Valuing surplus time
We value money over time. As Seneca rightly said – “People are frugal in guarding their personal property, but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
The decision to spend time is driven by the need to appear busy and be more useful. What if we start giving away our time from the lens of meaningfulness rather than usefulness?
Vision and purpose as binding forces
In 1900’s Charles Page Perin, a conservative engineer and one of the pioneers of TISCO (Tata Steel), and Burjorji Padshah, a mathematician with an eccentric personality, had to work together to implement ‘The Great Expansion Programme’ the ambitious project envisioned by Sir Jamsetji Tata. Despite all the initial strains, what got them to work together and make the project successful was a common purpose. Common vision and purpose can be huge binding forces that bring the most different of people together. (From ‘The Romance of Tata Steel’ by R.M. Lala)
Expecting to win
A few years ago, I saw my colleagues in the sales team doing cold calls and emails. One difference between those who did well and those who didn’t was how they set their expectations. The effort, involvement, and subsequent satisfaction in doing something changes significantly with the expectation of how the outcome will be. If we expect that there is a likelihood of winning, we take a different approach as compared to our approach when we are pessimistic about our chances.