Tripti Nath – Dutch Uncles

Being Busy and Successful are Not the Same Thing

Tripti Nath — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 02:35:03 +0000

Some years ago, I worked in an organisation where a bespectacled man nearing retirement feigned efficiency by sitting for hours on end before the desktop or television. His productivity was negligible but he had mastered the art of projecting himself as the most dedicated and loyal employee in the company.

Entrusted with the task of monitoring news, he was actually playing games on his computer and even checking his luck in the fluctuating stock market. Obviously, the screen was not visible to the bosses and he got away with professional dishonesty. He had been on the payrolls for more than three decades. To impress bosses, he would not step out for lunch and was even hesitant going to the washroom when they were around. Like an elementary level schoolboy, he would cup his mouth by ducking under his desk to secretly catch a bite from his home packed tiffin. In between monitoring news, he would also offer to do odd jobs such as getting Wi-Fi connections fixed, calling photocopy machine engineers to service the machine, calling lift maintenance companies and what not. Strangely, this was not his work. It was clear that he was presenting himself as an indispensable multi-purpose worker, doing the work of everybody else but missing stories in his own domain. Unfortunately, he succeeded in tricking some gullible bosses with his misleading dedication to work. Support staff made fun of him as he encroached on their work territories as well. But if you were to ask me, “Was he successful?” I would say, “No.” Here lies the fine difference between being busy but not being productive or useful to an organisation.

Thankfully, some smart bosses could see through his armchair journalism. The fact is that he was bluffing himself. Since he would not go to the field for gathering news, he had no real sources. So, when big news break happened, he would struggle to get information and contact sources that mattered. All he could manage was information from secondary sources such as news agencies, live updates on digital platforms, television news. These were his lifelines. When asked to get a quoteworthy opinion on a critical issue, he would fabricate quotes by stealing opinions of experts from opinion pieces on think tank websites and pass these off as his own. The smarter and the more discerning bosses dismissed him as manipulative and hired a professional staffer to teach him real journalism.

The idea of giving this example is to drive home the fact that such staffers don’t do any good either to themselves or to the organisation. They cling to the job only for a stable pay cheque but are not really rated successful or professional by the organisation

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Know the difference between being a workaholic vs. a high performer. The former wants to look more important, but the latter seeks out important work. Knowing the difference can help you do more in each moment of your day.

- Jullien Gordon, High performance coach

Workaholic and High Performer: What’s the Difference?

In contrast, the highly productive people are real go-getters. They know how to master the day by setting small term accomplishable goals and logging their activities. Just as some people maintain a record of their expenditure to know where they are spending the money, the successful people track the time.

Jullien Gordon, High Performance Coach says, “Know the difference between being a workaholic vs. a high performer. The former wants to look more important, but the latter seeks out important work. Knowing the difference can help you do more in each moment of your day.’’

To be successful, one must have a clear conscience. My argument about this is plain and simple. How can somebody who feigns to be super busy at his workplace without any substantial meaningful contribution have a good night’s sleep? Honesty is a prerequisite for real success, not success that is achieved by shortcuts like lies, deceit, credit stealing and manipulation.

The reason is simple. Nothing can be achieved by a person who only feigns that he is busy. As the late U.S. President Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”

Understanding Types of Work

It is equally important to understand that distractions do not contribute to productivity and it is therefore essential to eliminate them. We are taught early in life by our parents, teachers and guardians to do everything in our power to give our fullest attention to the task at hand. In reality, the highly productive people are real go-getters. They know how to master the day by setting small term goals and logging their activities. Most of us also get bogged down by the regular flow of workplace mails. It makes sense to unsubscribe from unwanted mails as much as it is to exit avoidable WhatsApp groups where random posts from members can actually interrupt your work.

In his book ‘Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World’, Cal Newport introduces two types of work: Deep work and Shallow work.

Deep Work

According to him, deep work involves discharging Professional activities in distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. It creates new value, improves skills, and is hard to replicate. Researching, exploring ideas, writing thoughtful content, analysing data, and developing a strategy are all examples of deep work.

Shallow Work

His definition of Shallow work involves logistical tasks that don’t require much brainpower and are often done while distracted. This work does not usually create new value and is easy to replicate. Dealing with email and chat messages, checking social and platform notifications, pulling reports, and data entry are examples of shallow work.
To my mind, a bird that flies far to collect twigs and material to make a nest is an exception. She is both busy and successful. But in real life, overstressed executives who are forever complaining of paucity of time are not really successful.

Are we fearing inactivity?

Some of us take great pride in our ability to do several tasks at the same time.. Experts say that multi-tasking actually slows us down and busyness actually makes us less productive. Neuroscience studies on the functioning of the brain suggest that every time we switch tasks (what we call multi-tasking), it’s “expensive” for us in terms of lost time and productivity. A study published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that those who multitask are less effective than those who focus on one project at a time.

Researchers from the University of Chicago found that the belief that busyness is a sign of success and hard work is so prevalent that we actually fear inactivity. The researchers also found that people use busyness to hide from their laziness and fear of failure. They burn valuable time doing things that are not necessary or important because this busyness makes them feel productive.

True productivity is the ability to create high impact results in a short amount of time.

Management Consultant Peter Drucker said, “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. To be productive, you need to keep your motivation high.”

How often have we come across salesmen in groceries who play deaf when a customer inquiries about a product? They come to the shop at 9 a.m. and some of them even work beyond the eight hour shift but what is their contribution? It is not uncommon to find salesmen complaining of unrealistic monthly sales targets to sell white goods such as air conditioners, television sets, washing machines, coolers, heaters and laptops.

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Many organisations fail after they succeed because they think they own success and forget the rent is due every day

- Pat Sullivan, A coach, teacher and administrator

Customer satisfaction is the Prerequisite for Productivity

Kory Kogon, author of The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity, points out, “We do feel that busy equals productivity and it is not.”

In the super competitive world of journalism, a reporter is as good as his last story. The hours he spends chasing news and sources and digging out information must yield a regular steady flow of news stories and exclusive news reports. Way back in 1993, my first Chief Reporter in the New Delhi bureau of The Statesman, one of India’s most respected news dailies, told me that in journalism, a reporter’s by line or credit line is a measure of his/her productivity. Abid said that journalism is an open show where readers and peers judge you on the basis of your actual output that is instantly visible. Of course, this theory may not hold well in case prejudiced desk person tosses out a reporter’s by line.

Pat Sullivan, a successful coach, teacher and administrator in the Chicago area for 44 years, says, “Many organisations fail after they succeed because they think they own success and forget the rent is due every day.”

So, what is important is to keep challenging oneself to do better every day.

Look at a watchmaker. He spends a good part of the day straining his eyes to repair watches. But his success at the end of the day can be measured only by his satisfaction with his output. The same is true of a daily wage worker like a cobbler sitting by the roadside. It is not about how many hours he sits on the pavement with his head bent down to fix footwear and leather goods but what he actually repaired. If his clients come back to him or refer him to their friends, surely his work has yielded results. Satisfaction of the customer is a prerequisite for good productivity.

Don’t be Busy, Be Productive

Noted author Robin S Sharma has said “Don’t confuse activity with productivity.” Some people are simply busy being busy.

Let us look at the number of civil service aspirants in India who change their routine and spend hours on end everyday preparing for the examination. Some of them join well known coaching academies and others join online classes. Those who cannot afford either of these seek solitude in libraries and sit in the reading room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Once they are back home, they resume studies after a two hour break, stay up all night and sleep barely five hours. The question is how many of them succeed in the preliminary examination. What is crucial is not the number of hours that one needs to invest to succeed but a focused approach where even five hours can guarantee success.

In my view, productivity can be guaranteed if people begin to prioritize tasks after making a things-to-do list, eliminate distractions, focus on completing one thing at a time and try to delegate tasks that can be done by someone else. So, how can one eliminate distractions in an era where most of us are addicted to checking our mobile phones? The best way to get rid of distractions is to put the phone on silent mode, turn off email notifications, put a do-not-disturb sign on your door and have a clutter free workplace.

In his book Being Busy is Not Always Productive, Delhi based author Deepak Gupta writes, “You know why people fail because they use their right energy in the wrong place. They use their energy at the place where they can’t even judge how much capability they have to accomplish the right tasks. People fail at the wrong tasks and get afraid to do the right tasks in life. Time has nothing to do with productivity.’’

Being busy and being successful are surely two very different things. So next time, you don’t answer a call and text declaring, “I am busy”, give it a rethink. It makes manifold sense to be productive and say. “I am productively preoccupied.” This affirmation will push your limits to justify your affirmation.

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Bill Gates Think Week Will Make You Think

Tripti Nath — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 00:35:04 +0000

I have vivid memories of school when my father, a legendary journalist, would check us if he would find us studying nonstop and urge us to step out to play badminton or go cycling. If he found us immersed in books at midnight eight hours before an examination, he would switch off the lights. We were told not to overload our brain with information lest it reach the Plimsoll line.

We know that The Plimsoll line is a reference mark located on a ship’s hull that indicates the maximum depth to which the vessel may be safely immersed when loaded with cargo. The example was to ensure that we did not strain our brain with gluttonous curiosity and last-minute reading. Instead, he advised us to appear in the examination with a fresh mind.

Habits of highly successful people continue to inspire generations and 65-year-old American business magnate Bill Gates is no exception.

What exactly is Bill Gates ‘Think Week’?

In my understanding, Bill Gates concept of Think week is also aimed at giving the brain much needed rest for optimum results. Gates takes a self-proclaimed ‘Think Week’ break twice a year. During this time, he spends time in solitude in a cabin in the forest away. By keeping himself away from the distractions of daily life, Gates is able to sit down and think. Gates has said that it is during the “think week” that he comes up with his best ideas.

The Think Week is worth exploring as it can be a game changer for productivity and career focus. The health benefits of having a cabin in the woods are enormous. According to studies, tree therapy enables individuals to inhale negatively charged ions which are believed to boost serotonin, alleviate depression, reduce stress, get much needed doses of Vitamin D away from the comfort of air-conditioned offices, enhance day time energy levels and prevent burnout. Another study found that hikers who disconnected from technology and took a break in natural surroundings for four days were able to improve creative thinking and problem solving by a full 50 per cent.

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I would literally take boxes out to a beach place and sit there for a week reading them day and night and scribbling on them to put it entirely online.

- Bill Gates

It is said that Gates began taking think weeks in the 1980s with quiet visits to his grandmother’s house.

Gates, a Harvard dropout with an IQ test score of 160, became the richest person in the world in 1995 at the age of 31.

As the boss of Microsoft, Bill Gates would escape for a week to a secret cabin somewhere in a cedar forest in the Pacific northwest. He would arrive by helicopter or seaplane. During this week, he would read papers written by Microsoft employees presenting ideas for new innovations or potential investments. He read as many papers as possible, sometimes doing so 18 hours a day, staying up until the wee hours of the morning, according to The Wall Street Journal.

″…I would literally take boxes out to a beach place and sit there for a week reading them day and night and scribbling on them to put it entirely online,” Gates said in a 2008 video of Microsoft’s CEO summit.

Visitors were not allowed to Gates’ cabin during Think Week. Exceptions were made for anybody delivering two meals a day at the cabin. One year, an exception was made for a Wallstreet Journal reporter who saw the cabin stocked with Diet Orange Crush and Diet Coke.

Work accomplished during one Think Week eventually led Microsoft to launch the Internet Explorer in 1995.

Laura Stack, President and CEO of consulting firm The Productivity Pro, endorses Gates “week in the woods’ idea as “smart’.

She says, “People should have a third place’ that isn’t work or home, where they can find focused time to think and create and clarify their strategic thinking.”

Backers of the Think Week

The Think Week idea has many takers. Canadian writer Chris Bailey who has written extensively on the subject of productivity, has summed up how he benefited by taking a Bill Gates-inspired “Think Week.”

Bailey who has authored two books ‘Hyper focus’ and ‘The Productivity Project’ shared last year in an article titled ‘A life of Productivity’ the gains that he made by spending seven days all by himself in Jamaica. He said, “I learned five key things: the more time we spend keeping up, the less time we spend getting ahead; that we need to strike a balance between reflecting and doing; that stepping back from our daily grind helps us to be grateful of the lives we lead; that our lives need more solitude; and finally, that we all need to take more think breaks, regardless of their length.”

Bailey went on to say that while few of us have the flexibility in our home and work schedules to take a full seven day think week. He suggests ways to bring the values of a think week into our lives. “We can do this by finding more solitude in our lives. The first comes in the form of small blocks of reflection time (waiting in line without your phone, quietly sipping your morning coffee). The second is the extended periods of reflection time where we get to disconnect for the weekend or take a temporary digital detox during a long flight, we need more of both.’’

Harsh Goenka, a fifth-generation entrepreneur from one of India’s best known business families, has hailed the idea of a Think Week. In a tweet, Goenka who is listed as the 77th richest Indian, said, “Twice a year, Bill Gates goes into seclusion to have a “Think Week” with no communication with family, friends and employees. He reads books, comes up with new ideas and works on personal development. A lot of breakthroughs at Microsoft stem from these “Think Weeks”. A good idea!”

It is up to individuals to try the Thinking week concept that Bill Gates has been practising for more than two decades. It is important to block off time for the event well in advance so that meetings and deadlines don’t come in the way. Anybody who wants to try the Thinking Week must know what he wants to accomplish from the think week. It is a good idea to carry along inspirational books, white papers, notebooks and pens, to encourage the flow of ideas. It is important that any individual who tries the Think Week must come back refreshed and recharged.

In his bestseller- Stillness is the key, noted American author Ryan Holiday argues for a break from work. He writes, “Yes, we have important duties- to our country, to our co-workers, to provide for our families. Many of us have talents and gifts that are so extraordinary that we owe it to ourselves and the world to express and fulfil them. But we’re not going to be able to do that if we’re not taking care of ourselves, or if we have stretched ourselves to the breaking point. Man is not a machine. Work will not set you free. It will kill you if you’re not careful.”

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People should have a third place’ that isn’t work or home, where they can find focussed time to think and create and clarify their strategic thinking.

- Laura Stack, President and CEO of consulting firm The Productivity Pro

I have distinct memories of reading in my college textbook an essay titled ‘On doing nothing’ by British author, novelist and broadcaster J.B. Priestley. The title appealed to me not because I found literary justification in being “delightfully lazy” but because his lucid humorous prose actually made a lot of sense. “All the evil in this world is brought by persons who are always up and doing, but do not know when they ought to be up nor what they ought to be doing,” wrote Priestley.

I now hear my friends talking of taking a break from super addictive social media platforms and mobile phones. They call it detoxification from the cacophony of disturbances. We are leading stressful lives. The Corona pandemic has posed fresh challenges. Lockdowns and restrictions on mobility have made us bigger addicts of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For a long time now, doctors have been warning against lifestyle diseases caused by sedentary lifestyles. Most people rush to the office in their private vehicles, take the elevator, use remote keys to open car doors, order junk food using mobile Apps, work on their laptops and are addicted to checking messages on several media platforms. By the time they drive through patience testing traffic and reach home, it is time for dinner. Add to this the job pressures and domestic obligations which hardly leave most office goers any time for physical activity. A journalist friend working with a foreign newspaper which has no culture of holidays tells me that the only time she gets to introspect or reflect on her life is when she travels.

It is important for us to realise that our health is more precious than our job and managers in workplaces must not expect workers to work like robots without legitimate breaks.

Mark Zuckerberg, internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Facebook, also takes regular think week to invigorate thinking. Many super successful people including top entrepreneurs and investors have begun to swear by a regular week off the grid.

Blaise Pascal, 17th century mathematician and philosopher said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

One has heard of weekend getaways. These are necessary to reflect. Retreats after summits of world leaders are not uncommon in diplomatic planning.

Takeaway

In an article titled ‘Benefit from a Think Week, Just like a CEO’ Hongkong based journalist Michele Koh Morollo, writes that Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs popularized the term “Think Week’. She noted, “But something changed after I embarked on my first Think Week. By physically extracting myself from life-as-I-knew it and from the distractions of my hyper-connected urban environment (I live in Hong Kong, a city that I’ve heard described by Manhattanites as “New York on steroids”), I began to see which goals and projects best aligned with my values, interests, wants and needs, and found the momentum needed to move forward with them.’’

Michelle is convinced that anybody who wants to live with more purpose can benefit from a think week. She however warns that persons trying the think week must be prepared to face challenges. “Think Weeks require that you get comfortable with your own company and strike the right balance between doing and being. You might feel lonesome at times.”

She also says that during the think week, she resisted an overpowering urge to play ‘Candy Crush’ or watch “Old Saturday Night live’’

YouTube clips. Instead, she would do some stretches, ten sun salutations or go for a brisk walk around her cottage.
Michelle has drawn attention to the American essayist Henry David Thoreau who published Walden: Or, Life in the Woods in 1864. He chronicled his time away from civilization, living deliberately, and fronting “only the essential facts of life” in a self-built cabin near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. “I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear;” wrote Thoreau.
She says when people return from Think Week, they know where to focus their energies.

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Learn How to Manage Your Most Precious Resource Effectively

Tripti Nath — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 00:30:08 +0000

“Time is money”, said Benjamin Franklin in an essay ‘Advice to a young tradesman. This oft-quoted aphorism by none other than one of the Founding fathers of the United States, holds eternal value as it forcefully underlines a sure recipe for success.

The aphorism actually means that time is a valuable resource. Therefore, it’s better to do things as quickly as possible. Losing time means losing money. And anybody in a job or enterprise must remember that lost time is as expensive as lost money. Successful entrepreneurs will tell you that they are as careful with their time as with their money.

Franklin who lived till the age of 84, created time blocks to manage his time effectively and protect his day from unexpected interruptions. He created a plan of action each morning and dedicated time for a subject separate from work. His daily schedule was aimed at doubling productivity and his life accomplishments speak volumes of the success of his schedule. Franklin invented the lightning rod, made significant discoveries in Physics, composed music and founded many civic organisations.

Time Management: An early lesson in life

Time discipline begins at home from kindergarten days and children get used to stepping out of homes at a certain time to go to school and know that they get a tiffin break and finally a break to pick up their bags and go home. Once children move from elementary level to junior school, they follow a daily schedule in school where a seven hour school day is divided into classes of 45 minutes each. It is in these classes that children are introduced to different subjects- English, Hindi, Mathematics, History, Geography and Science.

So, it is rather early in our lives that we learn to process information on a variety of subjects. The annual academic calendar in school, college or university which is interrupted by summer and winter vacations teaches us how to manage time well and use these breaks to find time for study and leisure. The examination system is also governed by a date sheet that spells out the time, date and venue for examination.

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An individual who embarks upon his own enterprise must master multi-tasking and learn how to manage his/her time well.

Time Management Tactics from British and Japanese

The British and the Japanese are known the world over for their punctuality. Not many people know that in Japan, a train conductor will usually apologise to the passengers even if there is a one minute delay in service. The trains depart at the exact departure time printed on the train time table for all railway and metro services and halt normally for less than a minute at the designated stations. This reflects the huge significance that the Japanese give to time and efficiency. For the Japanese, it is important to stick to schedules as per the appointed time. In Japan, anybody who fails to turn up at the appointed time is not considered dependable and cannot be trusted.

Likewise, the British too are known to keep the time.

In the Japanese work system, being late at work is completely unacceptable and they are known to abide by their time schedule with clockwork precision. It is often said that in the Japanese work culture, there is 90 per cent planning and ten per cent execution. A Japanese company employee said that the Japanese try to do their best to meet the deadline. He explained that the importance of time is taught to children at a very young age in Japanese families. Since most parents are working and have very demanding work schedules, their children cannot afford to miss the school bus and therefore, the parents teach the children to prepare their school bags the previous night to be well in time to reach the bus stop.

How to manage time in the Work-From-Home Model?

Every job around the world has fixed hours for reporting at work. Although work from home has become the new normal in Corona times, that too calls for work discipline from home which is not easy with distractions in a home setting.

An individual who embarks upon his own enterprise must therefore master multi-tasking and learn how to manage his/her time well. He must have clarity about his goals and learn to be efficient and quick and know how to make the best out of a workday. I know a journalist in Greater Noida who helps his wife in her export business. Apart from monitoring news, he finds time to talk to prospective buyers overseas and plan the proper packing of goods. If anybody happens to call him when he is busy, he does not hesitate to remind the caller that the 15-minute conversation has cost him a loss of money. His logic is that he could have spent his precious time responding to business queries from prospective clients. It may sound offensive but the fact of the matter is that a businessman knows how to calculate the worth of an hour. Saving those 15 minutes helps him earn extra income.

Women Entrepreneurs: Masters of Time Management

A peep into the lives of three women entrepreneurs convinced me that all of them have common qualities that keep them going. Apart from being clear-sighted, they have a passion for work and have mastered the art of efficient time management. Take the case of Puja Sahu, a 44-year-old businesswoman who runs a Potbelly chain of restaurants in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram and Patna.

Born in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and educated in Nainital in Uttarakhand and Delhi, Puja decided to start her own restaurant from Shahpur Jat in Delhi. It has been ten years now from the time she set up her first restaurant. Encouraged by the overwhelming response to Bihari cuisine, Puja started Potbelly restaurant in Bihar Niwas near Delhi’s Diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri relying on her mother’s recipes. She then moved on to setting up another restaurant in 32nd Milestone in NH 8 in Gurugram. The fourth restaurant came up in Bihar Museum in Patna and the fifth one in Bengaluru. While Puja agrees that running a restaurant is a hell of a task alongside raising her five and a half year old daughter, she has learnt to manage things with her core team. “ You have to set Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at regular intervals and ensure that they are being followed. When you are running a large enterprise, you have to learn to delegate work. You cannot micro manage everything. In business, a like-minded core team is very important.’’

So, how does Puja handle her roles as a daughter, mother and wife alongside her business. “Days are really short. No matter how hard I try or plan ahead, my day is dictated by my daughter’s schedule. Of course, I set goals for the day. Short term goals help me achieve long term goals. At the end of the day before I go to bed, that is the only time I get to reflect on what I have achieved that day and to set goals for the next day. I was a backbencher in school but I learnt the hard way that lax attitude and no goals can get you nowhere. One has to strip yourself of all the wealth one has and see what you have accomplished on your own,” says Puja who holds a degree in Commerce from Bhagat Singh College of Delhi University.”

Learning Human resource management and surprise visits are very important to ensure quality control, says Puja. “ One has to work closely with the staff, listen to them, address their problems and work at every level. This entails tasting food in the kitchen, ensuring that the tables are clean and reminding them to wear masks in Corona times. It is important to have a penetrating eye to identify deficiencies. One thing you should never do is ask your employees to cut corners. And what is most important is that your seeking spirit should never die.”

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Aspiring entrepreneurs must remember that passion, discipline, proper planning and customer satisfaction, are crucial for success.

Another Delhi based entrepreneur Rumana Vachha Menon, is doing well baking cakes. A jovial Parsi, 38 year old Rumana began her baking business from home four years back.

Rumana pulled out her grandmother Khorshad Vachha’s cake recipes and began studying more about baking. “ Baking runs in my blood. My grand-mother was an amazing baker. I started baking and it soon developed into my passion. I did a Diploma course from Truffle Nation in Delhi and began taking orders from people in the neighbourhood in Anand Niketan. Today, Rumana’s cakes are really sought after and she manages time effectively by taking orders only on prior notice. “ I worked in Hyderabad for six years in the sales department of a leading hotel. When my daughter was born, my priorities changed. I had to give up my job because I had to give her more time but I did not want to sit idle. I am able to manage things well at home with prior orders. It is a blessing that I am able to use some of my grandmother’s recipes. Baking gives me a lot of pleasure.’’

Like Puja and Rumana, Mumbai based entrepreneur Ruchi Srivastava has also been inspired by her Lucknow based maternal grand-mother, Rajkumari to start a cosmetic range of skin and hair care cosmetics which sell under the brand name ‘Veditatva Ayurveda’. Ruchi says she is 42 years but has a wrinkle free skin as she has always used home care skin and home care products made by her grandmother. Ruchi began making her own products four years ago from her flat and has about 4000 clients in India and overseas. She accepts orders online and delivers products, on an average 10 to 12 everyday by courier. “I was lucky that my grandmother passed on the traditional knowledge that she acquired from her father, an Ayurveda Acharya. Anything is possible if you have the passion. Getting up early helps me map and manage my day better. I have domestic helps who assist me with household chores. That helps me devote about five hours to my own business. Soap-making is very relaxing. My husband and my two sons who are 14 and 21 year old respectively, use my products.”

Ruchi says that aspiring entrepreneurs must remember that passion, discipline, proper planning and customer satisfaction, are crucial for success. “ Anybody who wants to succeed in business cannot afford to be directionless. You must work consistently and plan your day in advance and be clear about what you want to accomplish.

A look at the lives of these three women entrepreneurs tells us that sky is the limit for home businesses with social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.

Where your time goes: Keep a check

Aspiring entrepreneurs must remember that most of us often try to control our expenditure by logging it. What is equally important is to cultivate a habit to log time. Logging time can give us amazing results. It helps you know where your time goes. Once we have done this exercise, we must categorise our activities as essential, important, unimportant, and wasted. This way, we will stop wasting time in needless activities.

Those forever complaining of shortage of time can try to execute the ancient Indian philosopher and economist Chanakya’s prescription of maximising time by dividing the day into slots of 90 minutes each and setting targets for these slots.

While punctuality is a sought after value in work cultures globally, there are professions that place a premium on it. For instance, the aviation business would not be able to do well if pilots would not arrive in time and take off on time. The Army would not be able to defend borders well if those deployed at the border would not keep the time. Restaurants would close down if the Chef is not able to produce the ordered dish well in time for the steward to present it at the table. 24/7 news channels hinged on the world of breaking news would close down if reporters on the spot fail to relay news on time. Alongside time management, an entrepreneur should also cultivate the concept of reaction time which is the speed at which an individual reacts to situations. This can give an entrepreneur an edge over his rival.

Military academies the world instil in young cadets the importance of punctuality by rigorous punishment.

A newspaper editor I know, says that he does not like putting off tasks for the next day. He says he goes about accomplishing tasks as he lives everyday as his last day.

As Nobel laureate Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore said, “The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.’

No talent is good enough if it is not synchronised with good time management.

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