Five unexpected joys I’ve discovered during an ‘extended-sabbatical ’

2020,

you little beauty,

shredding expectations,

your only duty.

                     -a sliver of my non-existent talent

 At WWF, we termed 2020 as the ‘super year’ and boy did it live up to its billing? I feel bad for 2021, nothing it does will matter. It’s like being Tom Hanks’s brother. You could be a great talent but you are still Tom Hanks’s brother. Game over.

Side note, judging humanity on a HITLER-HANKS Spectrum seems like an ACE SYSTEM

When I took an extended-sabbatical in 2020, I expected it to be hard but interesting. I probably thought I would get out of it with a few learnings but there are some unexpected joys that I hadn’t bargained for. Besides, joys these days are like toilet paper in a pandemic, you gotta stock up on them.

1) Reading PROFESSIONALLY - I now read. Constantly, everyday, at all odd, even, prime and composite hours. I read books, magazines, long form articles, tweets, WhatsApp forwards, captions on Tik-Tok videos, EVERYTHING. Kids love athletes and astronauts, this kid loves authors. It’s inspirational to write and it’s been a privilege to just read. The key has also been to read and not opine about the subject. Just read for love of reading. That’s it. That’s the goal. I now revolve my life around supporting my reading habit.

2) Discovering new bands/singers - This has brought me so much joy. In today’s hyper-algorithmic world where any band from anywhere in the world can be streamed onto your phone, I find it more difficult to discover new music. In this week alone, I’ve discovered Mashrou' Leila, Harish Sivaramakrishnan and Allen Stone. I am now always on the lookout for new artists. My system is to maintain a list of 10 people who I’ve known to be music aficionados and share my discoveries and receive some incredible artists/bands back in return. I call it a ‘Social Network’ (powerful term, it could catch on)

3) Discovering skill swaps - I learnt this from one of my mentors. A skill swap is where you create structured time in the month (either 10/20 hours buckets) where you buddy up with someone and share each other’s expertise. From career progression, building influence online, digital marketing, creating an art platform, this way of working has been such an effective strategy for working on multiple threads. It’s also a great source of having energising conversations. An added benefit is that you are forced to shower and put on decent clothes those days so your buddies don’t judge the eff out of you.  

4) Reaching out to friends and really listening - Random notes, video calls, funny GIFs, whatsApp jokes to friends check in on them, their families, their pets, their careers has been a great way for me to remember how important some people are in my life. Since it’s also single minded in its intention, it forces me to listen to everything my friends are saying and pay a lot of attention to it. Sometimes, the best thing we can do as friends/colleagues is to just be an ‘objective ear’ . I now realise that it’s important to just be in the orbit of people you love no matter how busy life gets. And no, I don’t start the conversation with ‘You up?’

5) Map out my passion and purpose - I’ve always wanted to work not just for climbing a corporate ladder or for monetary gains but to have a larger societal impact. I now realise that there are TRUCK LOADS of people (with appropriate social distancing and masks of course) who are working in seemingly great jobs but crave for creating impact. That is what I am creating a framework for. If you ever wake up one day wanting to do more than meet your quarterly sales quota or design the font and colour of an insurance website, this offering will surely pique your interest. The ‘greater good’ is better than ‘breaking bad’. If not anything, I’ll guarantee you bad puns and silly jokes. Watch this space!

A huge thanks to #MyTribe who has formed a pivotal part of each of these 5 joys. Salaam, Namaste, Chapeaux, Cheers.