Switch Off Switch On!
Hindi film music has always been way ahead of its time. Consider this. There’s a song in a film from 1975 called Uljhan, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and picturized on another singer - Sulakshana Pandit. The opening lines of that song could well have been about our lives in these challenging times. “Subah aur Shaam, kaam hi kaam!” Sounds like the story of your life, no?
Working from home these past few months has meant that the line between office time and home time is getting blurred. Talk to anyone and you will hear the same rant. People are busy, busy, busy. I was with a CEO on a panel discussion recently – and he talked about how he now has 16-hour work days. What’s this doing to us and to our lives? Whatever happened to work-life balance?
There are several people who are always switched on. They are intense, always thinking about work. And growth. And profit. And they expect everyone in their team to do that too. Their mantra is this: Eat work, sleep work, dream work. Some even wear it as a badge of honour. But if you are like me, you might be thinking – is this a good thing or a bad thing? Are leaders doing themselves and their teams a good deed by keeping them in the ‘always on’ mode?
As I was thinking about it, I happened to hear Rahul Dravid speaking to WV Raman. WV is Rahul’s former India colleague and currently the Coach of the India Women’s team. For most fans and followers of the game, our mental image of Rahul is of a serious, thinking cricketer. A student of the game who was unwaveringly focused, forever analyzing. Someone who never partied or let his hair down. In short, intense. And always on. On his podcast “Inside Out”, WV asked Rahul if there was a risk of overdoing the intensity and focus bit. And Rahul’s response was revealing.
He talked of how a stint in county cricket with Kent in 2001 changed his life. As a young cricketer, he was intense. Brooding. Should I have played that shot? Is my elbow pointing straight? At Kent he found himself with a team of young cricketers, different from himself. After a hard day’s game, they would go grab a drink at a pub, laugh, and switch off from the cricket. Something Rahul had never, never done before. He discovered how important it is to learn to switch off. And switch on. He figured that being switched on all the time was sapping his energy. And that sometimes meant that when he really needed to focus and concentrate, he didn’t have the energy.
That stint with Kent in 2001 taught a young, thinking cricketer the virtue of switching off. And then, magic happened. The next six-seven years were amongst his most productive years. A good cricketer transformed into a great one. Thanks in some measure, to learning to switch off and switch on.
Maybe we all need to learn from Dravid. Being switched on all the time can be detrimental to our well-being. Those non-stop Zoom calls and Teams meetings can actually drain us. And impact our ability to think hard – when we need it.
Looking to unleash your full potential? Be a Dravid. Switch off.
