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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Work satisfaction

What gives us work satisfaction? Does the contentment come from having accomplished a difficult task or does it come from having done the right thing at the right moment? Or does it come from getting a 'pat on your back' by your boss? Does it stem from a sense of personal achievement or does it stem from an achievement that is recognized by others?

Occupation literally means, something that occupies your mind. Very frequently, work is chosen based on what one knows and not based on one's potential. This can displace the person and while they can excel at what they do, they cannot excel at having a complete life. Work satisfaction is also often confused with motivation. Organizations make grand plans to motivate their work force but providing work satisfaction takes a backseat. Being a people manager would mean understanding what works for each of your people, it would mean understanding the potential of each person and helping them use their potential. In today's fast paced, number crunching world, more than half of the workforce do not even use 50% of their true potential because their profession is based on 'what they know' and not based on 'what they want to do'. Like Vijay Amritraj has said - "I have been incredibly lucky because I have earned money doing what I like best. My one nightmare is doing something I hate just to earn enough to keep my family secure. I hope it never comes to that." It is a shame very few people can claim to be happy doing what they do.

So, take a moment, sit back and contemplate this question - Do you have work satisfaction?

Monday, July 19, 2010

'Inception' of dreams

Christopher Nolan returns to messing with your minds with "Inception" after Memento and The Dark Knight. This movie is a must watch for movie buffs, especially a sci-fi thriller.
The movie's plot revolves around dreams and organizations that hire 'extractors' to bring out thoughts, ideas and secrets from your subconscious mind. The plot thickens when DiCaprio is asked by Ken Watanabe if he can 'plant an idea' in a person's dream as well as he can 'extract' !! Imagine someone stealing your ideas and secrets or planting their thoughts and ideas while you are peacefully resting !! Unbelievable yet cogitable.
The story has strong casting (DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, , brilliant cinematography and perfectly stimulating, spine-tingling storyline. There is no narration and everything seems to be a discovery as the story proceeds and you quite often are left guessing, comprehending or having an aha! moment.
The team pitted against the plot of dream extraction and inception into the minds of Fischer has an expert extractor, an engineer, a forger, an architect, a chemist and a visitor - a perfect team. Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt provide an occasional wit to an otherwise serious movie.
This gripping story has you on the edge of your seat throughout. The science behind the fiction is well moulded into the storyline - how you can dream about an entire month or lifetime in the span of a 2 hour dream or how you never remember the beginning of all dreams but can only remember being in the middle of the dream. How you see projections of people who you have never met in your dreams. How often the dreams are so real you are not sure if you are dreaming or if you are in reality.
A word of caution - the movie may leave you worrying if it is safe for you to close your eyes and dream. Go on, dream on :)

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Source of Energy

This morning, as I was cleaning up in the kitchen after our morning breakfast, Niranjan asked me, "where do you get so much energy from". Now, if you think about this question, there are several ways I could have answered. Nevertheless, my answer to this simple yet poignant question was "I get energy from what I eat" !! I know, I know. I'm rolling my eyes too.

The minute I blurted this out, an imaginary buzzer went off in the frontal lobe of my cerebrum and said, the correct answer is . . . Unfortunately, the context was such that there was no opportunity for the poser of this question to ask me, "are you sure? lock kar diya jaye?". So, now the moment has passed but it gave enough of fodder for the scrupulous part of my brain.

What is the source of our energy? I do not mean the nuclear, thermal, tidal, hydro or wind and neither do I mean the text book answer that I gave Niranjan - "Glucose and carbohydrates are the primary source of human energy". If glucose could weave the magic, there would have been a booming business of manufacturing glucose and you'd see ads for Glucose in the lines of Sachin Tendulkar saying "Glucose is the secret of my energy" and Kapil Dev adding "our energy". If Glucose could do the trick, why is that only few people have scaled the Mt. Everest? How do people accomplish some of the seemingly insurmountable tasks? Definitely, the glucose and carbohydrates were corroborated with someother ingredient.

So, what is the source of my energy? A restful sleep? A morning cuppa chai? The drive to complete all work? I look back at the normal activities on a normal morning and realize, I prepare breakfast, lunch, run a load of laundry, clean the house and after this if I get to see appreciative look from Niranjan, I get energized to do the next round of activities. So, is the source of energy our need to please someone, even if that someone was ourselves, sometimes? Should I have told Niranjan that my source of energy is him? The moment ofcourse has passed but the thought remains.