We are inspired by the greater things in life and the better people. Inspiration is a strange thing sometimes. It suffices the need for feeling good for the moment. But then, Inspiration is like bathing; it is advised daily. All great personalities we admire have one secret to achieve greatness. Their inspiration has been in simplicity. A corporate employee may be inspired to become a manager, but a carpenter is inspired by the quality of wood so he can create more masterpieces. The difference is evident.

You can never satisfy employees who are not satisfied with their work, you can never satisfy yourself if you aren’t satisfied by what you do. Inspiration doesn’t matter if you are walking in the wrong direction.

We need to understand the importance of focused inspiration if we have to succeed in having a good life-work experience. Entrepreneurs and Employees face a different type of dilemma in achieving this balance.

As an Entrepreneur –

Some people are satisfied with what they are doing in life, but there is a breed which is constantly trying to push themselves and try to do something out of the box. Some people just cannot digest the fact that they are working under a person. There is a constant urge to innovate and provide something of value to the community. These are some qualities that make an Entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur it is very difficult to achieve a balance between what you do and what you do for a living. Often caught up in this circle of confusion we end up spending so much time out of life that work becomes Life. Commitment to business is one thing, but making time for other interests in life is another. A commitment includes such efforts that make you endure in a venture by constantly working on an idea and finding ways to achieve it in the most efficient manner. Over-working in not commitment, making the most of the given time is.

The idea is not to keep all your travel plans till you turn 40 or till your Bank account goes up to 7 digits.

One day I asked myself what I would do if I didn’t have the need to earn money. That answer changed my life. Now I am writing, and those stage shows give an exhilarating experience that money cannot even come close to buying. A reality check: we need money for a living. So the key here is to find ways to achieve that without compromising what you would do if there was no Rupee or Dollar involved.

As entrepreneurs, ask yourself: How many weekend hangouts have you missed? How long has it been that your laptop or phone has been away from you? What is keeping you up at night; is it also motivating you to wake up? How long has it been since you just sat with your family doing nothing. If the answers are somewhat translucent, there it is a sign of a Productivity-holic in you. You get used to judging the things you want to do with the productivity involved with it. A casual dinner with an old friend is less productive than a high profile meeting with a business magnum. The difference is just work or life. The only way to get out of this fog is to set parameters for work, maybe 3 meetings a week, everything else can wait. You might be thinking I am stupid to say this. Maybe. But in all honesty, I am stupid enough to know that if you are committed to your business, you wouldn’t call me that.

A wise man once said, do what you love and everything else will fall into place. Even if you read this quote in the 45th Century it will imbibe a simplicity in you. Work-life may be one and the same for you, but your life demands a life out of your business.

As an Employed person –

The performance assessment for an Employee is like term examination for students. But like every other student, the employees too will get used to it. But the parameters to measure them are generalized and this often push the employees to do more. But this push is in a very wrong direction.

We live in a country where the performance is measured by the number of hours worked and very less importance given for the efficacies achieved during work hours. Like every other thing of debate, there are the good people, there are the worse. You just have to be lucky if you are working in a place which values your capacity and your intellect.

The change should come from the bottom of the food chain. The board would be happy knowing that one person can work instead of two. At that level, it’s just numbers the paper that matter. We have often noticed that Bachelors/Bachelorettes who have come down from other cities to work, invest more time at work, primarily because they have nothing else to do. The effects of these are on those who hail from families that are waiting for them to have a chat at the dinner table.

Looking back at things 10 years from now, to the 12 hours of daily work and unproductive weekends, you will realize how much more you could have done. Let’s believe in commitment and not in slogging. If there is a deadline, respect it, work for it. If there are none, and you have a chance to crack a joke to your friend sitting in your regular college adda, do that!

If you are not satisfied with your work, you will never be confident to leave on time. Sweden recently cut down the working hours to 7 hours per day. Their efficiencies sky rocketed. This proves that long hours don’t mean anything, productive hours do.

We, from our agricultural pasts, have the slogging DNA in us. But it is best to tune it to the lives we live now. Let’s mature enough to welcome the challenges of the corporate world.

But in the end, it doesn’t even matter:

The right kind of motivation, the right kind of inspiration only can help us understand the world and live it to the fullest. The ultimate purpose is to know that the purpose of life is to be happy and everything we do just helps us get there. If it is not, it is just not worth doing.

I wrote this poem for myself to understand the bravery of the heart, perhaps it would help you too.

 

The loudness of the situation,

Blinds your thought,

But after a gaze at the stars,

You wouldn’t regret the things you have fought,

Shivers hit your bones,

As you shudder in shyness,

Happiness seems to differ,

As you get used to the darkness,

Steam out like vapor,

There is clarity in the fog,

Vision gets an upgrade,

Giving meaning to the slog,

The shift is drastic,

As you drift away from the plastics,

Ideas ever shining,

For a new beginning,

Being is a state of breathing,

Living is an act of doing,

The breathing goes in vain,

If we don’t start living.

-Abhijith

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-Team MindPluckd