I was a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ at the recent IIMPACT 2014 event in Singapore that featured distinguished speakers from different parts of the world. One of the sessions that I found particularly interesting and stimulating was titled “The Meaning of Work: From the Internet to The Inner-net”, which is very pertinent today in the age of work-place stress and stress-related ailments and abysmal ‘employee engagement’ statistics (it seems the global average for employee engagement is less than 15%!).

Excellently led by Gopi Kallayil, Chief Evangelist at Google for Brand Marketing who delivered the keynote address in this session, various speakers shared mantras and lessons from their own experiences in finding fulfilment in their professional and personal lives. I recount the key takeaways from this session.

Focus on the truly essential

Ask yourself what is really important and needs to get done. As we all can identify with, to-do lists often tend to get longer, the line separating what is important and what is nice to do gets blurred, eventually clouding the mind and causing overwhelm. Gopi recommends not having more than 5 items on this “essentials” list at any given time, ideally fewer. What are your essentials?

Do one thing at any time

In an age when the ability to multi-task is touted to be not only a great asset but an indispensable necessity, this mantra might seem rather counter-intuitive. However, according to Gopi, simultaneous multi-tasking is “the curse of continuous partial attention” that we must make a conscious effort to not fall prey to. So, stop typing out an e-mail while grabbing a quick bite of the sandwich in between reacting to the Skype chat window that keeps popping up…

Experience the “Power of the Pause”

The pause is the most powerful transformational tool on the planet, said Nithya Shanti, a respected spiritual teacher with a management background. His mantra for happiness and fulfilment is to take short pauses, experience the magic of silence and regularly practice gratitude. Gopi Kallayil also dwelt on the transformational power of slowing down periodically, reflecting and “connecting to the inner-net”. This process of ‘pause, reflect and connect’ is effective with as little as one minute at a time. Now, that really isn’t asking for too much, is it? (As an aside, I reckon there is potential for the title “The One Minute Yogi”!)

Sharpen the saw

Just as Stephen Covey wrote in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, ‘sharpening the saw’ or getting better at what we do is essential for ‘renewal’. Continue to work on honing some skill; the more you practice, the better you become at it. The key message is that achieving mastery over any skill is one way to enjoy the sense of achievement.

Find a bigger meaning and purpose

Look for the bigger purpose in what you do, be it in your job or elsewhere. Identifying with such a purpose invariably gives greater meaning to our actions/work, contributes to the intrinsic motivation necessary to succeed at it, and provides a much deeper sense of fulfilment upon its accomplishment. Author Daniel Pink has also written about “Purpose” as one of the key factors driving intrinsic motivation in his book “Drive”. So, the next time you sense your enthusiasm at work waning, question the impact of the work you do beyond the narrow boundaries of your job spec. Chances are you will feel recharged and energised.

Keep the spark alive

Arvind Sankaran, a top-banker based out of Singapore, has made a success out of his passion with Bandwidth, a rock-band he started together with his college mates. He recounted some of the challenges that the group had to undergo to keep their passion alive, while balancing their extremely busy banking jobs. If you have any special talent or passion- be it theatre, writing, poetry, a sport, etc.- don’t let that spark die. As someone who has nearly lost the flair for writing satire that I once seemed to possess, I can certainly vouch for that old adage, ‘you lose what you don’t use’.

Make time for pursuits dear to you

The lack of time is the most common excuse for not pursuing diverse interests. The only way to overcome this obstacle is to commit to carving out time- maybe on a daily or weekly basis- for such interests and making that chunk of time non-negotiable. What is your one non-negotiable appointment outside of work?

Ask who do I want to be

The question that often drives us or we ask ourselves during times of introspection is ‘what do I want to do?’. Rajan Raju, a banker who overcame a near-death experience after he became paralyzed from the neck & below following a bus accident on a business trip, suggests reframing this question. By asking “who do I want to be?” every now and then, one can detach oneself from the trappings of one’s profession/business and instead focus on becoming the person one truly wants to be.

I think it is a question that humanizes us.

Nurture and nourish relationships

Ultimately, it is people and relationships truly enrich our lives. Looking for meaning and fulfilment without these is a futile exercise. Whether at work or in personal lives, work to build deeper relationships and connections with the people around you.

(Images courtesy: The images used in this post have been sourced from multiple websites including sites like Shutterstock and iStockphoto. I duly acknowledge and express my thankfulness to the original sources).

Posted by:- Manoj Aravindakshan