This pretty much is the story of my life's past 6 months...and a lesson well learned!
It started with me feeling a little too anxious to deliver an even better performance (yess! it's been pretty good otherwise too!) and surpassing all my prior benchmarks as far as my career was concerned. And today, as i ponder, i realise that this was nurtured by the underlying dissatisfaction/vacuum within me that led me to believe that more number of working hours, too many e-mails, ultra-fast responses at any hour of the day could get me that "Performance Level" that i was targetting.
With this began the mindless chase of deadlines which were always "So near, yet so far", putting professional life before personal priorities, hoping the Gods to rip open the skies to praise me for every little deed (some as foolish and self-destructive as skipping my meals to attain a higher throughput) and so many other not so worthy things (that i am still a little ashamed to accept [:)] having done). Oh yes, let me confess it...i did it for a good 6 months.
Results??? Well, the dissatisfaction that i had talked about earlier grew manifolds leaving me feel miserable :(
And then, i just happened to stumble upon "First Things First" - a book by Stephen Covey of the "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" fame. All thanks to some old, good habits, one amongst which is reading! No, no...this post is not meant to be a review of the book, in case you though so 'cos i have just finished some 50 odd pages as of now!
As i began yet another journey of introspection (yup! it's my all time favourite stuff..), suddenly i could see light at the end of the tunnel. N here's how! The first few pages taught me (or shall i say "reminded" me) of the wisdome that Life is meant to be lived and not analysed..And while I live it, all that I need to do is to keep an eye on the direction of the tides of life's tumultous waters and not on the time i spend treading those.. In simple words, it is the compass that matters and not the clock!
With a little understanding and probing, i have managed to decipher the code of happiness and it lies in doing things that matter...And mind you, only those that MATTER!
I figured that finishing 15 out of 20 of the "to-do tasks" did not give me the kind of pleasure that was derived by accomplishing just one or two of those which meant more to me!
N with that, i am a happy soul! Much happier and more satisfied...grateful to have luxuries of life to cherish :)
Spardha, this post is all too true especially with young professionals. I love my work but I agree that sometimes you have to differentiate between personal satisfaction and the satisfaction on gets after completing something uber efficiently.
ReplyDeleteIf you enjoy reading then I think it’s hands down the best sojourn out of our realities into the unknown world of the book. Believe me it feels amazing to have lived through the characters in a book for the few hours; you travel with them through the pages and their lives. I want to read your other posts so perhaps I’ll come back to this one again in a bit.
PS: I love my To-Do List, it's ever increasing!
I completely agree with the fact that reading literally transports your being into a world so different, so full of fantasy! N sometimes, it leaves a lasting impression, like nothing else...
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for sparing time n such encouraging words.. :)