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.

What’s wrong in “Becoming successful”?

Thanks to Ramprasad for raising such a fundamental question to an earlier post on “Success vs. flowering”. He has given a very apt example, that of Rahul Dravid, in bringing out the point that “becoming” and “being” are not mutually exclusive as the post suggests. Ramprasad feels that it doesn’t matter as long as you are enjoying. And I agree with him.

Many times we get so busy with “becoming” that “joy” part is forgotten. Or at least put on hold for the time being. The reasoning is “Let me get to this point, and then I will really do what I love doing”. “This point” sometimes is about reaching a position like vice president or CEO, sometimes is about accumulating sufficient net worth to be able to continue current standard of living for the rest of the life, at other times it will be linked to being debt free or kids getting married etc. All these are practical considerations and have their own merit. In short, there is nothing wrong with these approaches. But the unfortunate part is, many times “This point” never comes. Or when it comes, either there is no energy left “to enjoy” or “how to enjoy” is completely forgotten.

Ramprasad has summarized some of the sentences from Geet Sethi’s “Success vs Joy” in his blog. To pick one I liked: I have learnt that when I wanted success and was willing to sacrifice joy for it, eventually got neither.