Ep. 336: Slice of GTD Life With Prachi  ## Metadata - Author: [[Getting Things Done]] - Full Title: Ep. 336: Slice of GTD Life With Prachi - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/d6cd7413-c9a7-4384-96f0-0df7d138510c ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Childhood Letter Sparked A Life Shift** - Prachi received a letter she wrote to her future self at age 10 and it reignited her desire to make an impact. - That moment prompted her to drop engineering college and spend a year traveling to understand social and climate issues firsthand. Transcript: Prachi It was kind of an experimental school where um um where we really learned by doing we did not have uniforms and um I mean I think um when I was in third or fourth standard I think my school Teacher had given us a very interesting homework um asked us to write a letter to our future selves you know 10 years from where would I want to be and who would I want to be? And I feel like in a way, that was my first exercise in a GQD review. So I remember writing that letter, but then I fully forgot about it and many years passed. And I think I was at a very decisive point where I had to decide. I take an admission for computer engineering in a college many, many years later. And I just kept getting this gut feeling that maybe there's something else meant for me. But I had no idea what. And it was at this decisive point that my school teacher actually sent that very letter back to me, written 10 years ago by my younger self to the Pratchee she aspired to me, because it Had been exactly 10 years since I'd written it. John Forrester Your schoolteacher from 10 years previously kept track of you and was able to send it to you. That's amazing. Prachi Yes. So, I mean, I actually reached out to her, and I told her that I'm in this kind of this confused state of mind where I've taken admission but I don't know and she found that letter and she Sent it to me and it had you know coincidentally 10 years since I'd written it and reading it was a huge wake-up call for me because my younger self had written about making an impact and Changing the world and I had not thought that in a very long time. So I got inspired by the words and the dreams of my younger self and I decided to go on a quest to figure out how I could make some kind of a difference. So I dropped out of college, dropped out of engineering in just two months. ([Time 0:01:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e0f5ef3e-cd83-472e-a4df-3c1dfc899851)) - **Yearlong Fieldwork Revealed Climate Reality** - Prachi traveled across India working with farmers, waste pickers, and children and saw climate impacts everywhere. - That experience convinced her to dedicate her career to climate action and to reduce family emissions by 10% each year. Transcript: Prachi So I dropped out of college, dropped out of engineering in just two months. And I decided instead to take a year to travel across India, working on issues that I thought were affecting my country the most. You know, it was like a quest to figure out in what way can I make the most difference. And at that time, of course, I'd heard about climate change. I always thought it's happening in some other part of the world to somebody else at some other time I thought it's only about the environment and I wanted people so I spend the next year You know traveling across India the first four months I traveled with a group of farming, a farming group, traveled across my state in Maharashtra, meeting thousands of farmers who Were coincidentally doing climate resilient agriculture. The next four months, I worked with waste pickers and I spent another four months working with children, talking to thousands of young people, asking them what their dreams look like. So during this course, I was working in education, in agriculture, things that I thought were actually affecting the day-to lives of a citizen in my country. But I wasn't even working on climate change, but it was the first time that when I actually went to work on ground I kept seeing it everywhere. In every community I visited I saw the effects of climate change and I realized that every single issue on ground is being aggravated because of climate change and I really till then I'd only read about these catastrophic effects you know extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity and sea level slicing but during this time I met people who were living through These effects and I realized that it's not about these big words you know as ordinary citizens we care about very simple things we care about our homes and our health and our food and our Livelihoods and our families and yes with my own eyes how climate change is affecting all of that. And that's when I really, you know, people say that you have two birth dates. The first one is when you're born and the second one is when you figure out why. John Forrester When you figure out why. Yes. Prachi So through that year, I slowly figured out, I think that the biggest way for me to be able to make a difference is to dedicate my career to climate action. And that was the decision I made then. But it still felt like such a big problem. You know, I remember going to my father and asking him, you know, climate change seems like such a huge issue. What can an ordinary girl like me do about it? And we decided to start from our own home. We took up a quest to reduce our own carbon footprint by 10% that year. John Forrester 10% a year, not just 10% and then leave it at that, but 10% each year? Prachi Every year, every year. And that was the first time. So it still felt like a doable target because it wasn't like completely changing your life. So it was reducing it by 10%, whatever the baseline was at. And so, you know, we, I started experimenting with which actions of mine are leading to most emissions. How can I reduce them? And as I kept on that journey, I realized that if I really wanted to continue on this journey, I needed to be able to measure the impact of my actions. I needed to see what is the difference I'm even making. ([Time 0:03:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5e6a6b0e-20b0-4976-9eda-667d0c060a93)) - **Quantify Small Actions' Carbon Savings** - Measure the avoided emissions behind small sustainable actions to see real impact. - Track simple choices (e.g., cycling, reusing clothes) to quantify and motivate continued change. Transcript: Prachi And so, you know, we, I started experimenting with which actions of mine are leading to most emissions. How can I reduce them? And as I kept on that journey, I realized that if I really wanted to continue on this journey, I needed to be able to measure the impact of my actions. I needed to see what is the difference I'm even making. So then I started researching on how do I quantify my avoided carbon emissions behind small sustainable actions I take. So would it help if I took public transport or would it help more if I recycle? ([Time 0:06:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ad41c32e-db6c-4719-8629-9b4c5d938b78)) - **Bootstrapped Growth Through Local Campaigns** - Prachi spent a year building skills: fellowship, app work, and campaigns which taught her how to scale users. - She used hyper-local, regional-language campaigns to reach farmers and scale digital adoption. Transcript: John Forrester That's right. Prachi And it makes sense because you know what happened once we started like putting numbers on it was it, I started enjoying it. It almost became a fun thing we were doing with the whole family because it felt good that at least at my own level I was doing something and I would feel nice if to to see that you know I took A cycle to my college student and I saved two kilograms of carbon emissions I stole a few clothes from my sister's closet and so buying new ones and I saved 10 kg of carbon emissions it all Became like a fun game Because we were really having so much fun as a family, a lot of other people would notice and you know my friends, neighbors, people around us started to come to us Saying you know you're doing something interesting and how can we be part of this and that's when we really started thinking you know what we started at our individual home, how can we Get global citizens to join us in it and from this the idea for cool the globe app was born um so by this time my year had ended i'd taken admission to um another college this time in uh media And um you know i decided to pursue it as a project out of college, you know, we used to have internships. So I pitched it to our director, instead of interning somewhere else, let me just do this. And then I realized that it's much bigger than like a one time project. So throughout my college years, we basically worked on building this app. So whatever was needed to build it from coding to storyboarding, from design to reaching out to climate experts, the recent emission factors, all of that, you know, the three years Of work day and night and cool the globe was ready. And by the time I graduated, we launched it. And that's when I realized that now the real work starts. The real work is in actually convincing people that in the face of climate change, our actions can make a difference. And, you know, I remember launching it and even getting the first hundred users was so difficult. ([Time 0:10:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e813fa7a-aab2-40d5-a9da-f010010e3fd4)) - **Viral Moment Turned Founder Into CEO** - A video Prachi released after a year triggered a sudden surge of support and convinced her to become Cool the Globe's full-time founder. - That attention exposed her to mentors and taught her the need for operational skills to sustain growth. Transcript: Prachi And I thought, he said that there's a need for this, and we've already built it. You know, this is, I was ending, nearing the end of the year, I borrowed from my mother. And honestly, we were still about like from 100 to 500 users at this point. John Forrester Okay. Prachi And what I did then was, you know, I didn't know that Cool the Globe could become a career and climate action could actually become a career. But I had promised my mother that I'd make at four videos in the course of this year, speaking about this unconventional journey I'm taking. So this was the fourth video I made, speaking to all of the Yatharis who were on that train journey, and telling them about Khulza Globe, you know, telling them about this pipe dream that I built when I was a young student, telling them, you know, now it's, you know, I'm sharing this with you. Now, let's try and make this big together. And I released that video. It was exactly one year later. It was 31st December when I sent it to them. And what happened next was a blur because the next two weeks, my phone would not stop ringing. I was getting calls from other young people, from CEOs, from media organizations, from prominent founders in India, saying that you really build something substantial here. We believe in it and you can actually make it big. That really when that commitment came in that's when I saw the vision that it can become something I can take this on full-time as a you know that I built Cool the Globe one year ago but I Think that was a moment when I decided to be a founder of Cool the Globe and take it on and at this point I was um you know i was like a young graduate a day before and overnight almost i was a Founder and a ceo um and you know two weeks in when all of these calls and messages and the flow sort of started to die down um i had a moment where I thought if I don't equip myself with the Skills to sustain it to build this to grow this this is going to become a one-time viral moment for us and I'm not going to be able to make something out of this I realized that there were Some skills that I needed to actually operationalize these dreams. ([Time 0:16:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/45276732-a695-4831-8b48-6e6848649df4)) - **Use GTD To Turn Vision Into Workable Steps** - Use Getting Things Done to externalize projects and reduce overwhelm when scaling work. - Turn vague ambitions into a reviewed system so you can prioritize and act consistently. Transcript: Prachi And it almost caught me. And I remember opening Getting Things Done. And I think that was truly the moment that changed my life because everything that came after that really happened as a result of GTD. I don't exaggerate when I say this. You know, we would, of course, talk a little bit about what happened after. And this was more so the prequel of the journey. Yes, I, it's, you know, that's when I opened the book and started reading it. And I realized this is exactly what I'm looking for at this point. And I did, I, you know, incorporated that system for a few months. ([Time 0:19:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ef6ee673-8688-46b4-b684-a7b8b3c5a29d)) - **Clear Mind And Choose Energizing Tasks** - Put everything out of your mind into a trusted inbox and review context lists regularly. - Choose tasks that feel energizing so your list motivates rather than overwhelms. Transcript: Prachi To train for GTD yeah and what I did was like, because it was in my list, I just reached out to him. You know, I just connected with him. And he messaged me saying, you know, I actually like the work you're doing. And I'd be if you need any help with GTD, I'd be happy to coach you pro bono. John Forrester Oh, wow. Prachi And that was the experience that even I had, people are so happy to help and support I didn't even have to ask for it and so he got a call with me and I don't think I don't know if he anticipated It being a year-long thing but then from that call you know every month we would meet and he really he really coached me through getting things done and really instilled in me a lot of mindset Shifts that that helped a lot you know one of the things that I remembered you know that that stayed with me was I always wanted my work to not feel stressful feel like it's it's played not Work fun and rewarding and he said the list should not make you feel overwhelmed you know it's almost like going shopping and yeah he's going shopping through the task and choosing which Task feels fun that really was a big mindset shift um so the through the 12 months uh you know we really worked closely on um on fine-tuning my g system. ([Time 0:24:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d5c518f4-c832-4338-8ef2-37cffc1c2f0e)) - **Personal Targets Spark Diverse User Action** - Cool the Globe presents simple, personalized 10% annual reduction targets and hundreds of doable actions. - Users from children to elders report concrete savings like 70 kg or 15 kg of avoided emissions from single actions. Transcript: Prachi In each action, they track the emissions that they've saved. So I got a lot of young people around me together. We started doing these campaigns and we really witnessed that people liked that we were talking not just about the problem, but also about how every person can become a part of it. Can make a difference. John Forrester Yeah. Prachi And so people would take an action that made sense in their life like a nine-year girl emailed me and said what change can i make in my life to fight climate change and she decided to start Going to school on a cycle instead of her car and her parents used to drop her in a car and she started going to her school on a cycle recording 70 kilograms of emissions, which was three Times her weight. Another. John Forrester That's a very personal way to relate to it. If I can say three times my weight in emissions every year, very, very direct. People can relate to that. Prachi So like that, another 80 year old woman called me and said that, you know, I can't, it's not like I can like use public transport or I can walk more or I can like, I mean, I can't do all of that, But I still want to contribute at my own level. So her granddaughter was getting married and for the wedding, instead of buying new clothes, she decided to reuse her own traditional attire, a saadi, from her wedding. ([Time 0:28:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e93b3c5b-4ae7-4763-81f6-884c6bf358db)) - **App Scaling Produced Collective Impact** - Cool the Globe grew from 500 users to 100,000 and reached 150 countries while tracking collective savings on a global meter. - The community recently surpassed saving 7 million kilograms of carbon emissions collectively. Transcript: Prachi So we reached over 25 million people across the world. Now we have users from 150 countries. And all of these citizens. So one of the things that when we released the beta version of the app, a fourth grader had actually called me up and said, I'm taking these actions, but I keep wondering what difference Can I alone make? I believe really the reason we started Cool the Globe was when a lot of people like us come together, a collective impact can be extraordinary. And to showcase that, we then introduced what became the most important feature, a global meter on the app, which we're tracking real time, the collective emissions that all citizens Are saving. So, you know, as of now, we always have targets, collective targets on the app also. And all of these users from 150 countries have come together, recently surpassed the target of saving 7 million kilograms of carbon emissions. And this is just the beginning. Wow. ([Time 0:31:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/38e661e0-fa57-4137-bb3c-30da54526ab9)) - **Scale Impact By Engaging Organizations** - Expand individual tools into organizational programs to scale behavior change across teams and events. - Create communities, competitions, and incentives so climate actions become social and habitual. Transcript: Prachi A lot of our users would come in and say I'm doing this in my life but now I'm bringing this in my organization if I'm hosting an event can we do this at that event I want to bring this in my school In my city and similarly a lot of organizations started reaching out to us saying you know you're doing this for individuals but we have a lot of sustainability targets we have net zero Targets we're doing a lot in climate. We want to involve our employees in this. So can there be a book of your app for our employees? We launched Cool the Globe for organizations and communities. So the next step for us, now we're working not just with individuals, but also with organizations, with events, with schools, even with a city to create communities for citizens where, You know, we're making climate action a rewarding experience in a way, you know, so rankings, competitions between teams. Interesting. John Forrester So you've got it gamified and you're turning it into something that's more fun and interactive and not just a big guilt trip about, oh, look what we're doing to the globe. But now, look, we're all playing a game, improving it. Prachi Exactly. The message has always been that it doesn't have to be a burden or a responsibility. Real climate action only enhances and makes your life more fulfilling. So can it be a fun, rewarding experience that brings people to that? So that's what we're trying to do. John Forrester Wow. That's very inspiring. And if you can share, back kind of quantifying things, how many users do you have at this point? And do you have other initiatives in the works, things like that? Yes. Prachi So we have 100,000 citizens using the app. John Forrester Long way from the 50 or so friends that you started with. Yes. Prachi And the big thing is now we are also doing this in organizations. So in corporates, you know, a lot of the organizations use this app for their employees. We create climate communities in organizations. ([Time 0:32:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e1e9fd47-1649-404b-be46-04c76c0a2c8f)) - **GTD Enabled Strategic No And UN Opportunity** - GTD helped Prachi say no to full-time UN roles and instead pursue a flexible part-time UN Foundation role. - Using context lists, she reached contacts in New York and met UN leadership, which led to a tailored opportunity. Transcript: Prachi So it was really a role that I felt very passionate about because, you know, through these years, I've got a chance to interact with a lot of young people and I see in them a zeal to make a Difference the same zeal that I had and I still carry but what I perhaps lacked at that time was a vision of what is possible and so I feel like once you have that then you become really unstoppable In a way so I feel very passionately about that role but what ended up happening was it was a full-time role and I did not want to take it up because I was doing Cool the Globe full-time. So I did not see. And, you know, that ability to say no to things that didn't align also was in a way as a result of getting things done. Because now the visibility of all of my projects and what I really wanted to do, I was reviewing my priorities and I was able to make decisions that at that time seemed tough but were necessary So you know I you know it went well but it didn't I couldn't take it up full time but then towards the end of that year I was coming to New York for the UN General Assembly and I had at that time Right after the interview I'd written down and that's where the context specific list really helped because I knew I was going to be visiting New York at some point and I had a New York List and in that list I'd written if you end up whenever you end up going to New York try and reach out to the people who you did the interview with and just like to tell them that you're in New York and I know for a fact that I would not have remembered this had it not been on that list like at the beginning of that year when that interview happened and so many things happened In the course of a year so as I was on the flight to New York I saw that list and I saw and I reached out to them and they called me into the office and we had a lovely interaction. After the interaction, they said, actually, the UN Secretary General wants to meet with some climate innovators before the General Assembly. And this is unheard of. Like you usually like in your first visit to UNG, you never get to meet Antonio Guterres. Know they said he wants to meet and we think you'd be a great fit so would you be open to going and doing this special meeting with him so we did that special meeting and it went really well And he was actually and this is also another thing which is that what our voices are oftentimes taken seriously, because he was taking notes throughout. And he incorporated a lot of our recommendations in his own report to world leaders. So it was a meeting not for him to tell us what to do. It was a meeting for us to tell him what we thought was the best course of action. ([Time 0:37:03](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b2b3e45d-8041-4319-98bc-e0218891f46a))