"Body/Life Anatomy"

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Good afternoon!

I heard it once as well as read it about the saying, "live your life as if it is always your last day." Without any doubt, it lives up to every word in the sentence if you try. May be it is because I'm having the best days in my work life as I'm serving my notice period at work which is soon going to end in few days. In fact, one of my friends from the cab told me ‘notice period is exactly like a honeymoon period’ but that's metaphor. There is no doubt that I'm leaving my current job but I'm still part of the company and very much part the workforce till the 1st of June. 

Despite the good times but in a hindsight I'm going to be missing every single thing about this company, Aon Hewitt, who have provided me a roof over my head, a family known as team, managers living up to Aon Leadership model, a cubicle with 360 degrees view of the entire floor, friends from different background, the 20 minutes allotted daily for Social network(Facebook and Twitter), unbound space of opportunity for personal growth and career, a decent salary by the end of the month, and the game 'carom' which I enjoyed the most among the several other recreational activities provided. Sometimes, in a serious tone, I used to wonder whether I'm going for work or play!

The AonHewitt Company I'm working with will become one part of my work life. And I will always be proud to say 'I used to work for AonHewitt'. But my work life is just as a limb, a part of me, just like my hand or feet. Same with our life, we don't say my hand useless or my appendix has no purpose. Whatever that is part of us; I thought it always has its own significance and it is always worth it. I want to emphasize our work life which is rather as important as our mind, a major part of our body. In fact, work life is similar as our muscle giving us the strength to keep moving. Once we can make work life a part of our existence like our hand or fingers, there is nothing we can do to complain about our work life is stressful and monotonous. It is ours to make it fun and enjoyable like the way we use our fingers to type and make WhatsApp’s or Line messaging interesting and enjoying. However if we have make our work an outside entity and do not consider a part of our life, we won't be happy even with all riches of the world can offer.

In science term, our body anatomy consist of brain, hand, feet, muscle, etc. But the way our present world, it is ‘work’ which tops among all the other anatomies because it feed the body. Argumentatively, our brain nevertheless constitutes the hierarchy. However, despite our work life unconsciously or consciously constituting an important role in our life but hardly we look at it like the way we look at ourselves in mirror. I don't know for people who don’t appreciate themselves by looking at the mirror. Obviously, work comes with stress and pressure but it is compensated by reward. Stress and pressure are not complex in nature. Rather it is our body reaction on how receptive we are with stress and pressure, and how we deal with it.

My work life is not over; I'm just changing the course of direction. May be, my new work environment will be conducive or I may even take some time to settle in. The fact is that even a Formula 1 driver just doesn't accelerate his car and join the race to win. To compete in the race; he studies the road map, check the engine, check the oil meter, check the tyre, adjust the rear window, etc., before the race start. The process will take some amount of time to sink in but once the race start, the adrenaline thrill kicks in and the racing is already a part of him but in the end, it is his love for driving and skills that will decide the result of the race. We are hardly different from the Formula 1 driver. It is just a matter of perspective of how we look at our work life. Note that the environment is the outside entity because our work life is very much part of our body or life.

Food for thought: “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” William James.

Thank you and enjoy your weekend!

"My 1 Year anniversary at Aon"

I'm here on my workstation with my eyes hooked to the monitor. The other day, some of my colleagues got their appraisal letters and today the atmosphere here is simply great, or is it just the celebratory moods with the impending Holi on Friday? I'm happy for them and also I'm happy for myself as I will be completing 1 year with AonHewitt by the end of the day. Although it is not big milestone but it gives me a great sense of satisfaction. And the fact is that I really enjoy working here and I really love my responsibilities.

Looking at my cubicle, it is kind of funny that I haven't replace the pictures of two Gods(Krishna and Buddha) as well as Swami Vivekananda right in front of me. The pictures have been there for nearly 8 months since I moved here. I don't have anything to do with it nor do I need to be worried. After watching the movie, P.K., I have decided that I will not let religion define me as a person. Maybe P.K. is just a movie but whatever it is said on the movie about religion felts right. Anyway, I'm not preacher so I don't need to go further on this religion thing.

On my left side cubicle, I put up a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, i.e., "If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run, then walk, if you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." I read the quote every day as soon as I sat on my chair, and it may be because the words are in bold letters and kind of large...  There is also another quote right below the pictures of the two Gods, and it is, "The time is always right to do what is right." The good things about quotes are immensely inspiring. It is kind of like echoes in your head that can keep you going. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders in United States during the Civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was an inspiring leader for all the Black Americans during the movement. And he is my inspiration since the day I saw the "I have a dream...." speech on YouTube. I'd recommend everyone to watch the speech.

When I first joined Aon, I was kind of anxious whether I am going to have a smooth transition or not. Everything was new even though I had two years of work experience. I believe school and office are similar in many ways. It is because either you get along with the new people you meet or you stay alone. The first month was kind of tough for me because most of my colleagues were tenured staff and they were all busy with their own work. Anyway, I started gelling up with the guys. And especially after we had our lunch, we always sat together in a particular spot as if it belongs to us...  It is from here where I get to know about office rumors of this and that or who is going to be promoted. It is kind of fun although the rumors may be fact or baseless. The irony about rumors is that 50-60 percent of the time it comes out to be true. I'm not sure if everyone would agree on this but I have noticed this trend here in my workplace.

The thing about corporate culture is that most of the time, you are not real you. In certain circumstances, you may hold yourself back because certain elements can bring you down. Trust me, I'm not simply writing this. It has made me realize that there is a situation known as "right time at the right place" where you can be yourself completely. I have always believed that 'listen first' and then 'speak' is sensible. On Wednesday, we had a meeting where my manager was speaking about some of his feedback he got from the team. As I'm not allowed to share details on the internal meeting, I won't divulge it all. But there was one particular situation which I felt it is right for me to share and write it here.

One of my colleague shared a feedback to our manager like this, if a female staff comes up to your desk for leave request, you just approve it after listening her reasons. And when we (male) come up to you for leave, you asked us "why do you need the leave?" At that moment, I felt it is kind of lame to share the feedback with the whole team present. Of course, it was a gutsy feedback but it was not raised at the right time or the right place. Therefore, I had to counter my colleague in front of all the team and said this, "what our manager did was a gentlemen approach" and "the reality is that most of the female staff explained the reason first before requesting a leave whereas we usually start with an arrogant approach". We just asked straight, "I need a leave for tomorrow, please approve". Obviously, the manager will have to ask us "why do you need the leave?”

I pretty sure not all the male office-goers would request a leave like it is mentioned above. And I thought there are many things that we can do it in a humble way with the right approach and attitude, and also at the right time and right place. I hope my colleague have understood the points I've addressed in the meeting. 

 Thank you for reading my blog.

N.B. Actually I completed this blog at my office at around 12:30 PM but I forgot to post it on time. Sorry about this....  and Happy Holi to all.