The Question is . . .

Published in TISA June 2014 Issue

One of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffet continues to live in the same house in Omaha since 1958 and drives a 2006 model car. He was enterprising from his childhood and visited the New York Stock Exchange as his 10^th birthday gift. He has pledged a huge part of his earnings to charity and leads a frugal life. His net-worth is $ 66 billion on 30^th May 2014.

Elon Musk who is known for Tesla Motors, SpaceX and Solarcity dreams of colonizing Mars. Elon is a billionaire who went through deep financial crisis and risked everything he had to follow his dream. Driven and vested with sharp analytical skills he is one of the leading disruptive innovators in the world today.

For Steve Jobs, his work was his life. He continued to dazzle the world of technology with his innovative products till the end. Ousted from Apple, he reinvented the company. Once faced with the finality of death he knew he had nothing to lose and all the motivation to go ahead and make the change he wanted. In an interview Jobs was quoted as saying he never worked for money though it definitely renders the freedom to do many things. (He was worth over a hundred million dollars by the age of 25) Jobs wanted to create a company and build a team that could make products to empower people and change lives.

Co-Founder and CEO of Google, Larry Page, started using computers at a very young age. Google was incorporated in 1998 with a million dollar investment using borrowed equity. Larry was 25 years old. Rest is history.

Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle once said constant learning motivates me, the ability to see how far and how much we can stretch ourselves, achieve and improve. His product is paramount for him.

Adele who is an English songwriter and recording artist appeared on the Saturday Night Live show in October 2008. Within 24 hours her album called 19 became No. 1. Unlike the trend of pop stars who are more conscious about their physical appearance and placed prominently on magazine covers, Adele says she is a musician and focuses on only making music.

Man Booker Prize winner in 2009 and 2012, Hillary Mantel is an author who says she has got ideas flooding her mind and she has just too much to write about which keeps her going.

And one of the glowing examples of self – motivated successful persona is J. K. Rowling famous for her Harry Potter books. It was her inner conviction that writing a book would change her live. She wrote her first book sitting in cafes while supporting her infant child as a single mother subsisting on state support. The book was rejected twelve times by various publishers. Today Rowling is counted amongst the wealthiest women in the world.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. ~ Rumi

We all are engaged in various kinds of activities in our day to day lives. How much of the work is done because we derive something out of it and what part is due to basic responsibility, duty and obligation?

The question that we should be asking ourselves is what truly drives us?

Is it money, fame, need for security, control, independence, the thrill of persistence, the joy of innovating and creating something new or simply enjoying the chance to change lives?

We often spend a lifetime doing things which we took upon ourselves for the want of something better or to protect the interest of our family or most likely because we never gave it a thought of what makes our inner spark glow and incites the flame of our soul.

Doing what we love determines our direction in life, our propensity to take risks, the inclination to learn and experiment or to follow a straight line, it guides us to create a strong succession path, how we nurture and train others, control and communicate, network and in businesses it points the direction which the business is most poised to take. The people who are successful around us are those who are doing what they truly enjoy doing and not look upon as work or task. They do not need motivation or to be urged to perform. Also such people keep on reinventing how they work to add value, remove waste and create a sense of warmth, belongingness and purpose around them.

Take the first step; ask the question, introspect and answer it.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

Work Life Balance – A Must for Achieving Success

“Don’t be so busy striving to make a living that you forget how to live a life” ~ Robin Sharma

On the way to drop my child to school, I see many people going to work in expensive cars but puffing like a steam engine with bags under their eyes hunched behind the wheels or slouched in the back seat. I am not against expensive cars but I feel pity for the way they are paying the price for these “comforts” and “social status symbols”. Sadly, these people most likely do not even get the time to think where they are going or how to maneuver a course correction and achieve the same or more but in an enriched manner.    

Times are changing fast. We are in a constant race to achieve more and work much harder to “secure” the elusive future which has many variables and unknown factors beyond our control. It is in this race that we forget what we truly have in our hands – our present.

While working on a feature about German small businesses, I read and learnt about certain typical features of German life which helps them become successful. They have a strong segmentation of professional and private time. They strive not to mix them. At work, they give their 100% and focus on their responsibilities and excel. When they are off duty, they focus on some activity of interest or the other and enjoy that too. They do not appreciate people calling them to discuss work in their private time.

Many of us often believe that long hours of work means we are more productive, we are getting lot more job done and attribute our success to that. But why aren’t our companies innovative enough, why are we not growing faster, why aren’t we growing bigger, why are competitors catching up with us every day?

Innovation or creation of a business edge happens when we have the time and the space to think differently or rather more intently. We are so bogged down with our day to day tasks that we rarely sit back and introspect. Success is not assured with working 18 hours a day 6 days a week. This is mere drudgery and many people can do the same hence the competition.

Man is a social animal as we learnt in school. We need to be in touch with others, we need to get rejuvenated and refreshed to function better and we need to connect with our inner selves every now and then. What we need today is serious work life balance to become more successful.

Balancing Life

Work life balance is nothing but splitting your time into serious productive work with defined goals and objectives and periods of unconstructive activities to allow the brain cells to relax and regenerate. We gain in many ways.

·         Reduces stress, improves physical well-being. In times of pressure and work we often stop breathing evenly. Fatigue sets in both physically and mentally. This leads to stress and make our organs work harder. And we are all aware of the lifestyle issues due to stress. Stress has directly effect on our physical health.  

·         Quality of life improves. We start appreciating things around us, things we often fail to notice in a rush and start acknowledging the same and feel more comfortable and happy. You get the time to improve and enrich your thoughts and become a better person to yourself and not only for the community. It gives you the time to think where you are going and what you are truly trying to achieve. Are you focused on the means or the end?

·         Performance. High performing people regularly take a break and do other activities that they love to boost their internal strength and refresh themselves. They are more productive and efficient. They take newer initiatives and are more likely to be successful.

·         Innovation. A rested and refreshed mind is more likely to come up with innovative ideas than the one fatigued and tired with heaps of routine repetitive tasks. If you are too tied up with daily work and you are bound to the system, when will you get the time to step out and think from a distance?

·         Control. You achieve better control of your life thus better control of your job or business or responsibility that’s on your shoulders. When we do the same thing again and again we stop thinking and then we start missing the warning signs. Hence, we need to rest and restart.

·         Motivation. A rested and happy mind is more motivated to take up new challenges or new tasks than the one which has become slow, overburdened and on the verge of breaking down.

·         Enrichment and Satisfaction. Let’s say you are doing an amazing job, achieved huge targets and made a difference. But did you get the time to sit back and savor it or are you running endlessly while others are enjoying the gains.

Your hard work and seven figure compensation might have helped you buy a 4BHK duplex apartment or even a house with a garden. You might own a Volvo XC60 or a Jaguar sedan even but who is actually enjoying it? How much time do you spend in that house compared to say your servant? Or how many times have you been behind the wheels of that exquisite car that you own? The ornate sofa that you bought for your drawing room, when was the last time you sat on it and enjoyed a cup of tea with the day’s newspaper? I bet you never thought about this.

What should I do?

·         Take up a hobby

·         Watch a movie, go to the theatre,

·         Get involved in a new activity – bake a cake, gardening, walking, swimming, singing, take up any sports, playing an instrument – anything that keeps your mind in action while not causing any stress. Do something that does not have a milestone just a road to follow and stop wherever you want, whenever you want.

·         Simply lie down in your bed and read a book or listen to music

·         Pick up the cricket bat, gather 3-4 people and play a game with the dustbin as your wicket.

·         Do something random and unstructured – simple sit and chat with a friend about mundane things not business targets and labor issues.

·         Sit by yourself. Spend some time alone and think of nothing at first. Calm your mind. Watch your breathing. Slowly start talking to your inner self and listen too. Think of what you are doing, what you (not what you have to do for your family) would like to do, how you can do it. There is no harm or guilt in thinking for you every now and then. It is one life that we all get.  

It is never too late to start relaxing a bit and getting rejuvenated. Summer is here. Take a short vacation and enjoy. Your work and responsibilities are always going to be there waiting for you. The present is what you have. Appreciate it.  

Loosen up. You are never too old, too professional, or too accomplished to laugh and be silly. Allow yourself to play. Let your inner child out and enjoy your life. ~ Tavis Smiley

Industry Insight (WICMA) Why SME Owners need to have tough business controls

Recently my article was published in WICMA's magazine - Industry Insight.

Have a look!