Seven-Day Weekend

I along with my friends Hala and Raja will be facilitating a workshop on “Creating a desired future” on 2^nd to 4^th May. So I will be working on a weekend (a long weekend actually, May 1^st is a holiday). But then I might go for movie on Wednesday like the last one I saw (Taare Zameen Par) along with my wife and son on a Wednesday morning.

Ever since I started independent consulting business the difference between weekday and weekend has grown increasingly blurry. My official workplace is my bedroom. Sometimes I practice flute in the morning and go to gym at 4:30pm. Sometimes I cook a few lunch items (like chapatti or rice or daal) and whenever I get a chance enjoy my post-lunch siesta. And there are times when I am doing something (like writing this blog) on a Saturday at 10:30pm. And if you feel this guy looks like a jobless joker who has given up in life, look at how Catalign , my business is doing.

I guess this is what Ricardo Semler calls Seven-Day Weekend in his book with the same title. In this book, Ricardo compares the metaphor of a weekend – which is supposed to be fun time, to that of weekday – which is supposed to be work time. Then he asks, “Why is it that the opposite of work is leisure, while in fact it is idleness?”

Why I like Ricardo is not because he raises this kind of questions. You and I can do the same and perhaps do it over umpteen tea, coffee or beer sessions. But then Ricardo actually “walks the talk”. He gives numerous examples in his own life and that of Semco, the company he has run successfully for past few decades that it is actually possible to do it. Ricardo advocates that it is as important & fulfilling to learn to go to movies on a Monday afternoon as you learn to answer emails on Sunday evenings.

When I read Ricardo Semler’s Seven-Day Weekend in 2005, I would have hardly believed if someone had predicted that I would actually experience this kind of life in a few years. Looking back now, I definitely feel that the book influenced me in creating a “desired future” over the next few years. If this idea of “creating your own desired future” tickles you, then join us at Pipal Tree on 2^nd May. We still have a couple of seats.