Sunday, July 21, 2013

Dashboards for Life!

                One of the most widely used tool in the Corporate world are the dashboards that serve the purpose of acting as visual indicators regarding the health of Program/Project. Dashboards exist for at least two purposes :
1)      Set the Target for Success
2)      Track the progress against the Target
We can use the dashboards in our life too to check if we are indulging our self in the right things…Following are some of the Dashboards that I monitor for myself

Physical Health :
                Measures : Weight , Blood Pressure
We all should know how much we should weigh…It is determined the Body mass index (BMI) which should be less than 25.To calculate BMI, take the weight (kg) and divide it by height (m). Then divide that number once again by height (m). Round to the second decimal place. Please get a digital weighing machine (costs around Rs.700-Rs.1000) and record your weight frequently.

Similarly so with the Blood pressure too…Ideally we should have a Blood pressure of below 120/80. With the sedentary life style & Junk food of the modern world, every one should be on top of their BP charts. Digital BP Measurements are again available in the market. BP apparatus (sphygmomanometers !) are a bit tricky and accuracy of data depend on the type of instrument, wrist or arm based. The cost is of the order of Rs.4000 for a good measurement device. I would recommend the measurements on a weekly basis on your own or tying up with the local diagnostics lab.

Fiscal Health:
Like a country’s wealth measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product growth, Foreign Exchange reserve, Export-Import balance, everyone should have a measure of their Fiscal health as well. 
According to me, there is only one measure of your Finacial wealth :
Net Worth = Total Assets – Total Debts
Please open a spreadsheet and put in value of all the assets that you own in terms of the Bank deposits,Government bonds,Mutual Fund investments,Stocks ,Gold and what not….Also, put the value of the debts that you own …Your Fiscal wealth is really that difference ….nothing more …nothing less

Mental Wealth:
I am skating on thin ice on this, because this is more to do with Life’s purpose & fulfillment…Anyway, I would recommend you to focus on Physical wealth & fiscal wealth till I get back to you on this ! 
Bye for Now!


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