“Compounding, Decoding Draupadi’s offline meetup, & and long-term thinking – Updates from weeks 3 & 4!
As of today, there are 34858 open things at Decoding Draupadi.
We don’t wake up to one product / problem statement.
We wake up to a lot of BAU tasks + thinking about larger initiatives.
And that means, each week, you make lots of decisions.
▶ Focus area for the week
▶ What needs immediate attention?
▶ What should be delegated but hasn’t yet
▶ Are the right things being tracked?
I wasn’t confident about week 3’s review because it didn’t go according to my plan.
I had more doubts than answers. I spent more time thinking than doing.
The most productive weeks are when I’ve got some confidence in what a project needs, and I do it. It also helps to have some control over my schedule (undisturbed focus hours + the ability to say no). I never have clarity, but I know the steps I need to take to find it.
Week 3 wasn’t that.
However, in hindsight, I realise that most of that thinking during week 3 acted as a base for the next few days.
Maybe the joy is in the process. And the way to keep myself in line is to not get stuck in MAFA (mistaking action for achievement).
UPDATES –
1/ Anshika Kushwaha and I got an opportunity to pitch for a grand women-only event on March 8, in Mumbai.
If you’ve been following us for some time now, you know we want to host FeMela – a carnival for women in India. It was set to happen in November 2023.
During that time, we sent out a LOT of cold emails to founders and experts in India. It was an open invitation to chat about FeMela. Saurabh Garg tapped into his network to help us out.
We knew it was a long shot; we didn’t have a venue or a line-up. But we did it anyway.
Each of these emails had a disclaimer – this is the grandest thing we’ve envisioned so far, and we’re a small team taking a shot at it. And thus, it may not happen in Nov 2023.
One of these emails was to an entrepreneur and celebrity who has hosted India’s first women-only event. She responded and was interested in finding out more.
I have been in touch with her since December (chatting about FeMela, her event, and a possible collaboration). And just last week, things got more concrete. We met her partner. And pitched to them to bring their event back (bigger and better).
IN SHORT –
When Anshika and I started working on FeMela, we were at level 0. We were building EVERYTHING from scratch. When we go ahead with this interaction and collaboration, it will help us gain the momentum we needed on day 0.
2/ The first meetup!
We hosted our first women-only meetup in Mumbai yesterday. This is the beginning of The Create Table – bringing women together to create assets that give us an edge at work. All of it over coffee and fries.
Sania Rehmani Priyanka Surve Anushka Rao – the first three people who trusted us to make their Sunday worthwhile!
📌 Link to the full update in the comments below!
Anshika Kushwaha Prakruti Maniar