<div>Once a month, Ajit Balakrishnan, the 64-year-old CEO of Rediff.com, boards the 16-hour Mumbai-New York direct flight. In the flight, he tries to get as much work done as possible, leaving only a few hours for a snooze before disembarking at Newark airport. From the airport, he is driven straight to his hotel, has a shower and is out again for back-to-back meetings with shareholders (Rediff is listed on the Nasdaq) and others. He finishes late in the evening and next morning, is at office again. After completing another series of meetings, he is ready to board the 5.25 pm Air India flight, landing the next day at 5.30 in the evening in Mumbai, where it’s business as usual. <br /> </div><div>Spending the better part of 48 hours in an aircraft criss-crossing time zones is simply part of the job for this CEO who is accustomed to working 12 to 14 hour days for the past few decades. <br /> </div><div>But then, 12 to 14 hours, seven days a week, 350 days or more a year work schedules are becoming increasingly common for most CEOs, investment bankers, senior consultants, corporate lawyers and even politicians in today’s globalised world. Indeed, there are quite a few who believe</div><table width="200" border="0" align="right" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"><tbody><tr><td><img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=b8d74cc6-2f29-4ae6-a476-eb7758ee2ad0&groupId=222922&t=1361619560440" width="200" height="200" vspace="4" hspace="4" alt="" /></td></tr><tr><td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>HALE & HEARTY: Naresh Trehan does yoga</strong></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>that it is the ability to put in long hours at work, day after day, that often determines who becomes a CEO and who stays a middle manager. Talent and brains are useful — but it is the mental toughness and the physical endurance to go on for days with little sleep or rest that makes a difference.<br /> </div><div>Like Balakrishnan, 66-year-old superstar cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan, chairman and managing director of Medanta, also follows a schedule that could kill lesser mortals. He is in the hospital from 9 am to 9 pm, examining hundreds of patients and performing surgeries. He has been going on at the same pace for the last four decades and seems to have no plans to slow down.<br /> </div><div>In politics, you could take inspiration from a 73-year-old Subramanian Swamy or an 85-year-old L.K. Advani; in films, from a 70-year-old Amit­abh Bachhan; and, in the cut-throat world of mergers and acquisitions, from Zia Mody — who all put in back-breaking hours. <br /> </div><div>How do they manage to do it when others burn out? Are they born that way or is it exercise and diet? As it turns out, it is both. Some people are born with stamina and, despite a poor lifestyle, can still put their peers to shame with their work hours. But many others can build themselves up to deal with these rigours with some bit of training.<br /> </div><div>Trehan puts his stami­na down to training and discipline. “During my seven-year residency in New York, I never slept for more than four hours. We were trained like commandos.” While the first couple of years were difficult, the body and mind soon adjusted. “You learnt to be alert even if you had hardly slept.”<br /> </div><div><strong>Yoga And Meditation</strong></div><div>That training has stood him in good stead. Today, he sleeps for six hours daily and while he recommends power naps to most of his patients, he himself is unable to find time. But Trehan does believe in a work-life balance and manages to socialise 2-3 times a week. “Meeting different people and having interesting conversations keeps you stimulated.” Regular exercise and yoga also play an important role in ensuring his fitness — both physical and mental. In the mornings, he alternates between hitting the treadmill and doing yoga while he utilises the driving time between the hospital and home to do Vipasana. “It is the best utilisation of time. I feel totally rejuvenated by the time I reach home.”<br /> </div><div>Asha Gupta, the 40-year-old managing director of Tuppwerware, believes in pacing herself to go through her packed schedule. From conference calls to the US at 6.30 am, to meetings with executives late in the evening, her day is full. “I pulse through the day. I reach a point of high activity, then slow down for a short while and then rise again.” She practises meditation. “I only manage 15 minutes in the morning and evening, but it works.” Gupta also works out regularly in the gym and likes to go for long walks.<br /> </div><div>Swamy, leader of the Janata Party, practises Pranayama or breathing exercises for an hour every morning.<br /> </div><div>Pranayama helps incr­e­ase the intake of ox­y­gen into the body, which leads to higher concentration, stress reduction, makes you more energetic and increases stamina, explains Payal Gidwani, a yoga and fitness expert who has trained Kareena Kapoor.</div><table width="300" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4"><tbody><tr><td><img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=8c1c16ec-70c9-4720-b2f7-0c4929d80b8a&groupId=222922&t=1361619654939" width="415" height="401" vspace="4" hspace="4" alt="" /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><strong style="line-height: 1.4;"><br />Rising Early </strong></div><div>Balakrishnan, who claims to come from a line of ‘sturdy peasant stock’, has benefitted from his early life experiences. As a young student, he used to play football for Kerala University. He got into the habit of waking up at 4 am to practise and he hasn’t been able to sleep later than that since. <br /> </div><div>“I’m at my creative best between 4 and 7 in the morning,” says Balakrishnan whose book The Wave Rider was published recently. Most of his reading and a large part of his writing is done during that period. <br /> </div><div>Physical exercise in his youth has also ensured that he is fitter than most. “I used to run 11 km a day till my mid-40s. Then I was advised against it as it could affect my knees.” Now he goes for an hour-long brisk walk three times a week and does yoga on other days.<br /> </div><div>Swamy too wakes up at 4 am. “I chant mantras that have been given to me by different acharyas. These help my mind think beyond boundaries,” says Swamy who spends the next hour replying to mails and reading and posting on Twitter. Then it’s time for his walk.</div><div> </div><div><strong>You Are What You Eat</strong></div><div>“To feel energetic the whole day, the right diet is essential,” says Gupta, who believes in eating light meals of small portions 4-5 times a day. She also eats a lot of fruits and vegetables and is disciplined about sugar intake. “Too much sugar and fat affects agility,” she says. <br /> </div><div>Shikha Sharma, Delhi-based nut­r­i­t­i­onist and wellness consultant, approves of Gupta’s diet. “Heavy meals leave you feeling sluggish as all the ener­gy goes into digesting the food.” <br /> </div><div><strong>Every Minute Counts</strong></div><div>Another distinguishing factor is time management. Swamy, for instance, has divided the day into three 8-hour shifts. From 4 in the morning to noon is the first shift. Then, he has lunch and sleeps for an hour. From 1.30 to 9.30 pm is the second shift and then he goes to bed. “I get two 8-hour working days in a day as compared to one that most people do.”<br /> </div><div>Balakrishnan spends al­m­ost an hour commu­ting from his home in Mumbai’s Colaba to the Rediff office in Mahim West, reading on his iPad or working on his laptop. That’s two hours of commute daily that is well utilised. “It’s my secret weapon,” he says. <br /> </div><div>Passion for your job is essential for endurance. Says Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, partner at Stanton Chase International, an executive hiring firm: “High energy and passion is now a job requirement. You need to be physically and mentally agile as, thanks to improvements in technology, you never really shut off.”<br /> </div><table width="400" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"><tbody><tr><td><div><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong>10 Tips To A Hacker- proof Password</strong></span></div><ul><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Don’t use any personally identifying information</span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Stay away from actual words, even in a foreign language </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Make your pass- word long and complex — between 8-20 characters </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Use both upper- and lower-case letters </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Use one or more special characters such as #, *, $ </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Place numbers and punctuation marks randomly </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Don’t share your password with anyone else </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Don’t use sample passwords given on websites </span></strong></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">Change your password regularly, every six months or so Type your pass word quickly to prevent anyone from looking</span></strong></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 11-03-2013)</span><br type="_moz" /> </div>
