pace and style.
Time machine is the base tool for all the things which one can employ to achieve anything.
Egg Hunt:
When you have a desire to do something, but don’t know where to start, the first thing you can do is to explore things with whatever means you have and try to understand your strengths and find where your talents are in need. There are several ways one can start the exploration. The path I took was to watch TED videos regularly during the evening while running on the treadmill.
Every day I watched different topics which provided awareness on different things. Personality development, body, health, wealth, science, religion, etc.
On April 27th 2018, I came across a TED video, “Ending The Old Boy Network: The New World of Publishing” by Andy Wier. This immediately inspired me to pick up one of my resilient viruses that had scratched my brain for a long time.
An idea sparked – I should write the book what I am dreaming, as a website, on the things I have been practicing, which will definitely help others.
Inception
Dormant Dream to Desire – Dream Projector:
Anytime I get an idea spark or something similar, I jot them down in a notebook.
I expand on the spark by using these steps:
- Define intent and scope.
- Find what I know and use it to my advantage.
- Find what I don’t know and how to get it.
The first tool I employed is a “mind map”, which can quickly reveal the big picture and help collect and expand on the base idea.
Mind map – “The Modern You – Uncover P3”
I also utilized the Business Value Canvas template in order to define the available resources, target audience, how to market at a very minimal cost, and the roadmap for the future.
Buy from Amazon – Print Copy
Buy from Amazon – Kindle Version
Go to “Headstream – DreamBigBuddy coding club”
Want to continue reading this book online?
Continue reading, Have Fun !
(Please don’t forget to purchase a copy of the book for yourself or as a gift to an aspirant)
Please help me to do my moral loan payback soon
The next important step is defining the scope for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of the book to validate the idea. Instead of just talking on the idea to others, making a MVP can get more traction and also help to get great feedback. Based on the feedback, we can build the next level of the project or sometimes even do a pivot, which can be a decision to continue or even drop the idea and do something else instead.
Steps to finish my first MVP:
- Think of a name for the book which I want to write.
- Finish a few anchor chapters which convey the intent and create curiosity.
- Host it in a website, so I can share it easily and continue to add more.
- Identify the reviewers who can help and provide feedback.
MVP is not something written in stone. It can be changed as time progresses, but having a high level boundary is needed to clearly see the goal post.
Initial Backlog List to Complete the Book, Created Utilizing the “Dream Projector”:
- Write the book introduction
- Write the chapters in Section 1 – Principles – 10 chapters
- Write the chapters in Section 2 – Patterns – 8 chapters
- Write the closing
- Edit the book
- Design the front and back cover.
- Print the book
- Publish the PDF & printed version through Amazon.com and other possible sources
- Market
The backlog list is also not written in stone as it can be changed or pivoted over the progression of the project as needed.
Execution
Desire to Destination – D2D Marathon:
Many times when we start on something, the energy is high, but it slowly goes off after a few days or weeks. Keeping the energy high and doing what you want is the biggest challenge to overcome.
When you think about the final end goal, it always looks like you are standing at the foot of Mt. Everest and wondering about how to reach the top.
Any huge goal cannot be achieved in a day or week, so we need to understand and accept it is going to take time and consistent effort to achieve it.
The biggest thought we need to keep at the top of our brain is to deliver value more often and more quickly. Sometimes it may not be perfect but over the course of execution it can be perfected.
Visualize the goal of reaching the summit as thousands of small steps. This can make us put our arms around the big vision.
In order to achieve the goal, I followed D2D Marathon.
The core concept of D2D Marathon is to think about determining a group of items to achieve in a week, work on the items, and at the end of the week reflect on what went well, what didn’t work, and what new things to adapt to improve in the upcoming week.
MVP: 1 – Release Plan 1 – Release in 6 weeks – complete at least 6 chapters – minimum 3 chapters in principles and 3 chapters in patterns.
A goal without a date is just a dream.
-Milton H. Erickson
Attaching a significance on the deadline, such as New Year’s, a birthday, wedding day, end of summer, before a vacation, etc., will also motivate you to work towards achieving the goal on time.
I started my book writing during the second week of April 2018 and I wanted to release my first MVP by the end of May 2018.
When I got a rush of thoughts, to prevent myself from forgetting them, I started writing in a notebook to try and capture them. I was able to incorporate these thoughts later on, when writing the chapters in my book.
For myself I had limited time slots, so I had to use time in the early mornings, late evenings and weekends to accomplish my goal. Everyday, when I was able to contribute towards my weekly goal, I made sure to log in my “Time Machine”.
To write this book, I had to make a choice whether to use Microsoft Word, Google Docs or WordPress. Being acquainted with WordPress before (for a website I created for one of my friends), it was my default pick.
If you are not familiar with WordPress, it is the most widely used publishing/blogging platform and enables lot of websites and is available for free. One can easily get familiar with a publishing platform like WordPress by spending some time in watching YouTube videos. There are also lots of books available to do more advanced things with WordPress.
I installed the WordPress tools in my PC and setup a website for writing the book, but there are also lots of online hosts available that don’t need to be downloaded.
I did the entire first MVP in the local version, and when I was ready to publish it, I switched from my local PC version to the online version so that it was more maintainable and easy to share and review on the phone. This enabled me to get quick feedback from my reviewers.
For publishing the online version of this book, I used www.justhost.com because, in my opinion, they are comparatively cheaper and provided more features than other webhosts.
Since I already had the website name “www.DreamBigBuddy.com” registered, I started publishing the book chapters online for all to consume.
Risk mitigation: Make sure to save the work. Also at the same time don’t just depend only on the local machine alone. The machine may crash and you might lose all your contents. I always took a backup using my email and also stored the files through a online data storage service called Dropbox.
Preplanning for the Sprint:
Determine what is the amount of time you can invest in this project and create a list of things you need to do. This doesn’t have to be detailed, just take a few notes on what to accomplish. Ensure this is defined at the start of the week.
Release 1 – Tiny Execution – Sprint 1: Apr 30th – May 6th
I started with the introduction, which consisted of what this book is all about and why I am writing it. I already organized the book into 3 sections. Utilizing the notes from my notebook, I wrote my first chapter, “Life is a Gift” on May 1st, 2018 and I was very happy with the things I wrote. I felt motivated by this first chapter completion and I started collecting notes for the topics: “Time”, “Money”, and “Skill”.
On May 4th, I finished writing the topic, “Skill”, and on May 6th, I was able to spend a good amount of time to finish the topic, “Time”.
I ended my first week sprint with a great sense of accomplishment and I was super charged to write more chapters in the upcoming week sprint.
Reflection:
Everyday, when I looked at my Time Machine on how much time I invested, it gave me either a sub-conscious push to achieve more, or a sense of satisfaction that I am doing great. So, I decided to practice my Time Machine consistently.
The early mornings on the weekends were the most effective times to work on this book, since I didn’t have to think about office work. I told myself to utilize the early mornings on the weekends to the fullest.
Learning on the daily basis is also important to keep my creative thoughts flowing. I regularly made the practice of watching TED Talks and other informational videos during my evening workout time, while using the treadmill.
Preplan for the upcoming sprint: Finish more chapters
Release 1 – Tiny execution – Sprint 2: May 7th – May 13th
I started with a goal to write a few more chapters. During the weekdays, I didn’t get much time to work on any chapters. My Time Machine was revealing that I was not putting time towards writing. So, I spent my weekend morning to write the chapters, “Abundance” and “Adaptability”.
Reflection:
Without Time Machine, I would have completely lost focus. I should continue to do Time Machine to ensure I am spending the needed time for the activities I want to achieve.
Preplan for the upcoming sprint: Finish a few chapters in Section 2: Patterns and Practices.
Release 1 – Tiny execution – Sprint 3: May 14th – May 20th
At the start of the week, I performed some editing on the already written chapters. Then during that weekend, I was able to spend a good amount of time to work on my favorite chapter, “Time Machine”.
Also, I finished chapters “Egg Hunt” and “Gauge and Grow” during that weekend.
I got an idea spark that before publishing my first MVP, I should have a cover design, because a picture can speak more than a thousand words.
I spent time and created the first cover design for the book. The design resembled a man with wings, which symbolized that when an individual realizes his/her own hidden potential, they can achieve great heights.
[First cover picture] – May 20th, 2018
Reflection:
Continue Time Machine, since this pattern is working for me.
Preplan for the upcoming sprint: Prepare to publish the first MVP to a small circle of friends and family to get early feedback.
Release 1 – Tiny execution – Sprint 4: May 21st – May 27th
Worked on the chapters, “Quotes”, “Yogic Practices”, “Dream Projector” and “Confront”. Now, I had enough chapters in the book to convey my intent.
At that moment, all the content was in my local PC. To publish the content to my close group, as discussed before, I used JustHost.com. I took a backup of the local website from the PC and pushed the content to the JustHost online WordPress website.
Hereafter, I can now stop editing work in the local PC WordPress version, but rather, directly edit the online version. However, I still continued to take backups, so that I can avoid losing all of the data.
Release:
MVP 1: Release Announcement & Feedback: May 26th & 27th
Utilizing the weekend, on May 26th, 2018, I announced the first MVP of the book available on the website to a select group of friends and family who I can trust and get feedback to help me in my journey.
If I publish it through Facebook or Twitter, it will be out to the whole world, but I wanted to share only to a small group. So I utilized WhatsApp to send notifications to the select individuals.
I got a positive response from my trusted group on my efforts and some even gave me great feedback on the content, language usage and mistakes which I had to fix.
In the announcement, I had two things mentioned. I first talked about the coding club which I was doing and the other was the book. Since both were sent at the same time, the importance of the latter was not given much attention by many and they simply missed the link to the book. It was a great learning experience for me, that anytime I send out announcements I should convey what is the most important first.
Every feedback I got mentioned that I was in the right direction and that I needed to continue the course towards completion.
Celebration: On May 27th, 2018, I celebrated the completion of MVP 1 by going out with family and I had a big sense of achievement.