Do you spend time with yourself?

This article is an attempt to address one of our usual work issues, TIME! However, here I am taking a different approach of looking at the issue and addressing the same.

Rohit comes to office every morning checks his mailbox and quickly makes notes of the work to be delegated. He then runs to the team and asks them who’s busy with what, selects the right candidates for handling today’s work and tells them how to do it. On enquiring the status on previous tasks, the team updates him and tells him the problems they faced with them. He then makes solves the problem himself and therefore helping them understand the way it should be done. He also double checks the work done by the team yesterday and shows them the correct method to do whatever was incorrect. In the meanwhile, his Boss calls him for an urgent work. He runs, takes it down and also updates Boss with the previous tasks’ status. Boss suggests some changes. Rohit, again, runs back to the team and tells them about the new task and updates them about changes in the old one. Its 2.00 pm and it’s time for a meeting and everyone rushes for that. Rohit is relatively unprepared as he was busy the whole morning. After the meeting, Boss calls him again and asks him – “Why are you always so unprepared?”

Rohit, undoubtedly, is a hard working person. The problem that he has is that he believes in doing everything himself. What would’ve happened if he delegated tasks to his team and asked them to turn up in case they had any doubt? Couldn’t he have sent the team back every time they came with a mistake in the file, instead of trying to solve everything himself? Could he have also allocated half an hour per day for his Boss to update him with the status and take fresh downloads, instead of running to him every time a new task emerged? That would’ve helped him spend so much time with himself!  Spending time with himself would have helped him organize himself better, prepare himself for the meeting and plan for the times to come. Once this cycle started, everything would set itself in place.

Typically, this is what happens with all of us. Each working day involves Reviewing Mails, New Task Delegation and follow up of Old tasks with teams, Receiving and Updating Status of Tasks to Boss, Coordination with other Teams, Attending Regular and Ad Hoc Meetings. In the quest of doing everything ourselves, we tend to lose on the most important activity required for every working day – “Spending Time with ourselves”!  Either we spend too much time with our Bosses or our teams. Spending time with oneself is hardly considered in the never ending agenda for the day. Many times, it is considered “unproductive” to spend time with oneself and this is easily deprioritized when it comes to “taking care” of the teams and “being obedient” to the Boss. One big demerit of such close supervision is the building “dependability” of the teams on you, which hampers growth – both of your team and yourself. The same thing is true in the reverse manner, if you are spending too much time with your boss. The team becomes too dependent on you to grow, and you become too engrossed in day today affairs to look forward.

Every day is an investment. Just like we invest money to build more money for us, we need to invest our time in such a manner that we get the profit of some extra time every day. For that, we first need to identify where is our time going currently? Making our teams responsible and trusting them enough with the routine tasks is one key way. If you think the problem is with your Boss calling you too often, talk your problem out. Like I’ve previously said, if you’ll really want to spend time with yourself, you will definitely find a way to do that. In that sense, it depends on you! But it’s you who needs to identify where you want to head to. Spending time with yourself could also mean reading up articles to improve your own learning and therefore the organisational learning.

One management tip I completely believe in, is spending at least first and last 20 minutes of your day with yourself. In the first 20 minutes, we need to plan our day, prioritize things, and set yourself ready for the day. The last 20 minutes should be spent in reviewing the progress of the day – Was it according to how you had planned? What did you do today that you will not do again?

Would be nice to know if this article impacted your way of working in any way?

PS: You can also reach out to me at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.

Twists and Turns are part of life and not just cricket.

Starting on a lighter note, I would like to mention a joke which is being widely circulated on SMSes and BBM these days:

Couple Silent on Bed.

Wife Thinks : Why is he not talking to me? Is he thinking of some other woman? Don’t I appeal to him anymore? Are wrinkles showing on my face? Is he trying to dump me? I put on weight at the wrong places?  WHY IS HE UPSET?

Husband Thinks: Why the hell did Dhoni give the last over to Nehra?

Well, I know that this decision of Dhoni gave a lot of us enough reason to be upset that night. What is also clear that Cricket is an unpredictable game, and a single ball can change the direction of the game!  In 1992, Pakistan were on the verge of elimination from the World Cup but went on to win the tournament. In 1999 no one was sure whether Australia would get past the Super Six stage but they ended up winners. We started off very badly in the 2003 World Cup and the entire Indian team was heavily criticized after our first two matches. We did turn around and reached the final. And then, an inner voice asked – “Are these twist and turns only a part of cricket? Isn’t this what happens in our lives too?”

Quite some time back, it so happened that I felt that i was in the slow lane in my career. Things were happening fine but something just wasn’t feeling right. And, soon enough, my portfolio changed to a new and  exciting one. What  was mundane day and week for me, suddenly converted into new and exciting times – something that I will always remember and smile back upon! The sudden “Twist” in my life gave me enough reason to get back to the field and bat on the front foot. Doesn’t it happen to all of us? Just when we are thinking that there’s no solution and we are caught in the web of problems, a sudden event occurs and changes all of it. You get stuck in traffic everyday and one day a new flyover is inaugurated, and its all solved! You were struggling with one process and automation is introduced making life better. You always struggled with this particular colleague and one fine day, he shifts to another profile – A pleasant event can solve your long term problems just about any moment. Any Ball can suddenly turn into a Sixer! Remember what happened with Russell (WI vs Eng). Was it a Six or a Catch was separated by a couple of Centimeters, or Trott's shirt.

At another point in time, my stock portfolio was going great guns and I was happy to have put my monies into best of the companies, and with each passing day, my portfolio would end at something higher than what it started at. Then, January 21, 2008 happened. After that, when it started falling, it didn't stop. Before I could digest one big loss, another big one would just make its way in.  The happy me became a worried and low myself. Just when I thought I had scored a 50, I was Run Out. Just like the pleasant “twists”, even the bad and not wanted ones are as much a part and parcel of our lives. Suddenly a  “Devil in Pinstripes” becomes your Boss. One new process is introduced that makes your life hell every day, The neighbor you travelled everyday to work with changed address – some things that are so “not wanted” but still happened to complicate things around, just like that dreaded ball which gets you LBW!

These twists and turns have left me with a lot to learn. The twists have helped me become a more hopeful person. Now any time I feel unexcited, low, lonely, I do have this streak of hope that suddenly something will happen and things will be alright. More often than not, such moments do come!  Positivity in thoughts do bring positivity in actions and results. For the “turns”, I have definitely become a more humble person because now I know that any sudden turn can spoil the party. Expecting a “turn” every now and then helps me stick to the ground. This whole phenomenon of “Twists” and “Turns” help me hope for the Best and be prepared for the worst. This Balance has helped me cruise through a lot of pleasant and not-so-pleasant experiences in  life. What I do continue is putting in a lot of hard work, dedication and sincerity in everything I take up, so that the “twists” keep happening and the “turns” don’t bother me enough. What I will be proud of is “My Innings” even if the entire match was not completely in my hands!

PS. Do share this with others and your feedback with me. pl do get in touch with me on twitter @agrawalsanjeev

It all depends on me

It all depends on me. The thought is simple but I have a complicated story found on the net. You do need to read it carefully, to appreciate the depth in this story.

This story is about a Jew man named Elazar ben Durdaya. Elazar had become addicted to allurements of lust and passion. One Day, he was told by someone, "Elazar, you are beyond salvation, there is no World to Come for you." Something about what she said or the way she said it, shook Elazar. He was driven by an overwhelming desire to return to a Godly path, if only God would forgive him. He cried out to the mountains and hills and said, "Please, plead my case for me, ask God to have mercy on me." But they responded, "We must plead for ourselves." ." He turned heavenward and cried, "Please, heavens and earth, intercede on my behalf." But they too answered, “We must ask mercy for ourselves.” He begged to Sun, Moon and Sky and still received the same response.

Elazar fell to the ground and cried from the depths of his soul. After a time he rose and spoke the truest words that had ever crossed his lips, "The matter rests entirely with me, the responsibility is all mine." And that moment his soul left his body. A heavenly voice then rang out and said “Elazar, your repentance has been accepted, you are worthy of the World to Come.”

Elazar was trying to make amends, but he was also trying to shift the blame. When he asked the mountains and hills to intervene, he was really thinking, "It's my parents' fault that I turned out like this. They didn't discipline me enough, they didn't have the time to invest in me, they spoiled me." But this plea was rejected. He turned to heaven and earth, both symbols of the society that he was raised in. "It was the environment I grew up in, my friends, my school… Everybody was doing it. It wasn't my fault." But this defense wasn't answered either. He tried again, and turned to the sun and moon, both symbols of affluence. "It was the glitz and the glamour of how I grew up. There was so much emphasis on the material world, I couldn't escape it." But again, nothing. In his last attempt of self-defense, he blamed his destiny to be how he is, but to no avail. Finally after a cathartic cry he found the strength to look inward. He realized that he couldn't shift the blame to anyone else. "It's all my fault," he admitted, "I am the only one truly responsible for my behavior." And in that moment he merited eternal life.

In modern era, there is a Peanuts cartoon where the authoritarian Lucy is busy handing out to her friends lists of their faults & imperfections. When challenged as to what right she has to do this, she responds, "I want to make this a better world for me to live in." We live in a "me" society. Sometimes it seems as if we live in a culture of victimization where it is always someone else's fault. How easy it is to rationalize my mistakes and blame circumstances "beyond my control" for errors of my own creation. The self-centered syndrome becomes a norm for those who find it natural to "pass the buck" and place the blame on others.

More often than not, this is what we do in our professional lives too. We are so engrossed in our day to day work, that instead of trying to sort out problem ourselves, we choose to externalize the problem to other people or circumstances. So much so, that we almost take assumptions in other people’s functions – “Boss will never approve it”, “XYZ team is too lazy to work out on this new project”, “ABC team continues to send crappy data”, “Team is filled up with defensive people” – Aren’t these a few comments that we carelessly make to show our helplessness to reduce our pain points?

Some of it is true. May be there are many things that are beyond our control and will continue to give us pain in our day to day functioning. But the question really is “Are we putting enough efforts from our own side?”. Can you cross your heart and say that “I have not been able to solve this problem because I could not have done anything else about it”? Possibly not. The next question is, whether we have defined our pain areas or not. Because its so easy to shirk the responsibility by externalizing any issue, we continue to work like we are, continue with the pain areas , without even thinking of the possible solutions of the problems. Across the various meetings over my career i have realised that the inidividuals identified the problem, offered the solution and worked on resolving them. I only helped in putting a structure to their thoughts. The solution was well within them.

So next time you complain about anything – Look within, the answer probably lies there! Or think about Elazar ben Durdaya and how he got his salvation.