Work and life...and life's work

The year end was a good time to connect with friends from the past. I discovered that Singapore is a nice little vacation spot for people to come down at the end of the year, spend time relaxing, shopping and generally winding down. A few of my friends from school, college and university came across and we connected over drinks and meals. We caught up on the years gone by and I could not help reflecting on how passage of time changes our thinking, our emotions, our actions - even our worries. Just the other day we were worried about clearing exams...or excited about a new girl in our lives. How we agonised about our future - would we get somewhere and be somebody?? Or would life pass us by and we would be left stranded by the wayside as we just hadn't toiled hard enough? Now the conversations have changed - excitement is the next vacation in some exotic part of the world...and worries are about school admissions or their children's performance.

All this led me to...reflect. Yes once again I found myself thinking and questioning. I thought about my work and what I ought to get done...but more and more I found myself thinking about what work has meant to me and and how what I do will make a difference to others. The past and the future...intricately connected to form the story of my life!

My work ethic started to take shape as I graduated from college and found myself doing things I did not really enjoy, after having been rejected by institutes which would have allowed me to pursue the profession of my choice. Boring as it may sound (even to me), all I wanted to do at the time was Human Resources. I had this notion that being in HR, one had the opportunity to unlock the potential of people in organisations, to uncover their talent such that they and the organisations that employed them would collectively benefit. The jury is still out on that one! My struggles began when I was rejected by my favourite institute for HR (yes - it was called Personnel Management those days). A combination of family pressure and the temptation of the motorbike my father would buy for me led me to join Chartered Accountancy. Before I realised that I neither had any ability nor interest in finance and accounting. After a few months of futile effort, I renewed the pursuit of a career in HR. I again applied to the same institute, secured an interview as I did before...and was rejected yet again! But I remained steadfast in my quest. I quit CA and began, quite literally, a door to door job hunt - if not HR, I would do something else, anything more human than accounting! I managed to gain a desk research position in a small market research firm - a huge personal accomplishment and attributable entirely to a kindly gentleman who, like me, had escaped from the horrors of a career in accounting. Eventually, I did succeed in obtaining admission into a Masters program in HR in Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, an institution with which I have had a very warm association over the years.

I have often looked back at that period of struggle and have vivid memories of the journey...the never ending search for opportunities, the numerous applications followed by rejections, the frequent doubts on my own abilities, the sinking feeling that nothing would really fructify. I gained some unexpected skills - like learning to circumvent gatekeepers and reach people who would consider me for my worth rather than by my meager qualifications. On the other hand, I became deeply introspective. I had been delving into Indian philosophy...trying to understand the purpose of work and life. I meditated and I took long walks. A close friend went through a very similar journey, providing me comfort, companionship, camaraderie, and sense of oneness of purpose.

I have always maintained that this period of struggle laid the foundation of my work ethic. It is often said by people that they work to live better - that it is a means to an end. It provides for life's material comforts, along with a sense of achievement. For some it is the satisfaction of ego, or a means for obtaining power and prestige. People work so they can live well, own, possess, and further the prospects of their progeny. Sometimes work is the laboratory in which to conduct experiments, where success and failure come in equal measure. At other times it is an escape from monotony and drudgery, or a shelter from life's myriad challenges. Work is many things to many people. Me? I still haven't figured it out. But what I do know is that work is not a chore - an activity to be completed to meet a certain end. For those of us who get to do what we love to, it is a privilege. Accorded to us so we can fulfill our life's purpose and provide meaning and joy to people we get to touch...