WELCOME FY 2024-25

Interestingly, March is the most obnoxious month of our life. It scared us when we were kids, & it continues to scare us now. Yes, even if we time travel to the golden era of our childhood, we want to skip the March madness when we studied like zombies for our final exams, against all odds & zero interest. More like a torture carnival, it began with the 1st exam somewhere in the first week & culminated only after we were just about to collapse in the last week.?

Well, if the haunting March of childhood wasn’t enough, March 2.0 resurfaced in my life as I knocked on the doors of the corporate world. For the initial few years, March appeared to be like a circus. Changed people, behaviours, situations & the surroundings. It felt as if you joined a completely different organisation in March. It was unofficially communicated that whatever you have achieved in the last 11 months, you need to achieve more than that in March alone. It was extremely naive to think that this extraordinary hard work was undertaken by everyone for the sake of the company’s financial year performance alone.???

As years passed by, the reasons unmasked from organisational to individual. With the entire corporate March circus revolving around appraisals, promotions, increments, etc., it was no longer a conundrum as to why the employees who had been in hibernation mode for the last 11 months, suddenly turned hyper-active in March.?

For many, March is also a….?

M-Month of

A-Atrocities

R-Regrets

C-Cruelty, &

H-Humiliation

In ancient folklore, the villagers offered their prayers, gifts, and belongings to their demi-gods in anticipation of good rains for their crops that year. Well, I don't see a direction correlation (pun intended) but even today, in the corporate world of 2024, your boss turns into a demi-god at the time of appraisals since he is entitled to decide your fate & the poor us, offer whatever we have to our demi-god to please him. Centuries have passed, but the practice still exists.?

March is akin to the storm that tests our endurance & patience. It is the darkest hour before the dawn. The dawn which we fondly call April brings a new hope, nonetheless figuratively to say the least. My favourite to-do list in April has always been to decide my new goals for the new financial year. That such a to-do list was tampered with by my boss on 2nd April itself is a different matter altogether.?

But as we find ourselves on the threshold of a new financial year, let’s start this new financial year by not repeating the same mistakes that we committed in the last financial year. Over the years, we have burnt the midnight oil to add significant value to our organisation & our boss’s fortunes. It is high time that we start valuing ourselves & stop being a commodity anymore. While there might never be the perfect auspicious time to realise the true priorities of life & career, let’s vow to take charge from Day 1 of the new FY.?

If not kick-starting a revolution, let’s commit to doing something different this year. Something which gives us true happiness, something which has a profound meaning for us. Yes, it is blunt but you are more than just an employee code in your life & your purpose in life is not restricted to merely achieving your KRA. This FY, let’s sleep every day with the real satisfaction of achieving ‘something’ worthwhile. Something, that may not get captured in the MIS, but something that captures your essence of life.?

Above all,?

Promotion or no promotion, and irrespective of any appraisal, good or bad…..

This Financial Year,

Let’s spend time with real people, real priorities, & most importantly, the real us. Let that time heal your soul & body even if it is unrecorded. After all, life is way more precious than just documenting things in the mail every time.?

As the new FY awaits us, let’s live every moment to the fullest, one at a time!!????????

Cheers to new beginnings!!

Alok K?

[email protected]

7665-0000-44