How not to screw yourself financially | Interview with the author - Abu Shadab

Hello, good morning, afternoon, evening, people watching this live on Facebook page or LinkedIn or YouTube. I am so, so excited to have my next guest. As I said earlier on the book launch, I plan to book— I plan to bring a number of people who have been really helpful to me and who have been incredibly successful. A lot of people who I get inspired every time I talk to So today is going to be one such person who's going to be here with me very shortly in this live, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna be amazed by the things that you do. So let me first give a short introduction of him. He's an HR professional by day, but the fun comes when the sunset comes. He changes, he transforms into a YouTuber, a Toastmaster, an event coordinator, an author, a fitness enthusiast, avid reader and a blogger. You can understand, he is— no, he calls himself Jack of All Trades. I call him Master of All Trades. He's amazing. So let's put our hands together and welcome Abu Shaddab. Abu, where are you? Abu, welcome to the show. Abu, so good to have you here. How are you doing?

I'm doing excellent. Yeah, thank you, Haritosh Srivastav. First and foremost, every time I see you coming up with something new, and I was reading today this Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, and it said there is always a difference between being passionate and being curious. And what she talks about is it's important to be curious and not to be passionate, because passion is something that can dry away, but being curious is something that always stays. So whenever it comes to you, what I really like is how curious you are, and you have always come up with something new. Great job on that.

Thank you so much, Abu. And I'm, I'm so happy for you. Your book has come in the market, and not only on the Kindle, but it's on the paperback. Yeah, we can do that. Let me just add for people to see how amazing is the book cover, and we'll, we'll come and talk about the history, geography, and all about that, but No, just people see how amazing the book cover is. The book name is How Not to Screw Yourself Financially. It's available in paperback and also, if I'm not wrong, it's also available in Kindle. So amazing, Abu. Many, many congratulations and I wish you all the best. I think it's gonna be a rocking, rocking bestseller.

Uh, absolutely. Let's hope for the best. I'm so sorry, I have my Give me one second. Just give me one.

All right, so just to give a brief background of why I invited Apu. So when I was working on my book, uh, in the second time when I went through coaching, you know, I, I needed a number of coaching. Uh, we had a group of people who were authoring, not the same book, but a number of people were authoring their own books. So it was me, it was Abu, and then we also have Taiba, which I'll bring some time, Deepak, and most importantly, I'll also bring our guru to say, Akash. So yeah, Abu is back. So this series is going to be part of two discussion with them, how would the process went through, what all things we went through. And how exactly the book came into fruition and what was the idea behind. So now that Abu is back, so How Not to Screw Financially. First of all, this is an amazing title, very enticing, very intriguing. So how did you come up with this title?

So that's a very important thing, Haritosh. I'm sure, you know, so one of the things that I really love to do is I love to read a lot of books. And whenever I read books, it's very important for me to take back learning. And one of the learnings as a middle class we always have is, you know, money is something we are— we live paycheck to paycheck. And then I realized this. One of my friends had once told me that— and I'm going to ask this question to you as well— that, you know, if the entire world's wealth is collected and if it is distributed equally among everyone— so one of the things people say that I have not been born with advantages. Let's assume that entire world's wealth is collected and it's distributed equally among everyone, what do you think will happen after 10 years or 20 years?

That's a good question. I don't want to open the secret because I've gone through the book, uh, I— but I can tell my perspective. I know a lot of these TV show winners, uh, the winners of Kaun Bade Ghar Karod Bati, the story of them going bankrupt, or How to Be a Millionaire, and then they again go bankrupt. So I know It depends on financial discipline of people. I'll leave it on that. I don't want to disclose your book secret.

No, no, that's the entire thing, Haritosh Srivastav. So that's one of the things that I realized, that more than cribbing about our money, earning money and managing money are two different things. And we need to understand how to manage money. The moment we are able to manage money, everything will fall in our favor. So that was one of the things. And I wanted to really face my fear. One of my fears, it will always be finance. So growing up, I was always scared with math, numbers, and I thought that it has continued, that the ghost of math and numbers continues with the finance as well. I really wanted to overcome this fear of finance, and that is one of the reasons why I wrote this book.

Awesome, awesome. So finance is something that people generally relate— it's a very, very serious topic and you're not supposed to talk too much about it and what if people know your secret and all, but you're giving so many secrets and I've read the book, I can say I've read almost one-third to half of the book and it's very funny with the number of instances. So what was the motivation behind that?

So I'm sure Haritosh Srivastav, as you mentioned, you know, Akash Srivastav was our mentor and one of the things that I really liked was And one of the inhibitions when you were there in one of the meetings is I'm not an expert in this field, you know. And there are people who have written books on finance and they are expert in that field. So anybody who writes a book on finance, they start by talking about, uh, their wealth, you know. They start— and that's how they start any book that you talk about. Anybody who's writing a book on finance will talk about his or her wealth. But I don't have that. Do I have the right to— do I have the right to write And that's what— that's what I mean. Akash told me, yes, you have the right to write. It's your book. Moreover, it's your money. So you can do anything with your money. You can do anything with your book. So at times you have to break that stereotype that the society has created. So if you want to do something, do it. Just like you, you know, from Jaipur to London to UK, if you want to do something, you have to do something. You know, you can't just because you are from a particular place or from a particular nation. No, that is that boundary that we only have, and we need to ensure that we destroy this boundary.

Absolutely, absolutely, Abu. This is so amazing. So, uh, what was the journey like for you for book— book authoring as such? Because, you know, it takes a lot of gut to become an author. And no, even after— I can see, I can say from my personal experience as well, even after you sort of become an author, you still feel like, what if people find out? What if— what will they say? They will say, oh, is this the book that you've written? So what do you think, how did you come up, went through all the process, and how are you still dealing with those, you know, inner, uh, what do you say, inner fear, inner doubts?

Uh, yeah, that's— I'm sure, Haritosh Srivastav, you, as we are all feeling in the same boat, you can definitely understand the pain of being vulnerable You know, when people have the right. Now, when you open yourself to the world, they can say anything. So even at the last moment, I always had the fear, do I have the right to be an author? But then I watched him. I'm sure you know Rahul Sharma. He is currently doing a PR for Ketan Bhagat, who is Chetan Bhagat's brother. And he was telling his story. So you understand being brother of somebody who is an inspiration for the entire nation, like Chetan Bhagat. Ketan Bhagat wanted to write a book, and you can understand, most of the time there is a comparison. Even if our family doesn't do comparison, if they don't do, then the entire world is comparing. Now Ketan Bhagat took that leap of faith and he also wrote a book. And what Ketan Bhagat thought that, no sooner I'm going to write a book, I'm sure the world is going to compare me, it's going to beat me black and blue when it comes to Chetan Bhagat. But it did not happen that way. Ketan Bhagat was not sacrificed. So I thought, when somebody at that level feels vulnerable, I am just no one. I should just go with it. The only thing— and Ketan Bhagat said something beautiful, that people will only compare your first book with your second book, and they don't compare you with anybody else.

Absolutely, absolutely amazing. I think you're inspiring a lot of young budding authors and entrepreneurs to say. So let's segue towards a few advices. So I know you have a full book on How Not to Screw Up, but if somebody wants to actually shape up their finances, what are your top 2 to 3 tips that you want to give to the audience of this interview?

So that's a very interesting question, Haritosh Srivastav. So I'm going to travel in time and I'm going to suggest what I was doing the first financial advice that was given to me by my cousin, and he told me, before you spend, save. There can never come a possibility, or they can never come a time in your life where you would say that, okay, the salary has been credited, yes, my motor's operating, I'll first spend and whatever is remaining I will save. It doesn't work that way. So you need to first ensure that you save, and you'll be surprised our expenses go as per the money that we have in our bank account. So if you have that money, you will spend. If you don't have that money, you will see. So first, free up the money, only then you go need to do. The second thing that really inspired me was the concept of urban poor. And this is something that I discussed and discussed, and I realized that how we are living in an urban poor life. When it comes to urban poor So we all know that, you know, super rich, they don't need to inspire or impress anyone. Super poor, they don't care. Now we are stuck in between. Now we want to impress, we want to become super rich. Now because of that, we end up becoming urban sloths. So, and the third thing that will be is another very important thing is whenever you make mistakes, treasure your mistakes. Because when you treasure your mistakes as a book, as a YouTube video, as a blog, as an article, it becomes wisdom for you. What better it is to learn from your own mistakes. So we generally want to sweep it under the carpet. Oh, what if I share it with people? What will they think? Nobody will say and think anything. What is very important for us is to treasure those times that we made such errors and just to make a conscious effort not to repeat those errors in future.

Wow, amazing. I think I can sense a parallel in what I have written in my book about, you know, having— it's all right to fail, it's all right to mistake. And, and if somebody says they have never failed, they've never made a mistake, probably they have never done anything new, they have never tried anything, which in itself is a bigger failure than the failure itself. So I totally love that unless you try— and this is again an experiment Live example of— now we— I haven't done StreamYard streaming with 2 people in there, and this is an ex— and I know with Abu I'm pretty safe. Even if I mess it up, that's fine, we are friends. So mess it up, take calculated risk, don't mess it big time, but yeah, keep messing up. And then when you keep messing up, with the time it becomes a message. Uh, great, great, Abu. So, uh, how has the response of the book been? I've read the book and I I still need to write the review, but I'm absolutely impressed with the number of examples. I must say that one of the things that you mentioned when COVID hit and you were the only person that is supposed to go out, bring the grocery, take care of yourself, take care of your— I think it was your sister and the baby and all. I felt numb for a moment. I like how difficult it would have been for you. So a lot of such examples. So how had the response been so far?

So something that I really like is when people say that after reading the book, it is as if you are talking to us. So this is completely your style. So that is one of the things. When people told me that you haven't written a book of finance the way finance is supposed to be written. So, you know, breaking away from that serious tone. So that is second thing. The third thing that I have got is, you know, another very important thing is because being a first-time author, we depend on our friends and family. 99.9% have gone ahead and supported me. That is something which is very important. So more than anything, as you understand, Haritosh Srivastav, first book is just a trial. Whether it is a super hit or a super flop, nothing decides your first book. It's your subsequent books that comes out that talks about you. So yes, with my friends and family, they have been very kind enough. They have gone ahead. Uh, I'm looking forward. That was the reason, as you understand, and I'm sure you also have this process of getting a paperback for your book, you know, that feeling of getting your book in hand. I suppose that was one of the things that I knew, that most of the people, they want that paperback.

Yeah.

So I'm very happy, uh, people are purchasing it and they have written— they have— some people have given me a review in the form of thesis you know, and I'm like, I know, I know. And I'm like, wow, I find here when I have to make a list of what I have written good, I go back to their thesis and I'll pick it from there rather than going back to my book. Because, you know, they have written so, so much in detail that, okay, let me go back to your thesis. So that is something very nice.

Amazing, amazing. Yeah, yeah, sometimes when you see and, and you see the people doing the deep analysis, uh, then you're like, wow, Is this me who has written this?

I have to go back. Okay, it's me. If I go— okay.

So, uh, couple more question on specifically on book writing process, and, and that's, uh, something that a lot of new budding book, uh, writers, uh, stumble upon. Number one is, uh, what was your book writing process? What was the schedule? What was, uh, the technique that you did to basically draft your manuscript and things like those. And number 2, which is very popular word to say, is the writer's block. That happens quite often nowadays with the authors. So how did you stumble upon writer's block and how did you overcome that?

It's a very interesting thing, Haritosh Srivastav. So again, you know, as a fan of 2 books, I'm sure you can relate to these 2 books. Atomic Habits by James Clear and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. So to answer your first question, I'll go back to this book, which is Atomic Habits by James Clear, wherein he says categorically that never focus on your goal. One major challenge is people want to focus towards their goal and they get obsessed and they do nothing. So if I want to get a great physique, so rather than focusing towards getting a six-pack abs, I used to work towards creating a system And the system is very simple. Just get into the habit of writing. That's it, you know. 30 minutes, and everything will show a compound interest. So 30 minutes today, 30 minutes tomorrow, 30 days, you will be able to see something. So this is first. I have stopped thinking about the goal. I started focusing towards the system. The second question is when it comes to writer's block. Now, as per Elizabeth Gilbert, and I am greatly inspired by her, she talks about something that Whenever— even if you have this writer's block, okay, one of the challenges that we face, uh, we want great ideas. You know, the problem with great ideas is great ideas will not come to you. You know, it will never be served to you. Take Haritosh Srivastav's great idea, take it.

Yep, yep.

This is not how great ideas— they come, they will come in tiny pieces. Yeah, and you need to nurture them. Every day you get, you know, whatever idea you get Just go ahead, take care of it, nurture it, and within a period of time, within a period of time, it will suddenly blossom.

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, I can totally relate to what you said about adding up. You can't expect to have the book ready in like, I'll sit today for 20 hours and I'll finish the book and probably I'll not sleep and finish. That will never, never happen. I mean, at least for normal human being like us, probably I don't think it will happen. It's all about consistency and making teeny tiny progress every time, but they are making substantial progress over a period of time. The whole concept of cumulative impact and compound interest, if you may call. So did you stumble across writer's block, author's block? And if you did, how did you overcome that?

So for me, whenever I come across this particular term, which is a writer's block, rather than going to that block, you know, I realize and understand that not every day will be a good day for you. But there is a difference between amateurs and professionals. Amateurs, they have got rest days, and professionals, they don't have rest days. So anybody can write when you come— when creativity comes to you, but you become a writer when you can still go and scribble anything, even when creativity does not come to you. And this is my message to everyone, like, you know, even if creativity doesn't come, whatever comes to you, take care of it. Tomorrow is going to be a better day. The problem is if you stop today, then it will be tomorrow, and that leads to procrastination.

Amazing, amazing. Uh, this is, uh, very interesting about writer's block, that, um, amateurs versus professional Yeah, it's like any professional players, whether you're in the mood of playing the match or not, you're fit or not, at times you go on and still do that. So great, great. Uh, my next question to you is about your future plans. So what next? I know Abu has been into so many things, uh, and he keeps doing new things. So what's next? Are you writing a new book or are you doing something extra if you want to? No, tell ours. Tell your secret.

So thank you so much, Haritosh Srivastav. It's a crazy idea. I'm the new secretary for South Delhi Toastmasters, and the reason why I picked up this particular role is I will get 26 leads and I have to come up with MOMs, minutes of the meeting. I'm trying to compile it and make it a book. So, you know, with one shot I'll get two targets. So every Sunday I have to prepare one. So when I prefer, I'll have that compilation And inshallah, January 2022, I look forward to compile everything and just publish it.

Amazing. All right, so I think, yeah, we talked a lot about the writer's block process, what's your next step. Now let me ask you, have you read Small Town Bigger Dreams?

Absolutely, I have been— apart from reading that book, I have been a part of the journey. Now that is very important for me, you know, to be a part of the journey and to experience that journey and understanding, you know, I get greatly inspired and I talk about this with my family as well, especially right from that point wherein you were there at the terrace, looked at that aeroplane and you said that once, you know, once you will see me also using this particular plane and actually going there means a lot. So for me, there is this one quote that I have taken from Nawazuddin Siddiqui which very beautifully says that No one cares about your hard work or pain until you win.

Wow, that's, that's an amazing quote. I had heard, but yeah, amazing, amazing. So nobody will care about your hard work until you win. Cool, cool. So I think we have come towards the end of this particular interview, and it was great talking to you. Any last comments, any last remarks for our audience tonight?

Yes, so this is again, you know, there was this, uh, uh, TED Talk that I was listening to, and it is very important to understand that we all have been sent to this particular world for a purpose. Our birth was never an accident, you know. So for one human to survive, it had to bet, you know, 40,000 odds. Having said that, it clearly signifies and means that we all have a purpose and objective. The only thing is you need to first believe in yourself and believe in the universe as well. You just have to take step 1 and you will be surprised how step 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 will all be taken care of. The most important thing is go ahead, take step 1 and take that step daily.

Thank you so much, Abhu. That was really, really good. So people who are watching this, I'm flashing his— yeah, I'm flashing again his paper book. It is available in paperback, unlike my book. So go and check out How Not to Screw Yourself Financially. It's a must-read. You can take the paperback version, you can take the Kindle version. Please go and check it out, and I'm pretty sure you'll have some amazing nuggets, as I had. So thank you so much, Abu. It was great to have you in the show. I look forward to collaborate more with you in future.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, people. And all of you who are watching Haritosh Srivastav, this is the last part. I stumbled upon Haritosh Srivastav during pandemic. You know, this is the silver lining to the grey cloud. You have to follow Haritosh Srivastav. You have to follow Haritosh Srivastav for his passion, for his dedication, for his honesty, for his go-getter attitude. So if he is not good at something, he will work day in and day out till the time he becomes good at that thing. So when you have people like Haritosh around you— so it is beautifully said, if you have circle of friends and if you don't get inspired, you don't have a circle, you have a cage. I get inspired because I have people like Haritosh, I have people like Shweta Maishwari, people like Taiba, and I'm getting inspired. So if you are not following Haritosh and if you are looking for inspiration, go ahead, Subscribe to Haritosh Srivastav's YouTube channel. He is everywhere. Just follow him and inspiration will be there.

Thank you so much, Abu. Thank you. That was so kind of you. And I'm pretty sure we're gonna have some more fun in future. So until next time, people, if you have not gone through the book, please go and check out Small Town Bigger Dreams, a collection of 21 lessons that I've learned over the years and that has helped me be successful and, and do what I do now. And until next time, as I say every time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep going out of your comfort zone. This is Haritosh Srivastav, and this was part of Small Town Bigger Dream interviews. I'll be back with another person who inspires me every time I connect with. Stay tuned.

Thank you.