How's your WFH going?

Hi, I am Devashish.

I hope you're safe and doing great at home.

I started the WFH initiative campaign with my first article a few days back, and the kind of response that I got was astounding, to say the least!

This startling response has driven me to keep on going with this initiative and reach out to an even larger set of people, who’re in dire need of ideas and guidance during these hard and arduous times.

So, For today’s article, I have Mr. Vaibahv Jain. A Mechanical Engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned mentor, and the best part…he’s not even 30! A mentor to more than 200 budding entrepreneurs, a health and Life coach, an amazing public speaker and what not! Synonyms to his name on Linkedin...he truly is a “Man on a Mission.” 

 Excited? Let’s jump right into our discussion.

Do you think Work From Home(WFH) is our best option right now? Can it be the new normal?

See, there are multiple aspects to look at it. It's going to work well for service and IT sectors and they would continue to thrive, but not for the manufacturing and process segment.

We also need to think about those people who are living on a hand-to-mouth basis. I definitely think that WFH is not going to work out for them.

Personally speaking, I’m fine with WFH, but not everyone would share the same opinion, which is why I think that it’s fine for now, but I doubt over its effectiveness in the longer run.

What does your schedule look like these days?

Coming from an industry where I inspire people to take action, it’s fairly important for me to walk the talk. So yeah, I follow a disciplined routine, and this is something that we follow religiously within our community.

 We basically divide our day into 5 buckets.

Spiritual – It’s really important to be mentally healthy and there’s nothing better than a 30-minute meditation. So, my day starts with this. 

Health – Now, mental health is also related to our physical well-being, and given the amount of stress in today’s world, exercising and living an active life is even more important. So, at least 45 minutes is what I dedicate here.

Relationships – This I think is really important for me, and I have a fair allocation of time for all of my relationships, i.e., family, mentors and mentees, and clients or my old friends.

So, collectively, I spend close to 4-5 hours of my day in this bucket.

Work – Since my work involves a lot of consulting along with other activities so, I allocate 5-6 hours every day towards this as well.

Personal – And after a long day, you need to relax also, which is why I let myself have 1-2 hours of “ME” time.

Totally, it’s around a 12-14 hour schedule for me and dividing it into these buckets keeps me productive.

Are there any strict measures that you take while working, to maintain your tempo?

I believe that absolute compliance and commitment comes with your inner motivation and when you’re accountable to someone. In a layman sense, I’m talking about the kind of “Daily Discipline” that is followed by military personnel or athletes.

I try to inculcate this type of discipline in my everyday life and hold myself accountable for even the smallest of things. 

The idea behind this is to not feel guilty about your mistakes, but to correct or improve on it every single day.

Take for example, even after all these years, I send an accountability message to my mentors every day, regarding the stuff that I planned in the morning and the stuff that I did all day long. We then discuss it, and I try to do better with my schedule tomorrow.

These are the small little things, that create a huge difference.

How can a student or a graduate just out of college create such accountability?

For a student, I would probably suggest a 2 step process. 

 First, be a part of a healthy community or be in the surrounding of like-minded individuals. This is because of the fact that people are good followers, they do what they see and not what they learn.

The second step is to reward yourself for every bit of your success. I’m emphasizing this because inculcating the habit of accountability is a gradual process, that won’t happen overnight, and a pat on our back is needed to keep us motivated.

 So, set some targets for yourself, inform your mentors and in the community about it and when it’s done…reward your success with some incentives.

How important is emotional attachment, especially now?

There’s a thin line between being emotionally attached and being emotionally vulnerable. If you’re away from your family, chances are, you’re in the latter bracket.

A person should always be emotionally attached to his/her family, no matter the situation, but if you’re getting tensed and anxious thinking about them then it's jeopardizing your health, and that is not the right way to go.

So, be happy and feel relaxed when seeing or spending time with your family and friends, and don’t overthink anything.

That I feel, is the best way to go, and this is how you can transition yourself from being emotionally vulnerable to being emotionally sound.

How can someone prepare themselves for life after this pandemic?

I agree that the times are tough, but I also believe that it is full of opportunities. I’m saying this after studying more than 50 businesses, which started during the 2008 recession and scaled after it.

You see, every recession or a crisis creates disruption, which brings about innovation. Take AIRBNB and UBER, for example, these businesses were born out of the last recession, and they are a household name now.

So, I think, this is the perfect time for us to get creative, innovative and to do things, that we wouldn’t have done under normal circumstances.

It’s also the best time to make quality connections, do some collaborative effort and create a brand for yourself.

Take Linkedin for example, almost every top professional is on Linkedin, most of them are WFHing, and I don’t think that they would say no for a good collaborative initiative.

All this takes time, and we have plenty of that now.

How can a student or a job seeker make the best out of this period? What action plans can he/she follow?

The key first of all is to know yourself. What I mean is, that this is the perfect time to test your abilities and knowledge about your interests and passion.

After that, it’s all about connecting the dots…connect with the right people, be a part of the right communities, discuss with all of them, make a collaborative effort, learn relevant skills, ask for help, give help, and what not!

The world needs help right now, and you would forge lasting relationships if you help one.

One more thing, don’t just think from the perspective of a job seeker…try to be a job provider and work on your dreams.

Keeping a single schedule and sticking to it, or, changing it every now and then to keep it new? What would you prefer?

Nothing is ideal in this world and that’s why keeping or sticking to a single schedule doesn’t help. We have to be dynamic and flexible every day.

I generally tweak my schedule every day based on 3 segments.

1.  Stuff that I will procrastinate on. Like, I don’t enjoy evening workouts, and if I’m not doing it in the morning, then it certainly won’t happen in the evening.
2. Next comes the urgent tasks of the day. Now, this could be your deadlines, your scheduled calls, etc. Personally, I try to get done with this as early as possible. 
3. I also have to bend my schedule according to others. To give you a perspective, If I need to get something done from someone, then I need to work according to their time.

So, it all comes down to your priorities and your schedule should be a reflection of that.

But, that does not mean that I don’t have a schedule. I already told you my schedule and it’s just that I tweak it every now and then to keep up with my priorities.

Is there something else that you wish to add to your WFH schedule to make it even more productive and fun?

Of course, there’s quite a few stuff that needs time. Like, we’re working on launching live home workout sessions, where the whole community can do their workouts together. So, this needs to be accommodated in my schedule.

Apart from that, there are some collaborative efforts also, that needs to be worked upon.

A note from the writer:

Vaibhav, the best thing about you is, that you practice what you preach. You believe in showing rather than telling, and this I feel is one of the biggest reasons for your success.

Your sole intention is to make people’s lives better in any way possible, and this was quite evident in your answers. Even greater success is just around the corner for you...keep going!

Talking to you was a fantastic experience.

 Thank you so much for your time.