Work and Happiness

I have started to observe a trend lately. It could be because I am always looking for something to write about in this blog, but I do believe that the trend is much more than just some weird coincidence. It is to do with the subject of happiness and work.

In more prosperous times, when work (and income) was more secure, people just patiently put up with the drudgery of work. However, nowadays work tends to be very demanding and stressful. People are forced to do more with less, and due to the global nature of our work, the email Inbox almost always has more than what we can possibly handle. Employees are struggling to keep up and almost never happy about the quantity of work that they have to handle.

For a while large corporations used overload and pressure as a necessary price to be paid for being gainfully employed. But lately, as the economy is starting to turn around, a lot of the employees have little patience for such relentless drudgery. They are seeking ways to rebel against these corporations and leaving the workplace in droves. And now, suddenly there are a lot of books about work and happiness in the marketplace. Increasing happiness amongst employees, something that was unthinkable just a few years back, has become a strategy for management to retail talent. There are two books on this topic that I would strongly recommend. The first one is about the technique and strategy for an individual to develop to attain happiness and the second one is for the large company to retain its employees in the workforce.

Happiness at Work by Srikumar S. Rao



In this book the author talks about some very basic shift in ones thinking to gain happiness at work.

• Do not "label" anything as inherently "good" or "bad" but accept it as is.
• Focus on the process and not the outcome.
• Attach yourself to a larger purpose and do not be obsessed with power, money or other "me-centered" metrics of success.
• Take a detached view on your own life, and do not get emotionally entwined with what is happening to you.

Much of the thinking comes from the Indian philosophy (Bhagavad Gita) and it is worth incorporating some of it for our 21st century living. You can also learn more about his TED talk and other interviews in his website : Are you Ready to Succeed?

The other interesting book is titled "Delivering Happinnes"



This book talks about a company that tries to increase happiness amongst its employees as a way to retain and develop talent. Tony Hseigh also (like Srikumar Rao) mentions that it is important to think and attach oneself to something that is bigger than self or the company to derive happiness.

The three core areas of focus for his company named Zappos are: Brand (or customer happiness), Culture (workplace as a place of fun for employees) and Pipeline (career and personal happiness).

I would strongly recommend that you read these two books if you get the chance.

Let Me Watch That Movie Again!

Raghavan, my uncle who lives in Sydney, Australia, has what I would call a strange pastime: watching Tamil and Hindi movies from the past! And these are not movies that were recent blockbuster hits, but movies in black and white that have just one hilarious scene, or a song that he particularly likes.

On Sunday afternoons after lunch, he will go through his library of over 200+ movies and pull out the one that catches his fancy and watch it, all by himself! He does not fast forward to the part that he likes, nor does he rewind a favorite scene to watch it again, but will let the movie run its course as though he were seeing it for the first time.

In this fast-paced world where we are used to flashing images and are bombarded with a smorgasbord of senseless things, there must be some pleasure in slowing it down to go back in time and enjoy things at our own pace.

I have a Netflix membership and love to watch movies at home, but seldom do I entertain the idea of picking out something from the "watch it again" category, which has a list of my five-star movies. If I were to indulge in such an exercise, these are perhaps the top five movies that I will pick out for a "retro movie festival" at home:

1. The English Patient
2. Monsoon Wedding (Hindi)
3. The Bridge on the River Kwai
4. Il Postino (Italian)
5. Pulp Fiction

Now do you think you will like a retro movie week at home? If so, which movies would it be?