Neither here nor there....

It is important to take your holidays

The past few months have been relentless, and I was on more than one occasion, left with a feeling of it being ‘Ground hog day’. As work permeated to all parts of home, finding the right balance felt like a Sisyphean task. But then things do fall into place, seasons change, and we adapt to the new reality. Having done the hard yards in past few months, I took a week off and I am so glad I did.

William Shatner in Star Trek urged us ‘to go boldly where no man has gone before’ and this thought invariably pops into my head when I think of holidays; it is a separate issue that I settle with the recommendations from family and friends. This time, however, I set aside all such thoughts and stayed put in our apartment (have not stepped outside my building all week) to read, relax and do things differently. Bill Bryson, Meik Wiking and Rolf Dobelli gave me a lot to digest and have indeed re-kindled my pleasure for reading. (in paper and not a KINDLE). Some interesting facets for your perusal:

1.      Happiness of pursuit, not pursuit of happiness

We should all expect the hedonic treadmill i.e. reaching a goal, might make us happy but this lasts only for a while. So, perhaps it is time to quest on something which we find meaningful and make happiness a by-product of the process.

2.      Link things with experiences and buy experiences, not things

Linking purchases to a noteworthy occasion helps you realise its true worth because it embodies your memory of that time. Well my missus has been saying this for the better half of last decade, so I am also learning to ‘listen’ and not just hear.

3.      Be Mindful and present

Quality of time spent with family, friends and work is important, not the quantity. Mindless involvement with various gadgets and constant connectivity leads to more anxiousness and less control. Perhaps we should all start with some brain brushing i.e. some schools in Bhutan start and finish their day with a mindfulness exercise. The world did OK while you were sleeping and is not looking for your response first thing in the morning.

4.      Halo effect

We ascribe positive attributes to a person or company without adequate evidence, make no distinction between correlation and causality and suffer from delusion of connecting winning dots. There is no one winning formulae; so be paranoid about change and be nimble to re-invent. 

5.      Beating expectations is good but not when the bar is low

This season many companies have done better than street expectations (if I were to go by media reports) leading to run up in share prices. BSE Sensex is up some 13% in last 8 weeks (and shy of hitting pre COVID levels) while economic indicators on the other hand continue to highlight the existing challenges. A positive beat on performance is always welcome be it a company or your own self. But do remember, re-rating happens when the reasons for ‘beat’ are sound and sustainable.

6.      Webinars - Twaddle tendency: I would like to believe that most professionals attend conferences / webinars seeking knowledge and insights; while there is also a set which thrives on networking. Of late, the ‘aha moments’ are rare and reams of words are used to disguise intellectual laziness and ambiguous ideas transform into vacant ramblings. At such times, it is better for all to heed to Mark Twain who said: If you have nothing to say, say nothing.

7.      Screen presence is the new stage presence

Leaders have over the years stressed on the need to build a stage presence as you connect with your teams. We have all learnt some tricks of the trade and we use them when we sight energy (or lack of it). Now it is all about screen presence; I guess it is time to go back to the drawing board and start by making friends with your laptop camera.

 8.      Social bubbles important even as we contemplate travel bubbles

Lives and livelihoods need to be managed even as COVID cases continue to raise. There are many people who have stayed at home and have had limited or no interaction with friends or extended families. Social bubbles are based on the idea that people have ‘close friends and family’ with whom they interact most frequently. Creating a social bubble could help socialising in a controlled way and this will help overall wellbeing. Humans are by nature social animals.

Two parting thoughts:

Wearables devices have told me nothing about my activity that I was not aware of. Given the lock down lifestyle, in a normal day I cover somewhere between 3500 - 5000 steps. So quality control on food and doubling my exercise has been doing the trick. I am heading back to good old analog watches. How about you?

Laughter and humour are powerful social signals, indicating to the world in big, bold letters that things are Okay. So please, laugh out loud! 

August 2020