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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Work - One Thing which never ends

Work - its an unusual type of thing. Its importance is diluted once there is more of it & on flip side its importance becomes clearer when there is none of it.

Most of people reading this blog will agree to the fact that I am & always be an workaholic. The basic point is I cannot stay unoccupied or in other words I like myself busy.
Straight of Engineering college, i joined Schlumberger Asia Services Ltd. - a leading Oil & Gas Services provider.

As you all know, with the first job, everyone generally wants to create an impression on the operations of the company. The only goal in mind is to make oneself indispensable. There are many factors which work together in creating this behavior - can be family issues, peer pressures, market conditions or self esteem.

Family Issues - making money is important, but in this case making money every month is even more important.

Peer Pressures - People from peer group are moving ahead & creating impressions - no one likes one's own friend moving faster than he/she himself is. Thats the truth.. .. ya.. believe me.. !!! - its human tendency.

Market Conditions - As observed last year, with bad market conditions everybody in the industry wants to hold on what one has in hand

Self Esteem - Very few people are motivated by this factor.. but believe me.. these are the people one should look upto. These people feel low or incompetent.. if they are not able to solve a problem on hand.. they strive for excellence - as baba Ranchoddas would say :)

A combination of the above mentioned factors or in some cases overdose of a single factor.. creates a mindset for the burning desire for making oneself "indispensable" in the organization.

Same was the case with me when i had joined Schlumberger, i used to work like hell.. even on weekends.. :(
I had a strange mentality at that point of time, i used to think,... "Yeh thoda sa baaki hai.. chalo kar lete hai - finish karte hai - kaam khatam karte hai"

This continued for quite some time.. & there are side effects also... personal life, social life.. & fitness.. all tend to get secondary attention..
I remember a quote of one of my mentors - he used to say..

"Age of 18-30, is a fountain of energy & one is always oozing with the same.. In this period, one's body can handle all kinds of stresses & lack of attention.. it wont complain.. but once you cross 30.. the same body tends to play a foul game & starts interfering with your normal life"

How true is that.. i have seen real life examples.. after age of 30, most of professionals end up with blood pressure, diabetes or cholesterol problems. Its all the result of crimes which one preforms on the body during the golden period - age of 18 to 30.

Remember one thing... "Khud khatam ho jaaoge.. kaam khatam nahi hoga" - "One's own self will get finsihed.. but work will never be finished"

There are some cases like me,, who on a sunday.. when there is no work.. take up writing a blog as a work... :P
But still take time off to do things which u like.. i like writing blogs... i take time out for the same..

As an experienced candidate from industry.. an advice to all the people joining the corporate world.. please take care of yourself - strike a work-life balance.. at least strive for it..
Take out time from your busy schedule.. now being a manager.. focus on smart work rather than hard work..

Please do drop in with your comments.. your tips & techniques for maintaining Work-life balance... :)

5 comments:

  1. I have one more way, which will keep you off from too much work. Your Partner.
    I suggest you, Vicky, to try this. You will not be able to do same amount of work if you really care about your partner. Your life will again come on track and you won't find any Sunday where you need to find some work and end up writing a blog unless, she is not around ;)

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  2. Well said.. I am not experienced in that field.. & i do understand u had time & today to read my blog & comment on it on a sunday.. may she is not around (your partner).. :)

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  3. Cool post there Vicky.. and equally enriching comment by Sanket.. well as I am a fresher, i don't have experience yet with the Corporate and with partners :p

    Keep showing us the light Vicky.. we all look upto u !

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  4. Well its true, with very less work pressure these days m getting enuf opportunities to do wat i want - playing tennis regularly. But m sure once the pressure wud rise, it may b lost in oblivion... though i would luv to strike the other balances also (as mentioned by Sanket). But sometimes inability to say no also causes one to surrender to the ever increasing work pressure, which hs to be prevented. "Niceness is a rubberband that can be stretched forever..." so dont be tht nice ;) At least we cn check ourselves every now n then to strike a decent balance... :)

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  5. scary one, vicky!!!
    work-life balance, one of the most heard term during NITIE tenure and good point followed by sanket. Being fresher in corporate I observed, mostly its upto an individual whether he/she wants to get engage in things or nt. If u r showing tremendous enthu,they vl keep loading u.. So wat i think is don't show ur excellence every time n use it at inflexion points- which can create difference for u.. BTW nice one, in fact xcellent GD topic.. Any kaizen member, take notes :)

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