Time for a Break

After being a 24x7 workoholic, putting work above family, friends and even my own self for over 14 years, I am now older and hopefully, wiser.

Work is obviously important. But it should not creep into things that keep us going.

Like our passions. Or interests. Or maybe even a stint back as a student.

This is where workplace effectiveness terms like "productivity" come into play.
How do we ensure that we are always "productive" at work? How do we ensure that we have teams that are "productive"?

By encouraging our teams and ourselves to indulge in passions and interests outside of work.
By saying "yes" to a much deserved break
By not glancing at the watch everytime someone in the team calls it a day
By having informal unplugged sessions once in a while where all of us talk about things that keep us going, besides work
By  having people in the organisation or outside, who have balanced work and interests effectively, to share their experiences
By having a collection of books at an arm's length at the workplace- from inspirations, to recipes to fiction to bike repairing...anything that provides for a good break
I am sure there are lots more.

I can speak for myself when I say that when passions are encouraged, people go out of their way to make sure that work goes on uninterrupted. That's what positive encouragement is all about.
( If it doesn't, then ...well... the person needs a one to one chat. That's what bosses are for!)

Pursuing our interests makes us happy
It rids us of our guilt- of neglecting ourselves
It makes us want to do more
It opens up our minds- we learn more, share more.

And consciously or unconsciously, it all adds back to our work.
We have people thinking out of the box. We have wider perspectives.

But most importantly, we have more smiles than frowns.
Work becomes a part of  life and not a compulsion.

And workplace becomes much much more "productive".
After all, everything in life is full circle.