The corporate world has become intense, cut-throat competition is the new norm and staying on top of your game is a necessity nowadays. Pressure and stress are your new buddies – whether you like them or not. Am I sounding like a broken record? Yes or no but let me give an incident which kind of shook my thought process. I know this amazing sales account manager – sharp, confident, go-getter and an achiever. Late 30’s and a part of the Achiever’s club for the fiscal year. A happy family man and a father of a cute boy. Four days before he was supposed to fly to this exotic location as a part of the Achiever’s Club fate had some other plans for him. A normal day for him when he went to the bathroom and he collapsed hitting his head. He was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with high pressure and because of the fall he was unable to move and recognize people. As they say everybody has a guardian angel and because of the divine spirit our sales hero recovered after spending a considerable time at the hospital. Traumatic experience for him as well as his family. In retrospect, he did everything to be a part of the Achiever’s club but the irony was that he could not enjoy the result.
I am sure we must have heard similar stories of bright professionals collapsing. Wake up call for us? Interesting to note that in the end what are we gunning for?
The other day I was playing with my daughter and reciting her nursery rhymes – one rhyme caught my attention
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
I have highlighted some words in BOLD which I thought is very relevant. Not to delve deeper wanted to stress the fact that Do your work (row your boat) in a Steady (gently) manner no matter what the Situation is Tough or Easy (stream) and always remember to keep Smiling (merrily) as Life is Beautiful. Simple isn’t it but who says simple is easy.
Focus and refocus, prioritize and re-prioritize – what do you want to achieve out of life? I say yes to Life 🙂
Image courtesy of [ renjith krishnan] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Published with permission.
