Thirteenth Monday: “Life is too short to be an abbreviation.”

I’ve worked in places where the only right way to work was to be busy. Or at least look busy. Sometimes I wanted to take some time outside the office to think or plan but after realizing I was getting the evil eye, I buried the idea.

I hated the meetings where diary pages were turned dramatically. Every single meeting rolled out to the table. Sighs huffed too loudly. The joy had left the building many moons ago and I felt there was something so fundamentally wrong about the idea of looking busy but never accomplishing enough.

That’s the illusion of monthly salary and fixed hours.

I argue that even the 9 to 5 jobs could get a good old face-lift if only employers would trust employees more. Trust them in ways that aren’t very popular yet.

Leave titles home. Who cares if you’re the CEO or OSP or TYD or ENL? Goals are hardly achieved with the help of abbreviations. Be a mentor. Be the leader who gives credit, doesn’t debit.

Pay for the work done and not for the hours spent at the office. Mobiles are meant to be mobile. And I don’t believe the core idea of an email is to float from the 4th floor to the 2nd. In case you didn’t know.

Don’t reward with more work, reward with something that attracts the employees. That makes them more committed. More satisfied. More relaxed and happy.

Because life is too short to be an abbreviation. To send in-house emails. To be too busy to enjoy the career you’ve always dreamed of.

Seriously.

Breakfast: An Orange, Dish of 4-corn porridge, two (Moomin) cups of coffee and a self-baked oat cookie