Please take a nap instead of a caffeine or sugar
All of us go through a mid afternoon period of dullness and often try to stay awake by drinking caffeinated drinks like coffee. There are many published reports/articles on the benefits of afternoon naps. Naps are much better for the body giving us energy and clarity to stay focused for afternoon work.
In many cultures, taking naps in the afternoon is customary and considered healthy. Virtually all businesses shut down during the rest period. Unfortunately the modern day working mentality says we should go go go and those who feel dull are wimps.
Many years ago I read an article documenting NASA sponsored research on pilots who take a nap on long flights. They found that those pilots who took a nap had better reflexes during landings. Similarly another article found that many senior executives now have couches in their offices for napping. Those who nap are much more effective and productive for the rest of the day. They are able to make much better decisions as a result.
I have always lived close to work and for the past few years, I worked from home. Having the freedom to take a nap or just lying down to rest and closing my eyes helped to get things done in the afternoon. Some of the tech companies allow their employees to take naps. Companies should consider providing some space for you to rejuvenate and they will get better results and more alert workers.
You may be one of those who likes to take a nap but don’t do it because you feel groggy after the nap. This could be due to napping too long. Ideally the nap should be between 20 to 45 minutes. You can read more about the nap cycle in this Boston Globe article: How To Nap
Enjoy your nap and become more productive. Time for my nap…..zzzz…..
Life After 40s in IT
My father introduced me to the writings of Subroto Bagchi, one of the founders of Mindtree Ltd – a Indian IT Consultancy company. Though I don’t remember the original article which was forwarded to me, I spent some time reading other articles by Subroto. His writings are now archived at http://www.mindtree.com/knowledgecenter/subroto_speaks.html.
One of the articles that is hidden in the archives is a presentation titled “Life After 40s in IT”. Though the presentation is not transcribed, the slides are sufficient to give an idea of the talk. During a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed this topic and some of the points raised reminded me again of this presentation. As a follow up to the conversation, I decided to write this blurb and include a link to the presentation.
Sanjay – here is the link to the presentation – http://www.mindtree.com/downloads/life-after-40.pdf. Let me know if you agree with the points in the slides.
Mindfulness Video
I came across this video at GoogleTalks – a site where talks from different walks of life are video taped at the Google campus. I find there are very interesting and diverse topics available from GoogleTalks series.
One of the topics that is very dear to my heart is “meditation” and improving work life balance. Recently a friend at Intel had forwarded some information about a talk on “Conscious Living” – how to manage work and daily life stress through mindfulness. I had always felt that there should a healthy and open discussion about such topics at work place. Especially those environments where hard work means putting in 60-80 hrs/week. A lot of Fortune 100 companies talk highly of work life balance on their websites but I don’t know how much information is provided to employees on how to achieve more by taking care of themselves. I am glad that such topics are being discussed and speakers are being invited to give talks at companies. I hope such that such talks are not limited to “new age” companies or tech industry in Silicon Valley.
Even if you are a long time meditator following a particular type/style/brand of meditation, the message is still relevant – functioning from a settled state of mind improves effectivity and therefore achieve better results.
Note: The video is about 70 minutes long
PhilosophersNotes has launched
Recently I posted an entry on “Getting paid for what you enjoy” in which I introduced the website PhilosophersNotes. Well the site has launched and you can sign up for $19.95/yr subscription along with access to 25+ titles in the archive. If you haven’t taken a look, this may be a good time to take a look – http://philosophersnotes.com.
Getting paid for what you enjoy
We all want to do something we love, at our own schedule and get paid for it. Recently a friend of mine introduced me to PhilosopersNotes, a website that provides book summaries for self development in audio and text formats. While there are other companies providing the same service for a different market segment, what I like about this particular site is that the founder is getting paid for his pleasure reading. Whether or not this business sustains to provide financial independence is to be seen. It is a great idea to do something you love and then get paid it. I wonder if I can get paid for thinking and documenting my thoughts and self conversations!
If you are interested in trying out samples, the PhilosophersNotes website offers free samples of 3 books in audio and text format. Give it a try.
Morning memories
It is spring time in Iowa and all the vegetation is coming back to life. Watching nature do its work and noticing the subtle changes on a daily basis is such a joy that I wonder why we don’t take sufficient time to smell the roses and observe all the beauty around us.
Along the same lines, I was reminiscing about all the beautiful mornings and sun rises that I have seen. I have also seen many beautiful full moon nights. In general, I think that early mornings leave a much lasting impression and memories than late nights. Is there a reason why we remember one type of experience? Is it because of the senses involved in the experience or is it because we are following natural patterns of rising? What do you remember – the early morning experiences or late night experiences?
Story of Stuff
Have you ever wondered what really happens along the supply chain? Do you think about the cost of things? What happens to the product after purchase and money is spent?
Watch this 20 min presentation and hopefully it will make you think about people in the supply chain.
Many years ago, a co-worker told me his rule for purchasing anything – evaluate ‘need’ vs. ‘want’. If you need the item, then buy it else it can wait. Following a simple rule like this prevents me from the impulse to just go and buy the next hot item. Your mileage may vary!
Information Overload
Recently there was a blog entry on Wall Street Journal blogs (http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/03/13/its-official-theres-too-much-information) on size of data that is being stored on various storage devices. Going forward this amount is going to increase exponentially. Is there really that much more information or is the same information being duplicated endlessly without paying attention. Many of us don’t pay attention on how we are adding to the problem. We tend to keep multiple copies as device failure is inevitable. We are also guilty of storing more information because the monetary cost associated with it seems very low (at least if we are not paying for it).
What would you do in the following scenarios?
- Imagine if you had to pay for every email that you sent based on it size just like snail mail, would you think twice about attaching and forwarding jokes?
- What about when you hit the ‘Reply’ button vs. ‘Reply All’ button?
- What about sending those documents to all the recipients – especially in the case of corporate email users?
Would your behavior change if you had to pay (monetarily) for it?
If you are a believer in the lean principles, do less accomplish more principles, how would you go about organizing your data? Of course, the need to preserve electronic documents such as photos or PDF copies of statements is important and will eat up storage. What else are you storing that is really clutter? All this leads to another topic of backup. I will jot those thoughts in a separate post. In the mean time, join me in clearing up our own electronic clutter!
What’s your legacy going to be?
Many years ago I heard someone talk about epitaphs. He said that one should consider what they are doing through their entire life as the epitaph doesn’t give much room for essays but a short description.
Recently I watched a video at TED online. The video is embedded here for you. There is one phrase that I liked in this talk – ‘we should leave a value legacy and not a financial legacy’. The idea of a ‘value’ legacy resonated with me. Everyone’s personal situation is different.
I had seen a book written by Gulzar, a Indian movie director, lyricist, writer, and poet. The book was a collection of poems that he used to present to his daughter. It seems on every birthday he would present her with a poem. Those poems turned into a book. I thought what a nice way to compile a legacy.
I am also very fortunate that my dad and I also exchange frequent emails and letters. Once in a while, we make it a point to write hand written letters to surprise each other. Recently I got into an emotional mode and wrote a letter to my daughter on her 7th birthday. I recalled the joy of her birth and the past few years. The experience was quite enriching for me personally as I was able to jot down my emotions now rather than some future date. I hope I can continue doing that regularly.
The following video is only 5 min.
Synthetic Happiness Anyone?
Can Happiness be stimulated and created at will. According to Dr. Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, it can be created by our frontal lobe. Watch this 22 minute presentation by Dr. Gilbert and then reflect back on your own experiences to see if this is indeed possible.
My personal experience says, yes it can be created at will. As the saying goes, “it is all in the mind”. By enriching our personal lives with such information, we can create a happier environment around by living a more contented life.
What do you think?