<div>As soon as she wakes up at the crack of dawn, co-founder of startups Cashkaro and Pouring Pounds, Swati Bhargava, puts in a solid hour of multi-tasking. But it’s not that she’s juggling her email and phone calls while wolfing down her breakfast and talking to her husband. Instead, she heads for the green lawns that surround her house for an involved session of visualisation, meditation and yoga followed by an invigorating walk.<br /><strong><br />Your Kind of Day</strong><br />Swati discovered exercise during one of the busiest times of her life. She had graduated from the London School of Economics and was working with Goldman Sachs and life was a relentless cycle of work and partying. The stress was beginning to tell and Swati found herself having to cope with allergies. Her mother came to the rescue by teaching her yoga and pranayama. Not only did the allergies disappear, but Swati was coping well with her exceedingly busy life. The benefits were so obvious to her that she decided to never stop yoga. Twelve years later, when she began her business, along with husband Rohan Bhargava, she was glad she had never let go of the yoga routine. “My belief in my exercise routine has only grown, since we got into our business,” says Swati, adding, “We’re never really ‘off’ whether it’s a weekend or not and it’s the exercise that really rejuvenates us.” But perhaps the most interesting thing that Swati does is combine the exercise hour with visualisation, imagining her life and day to be what she desires. “This way,” she says, “I get the kind of day I want, not the kind of day that is forced upon me.” Even a few minutes of what she calls “a visualisation zone” helps her day pan out just wonderfully. “Whether it’s yoga or meditation or the treadmill,” says Swati, “the underlying purpose is the same — to bring in positivity into your life.”<br /><br /><strong>Rev Up Productivity </strong><br />Rohan Chandrashekhar, founder of Buzzvalve, has a Twitter timeline as populated with fitness buffs as with startup founders. According to him, there’s never before been such a strong interest in staying fit while being bootstrapped for time. “Working out feeds straight into your productivity,” says Rohan, “I’m new to working out and I can say that there’s a direct impact on my concentration. It feels like a hormonal change towards work.” Rohan puts in an hour and a half to two hours of workout, often multi-tasking by tackling mail and social networking on the treadmill. Rohan finds that being on top of one’s workout translates into being on top of one’s game, pushing up the endorphins level to make it possible to do things that really are rarely connected to each other. He agrees that exercise fuels positivity, pointing out that a startup founder’s journey is often a lonely one involving tough decisions and plenty of stress. Working out is the perfect antidote. <br /><br /><strong>Like minded Energy</strong><br />Enterpreneur and techie, Anand Jain, founder of Wizrocket, Burrp Askme, isn’t as emotionally attached to working out. The increase in working hours that come with entrepreneurship however, persuaded him to stop neglecting his physical health and he tried out the 7-minute workout. “For a while I would tweet about the 7-minute workout everyday and lots of people would ask me about it. But I get bored easily, and gave up on that,” says Anand. What worked for him on a more consistent basis instead was joining a group of like-minded entrepreneur-trekkers, who on weekends go off for 25km hikes, not just to stay fit, but to be outdoors and away. “They don’t take no for an answer,” says Anand, of his group, “They keep you on track and make sure you have no excuses.”<br /><br /><img width="650" height="360" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=88238693-aa62-494c-80a9-ce8735af2b66&groupId=222861&t=1430306552523" alt="" /><br /><br />Energy is just what Mia Dand has for her gym routine, despite a frenzied pace of work and spending time with her little daughter. Heading a social-digital startup in San Francisco, she works long and intense hours. But she describes her workout mix of dance, weight training, and kickboxing as her “Zen place” because it relieves stress and sends her energy levels soaring. She also has a home gym and a personal trainer, to ensure she never misses her workout, no matter how busy she gets.<br /><br /><strong>Balance And Efficiency </strong><br />Rohin Dharmakumar moved into the startup life only recently and abruptly found his time gobbled up by work pressure, especially as he moved closer to the launch of his business. “I’m not in my twenties, and as work became really hectic I realised it was becoming critical to balance work, health, and family life,” he said. He’s always been on the active side, but now finds he has to focus on getting an efficient workout that gives him the most bang for the buck. He zeroed in on strength training which he feels is important as one gets older. Although he works out alone, he compares notes with Twitter friends and fine-tunes his routine. “With some common sense, it’s possible to do a careful workout,” he says. Rohin uses books and apps that tell you exactly how to go about the moves and which programme to follow. Rohin believes working out physically keeps him mentally alert and ready to tackle work. “Had I been unfit, I think I would have become lethargic,” says Rohin.<br /><strong><br />Think In Peace</strong><br />Mumbai-based entrepreneur Kanchan Kumar, Founder of HR software companies <span style="line-height: 15.3999996185303px;">Fluous</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;">and E</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;">mportant, is working on his next project. “As you move closer to the launch, you find you have to do everything yourself. It’s chaotic and doesn’t give you the time to think. It’s like being on a treadmill all the time.” Luckily for Kanchan, he discovered GoQii, the wearable that measures fitness parameters but more importantly, comes with a coach. Immediately hooked, he began to put the coach’s advice into action and began preparing for a 100 km walk. “Going on treks and long walks is almost like meditating,” says Kanchan, “It’s really me-time and you get the time to think in peace.” Kanchan now has a Whatsapp group of others interested in walks and treks. The fallout of this group was meeting new people whom one wouldn’t otherwise. </span></div><div><br />(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 18-05-2015)</div>
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Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
