i just came home from the day's errands, and rather than sitting in front of the television to lie on the lazyboy till dinner time (the usual schedule after i get home from school or anything else), i decided to break my routine. i put on my tracksuit and am leisurely waiting for the sun to set, typing in this entry whilst listening to music blasting from my cd player. when the sun sets, im going to go jogging. and after, im going to inventory my old magazines and attempt to sell them since i am flat broke.
just the thought of me being able to check all of these things on my to-do list today gives me thrills. being one who used to thrive on plans, i wonder why it took me so long to do this? i have only one excuse, and its admittedly a crappy one: law school. its been a perennial excuse for everything, and quite frankly, i dont want to make excuses for law school anymore.
why shouldn't i be able to do the things i want to just because im in law school? ive always been able to balance everything before, and tough as it is, law school should be no different. it's unfortunate that the first sting of law school will send any sane freshman off into the hills, never to return until the semestral break (and even then his joy is on hold because of pending finals exam releases), but what is more unfortunate is that after that, we continue to make excuses for law school as if nothing is ever more important. we stop living life as it should be lived, and feel guilty about it when we attempt to. i cannot even count the number of friend's birthdays, anniversaries and other siginificant milestones in loved one's lives that i passed up because i was too afraid that i wasn't going to finish the coverage assigned for the next day. and i stayed home and sulked and i ended up unproductive all the same - my mind being preoccupied imagining what would have happened had i gone to the party or out with that guy. and anyone reading this can tell me that sacrifices such as those aren't even close to being worth it.
and so i resolve to attempt to live as normally as possible now. to go to the gym as regularly as i can. to go swimming once a week. to learn how to play golf and tennis (which i will learn tomorrow with zara! yehey!) to take other classes apart from law. to be able to multi-task. what good is it that im a quick study if i will waste it all doing nothing else but?
here are some of the things i desire to do in the upcoming months:
gym
tennis
golf
swimming
jazz dance
get out my camera and take new pictures
get out my brushes and canvasses and paint
write new things
learn how to write a proper legal article
see my friends at least once a month (when funds allow)
take serious steps in putting up my dream business
get other people to help me with the charity project
hmm. theyre very much the same as the ones i wrote last new year's eve but this time i mean them. promise!
and to think that a good part of this new-found spurt of motivation came from this article a friend sent. maybe it will trigger the inner planner in you too!
------------------------------------------------
Why we should go home on time
Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from
Karnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in
India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary
visits Infosys campus. He delivered an interesting speech during an
employee session with another IT company in India . He is
incidentally, one of the top 50 Influencial people of Asia according to an Asiaweek
publication and also the new IT Advisor to the Thailand Prime
Minister.
Extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy's Speech during Mentor Session :
I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some people
do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary.
Other people I know have put in these hours for years. I don't know if
they are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office
this long. Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to
the workplace.
Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over
the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization. There
are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit.
Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for
potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours
frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others. I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday. Another problem is that
people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They
often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they
are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such
behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better when people work
together instead of avoiding one another.
As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the
office. First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work
with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words
quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails
with a time-stamp of 2 AM, Sunday.
Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives. For
instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:
1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play
with your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.
This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2.
Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They
are hard for some of us because that requires 'personal change'. They
are possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.
In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my oldest son.When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment, he would not fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left.It was as if he was afraid that he would miss something. Once our visitors'
left, he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired
and would scream through half the night with nightmares. He, my wife,
and I, all paid the price for his fear of missing out. Perhaps some
people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss anything
when they leave the office. The trouble with this is that events will
never stop happening. That is life !! Things happen 24 hours a day.
Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap.
Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy
to catch up when you wake.
Hence...
"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOU
NEVER KNOW WHEN THE COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU" -- Narayana Murthy
No comments:
Post a Comment