An Anecdote

A new colleague at work once asked me how to move a table down. I told her to call the person in charge of moving furniture and that it would be arranged shortly.

After a moment’s silence she replies “What I meant was how you do it in Ms. Excel”

For those of you who might be too lazy to click on a link... I'm posting it here

Infosys' Chairman and Chief Mentor Officer (CMO) - Mr.Narayana Murthy's
Speech on working long hours:

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some
people >do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary.
Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don't know if they
are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long.

Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace.
Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the
long term is harmful to the person and to the organization.

There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit.
Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for
potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently
make mistakes caused by fatigue . Correcting these mistakes requires their
time as well as the time and energy of others. I have seen people work
Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday.

Another problem is that people who are in the office for long hours are not
pleasant company . They often complain about other people (who aren't
working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry.Other people
avoid them. Such behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better when
people work together instead of avoiding one another.

As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work
with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words quickly lose
their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails with a time-stamp
of 2 AM, Sunday.

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For
instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

1. Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2. Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3. Go home.
4. Read the comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your
   kids, etc.
5. Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating . Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.
Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are
hard for some of us because that requires personal change. They are
possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.

In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my eldest son.


When he was a toddler, If people were visiting the apartment, he would not
fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it
was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left.. It was as if he was
afraid that he would miss something. Once our visitors' left, he would go
to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would scream through
half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear
of missing out.

Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss
anything when they leave the office . The trouble with this is that events
will never stop happening. That is life! Things happen 24 hours a day.

Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap.
Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up
when you wake.

Hence "LOVE YOUR JOB BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"
(Because you never know when it stops loving you )"

Narayana Murthy

One way of dealing with a problem is running away from it.

Whatever your troubles are, don’t worry too much… because there always is someone else who has something worse.

Birthyear Memories

As I reach another year of my existence in this world, I close my eyes and think back… these are few of the moments that come into my mind.

1. The Tsunami

I recall the frightful days when I use to roll around unable to sleep for a long time recollecting the images of the terrifying disaster in my disturbed mind. I was surprised that a person as emotionally strong as I am, took over two months to come out of the shock and pain.

2. Topping the MBA batch

When results were announced I didn’t quite expect myself to score the highest in all the modules that I took. This was mainly because that was never a part of my objectives. Having given the circumstances and the troubles that I had to undergo I sure do think of it as a big deal. It was a good feeling and when people still refer to me as batch top I blush with pride. He… he..

3. The Wedding

Oh yes the wedding… Getting married came with lots of new surprises. The changes were greater than I expected. People told me that the worst part of your life is the first two years of your marriage. I am still to find out the truth of that statement. Although there is a lot more to come… learning new things, cooking together with my husband, arguments, responsibility and the essence of the divine human relationship of marriage was some of the part of what was given to us both. Planning the wedding alone seemed like an extremely stressful and tiresome experience of ones wedded life.

4. Brother going to Med school

My brother was so much interested in politics and cricket that I was beginning to think that he is going to be wasting his brains either becoming some boring lawyer or a plane cricketer. Playing cricket on the day before a critical exam or reading the newspapers on the morning of a test seemed to have higher priority to him than studying. But at the end of the day, like most people do he was able to achieve the final goal… pleasing everyone in the process.

5. People meeting

Some of the students that I met at the PIT showed me another side to life and they were very much a part of my life. I am happy that I was able to be there for them when colleagues and family was not the best option to turn to. I hope I will be able to continue this. I learnt a lot in this year about the many sacrifices that my parents made for me in the name of love. Sometimes I feel that it was too late for me to realize these things and the only regret I have is that I haven’t done enough back. I also came to study and understand other people around in terms of their attitude, behaviour and the way they think. Each year our understerstanding of other people broaden and that’s a good thing.

6. Moving out on our own

This was the last and probably the most unforgettable experience in the past year. Separation and bonding; fear and anxiety; maturity and heart ache are a few of the many things that I have learnt from this invaluable experience. It is amazing how much ‘ironing on a bed’ can change your lifestyle.

Those were the days and I am looking forward to see what awaits me this birth year. I hope that this year will bring us all, everything that the last year could not!

Bad news is better than no news

Imagine

Inside the human mind...
almost anything is possible