IS IT A PLEASURE TO WORK

Is it a pleasure to work? Do you enjoy your work? Are you happy to work? What will you do if you don't have work?

These are questions that I keep asking myself. Whether we work for a company or work at home or work for others it is important for us to enjoy the work and feel that it is a pleasure to work. Even a House Wife does lot of work from morning to night and she should also feel it is a pleasure to do the work at home and manage the household chores properly. "Pressure" is bound to be there is any work from time to time and it is up to the individual to handle the pressure in a nice way. With the occasional pressure, the overall work, should always be a pleasure.

While it should be a pleasure for us to work we should also ensure that it is equally pleasurable for people around us to work. If we are totally involved in the work and enjoy the work that we do then obviously it will be a pleasure to work. While doing the work we need to interact with others or work in a team and that is when we have to be more cautious as while we enjoy the work and involve ourselves in it, we have to also ensure that the others around us are equally interested in the work on hand and we have to carryon with the team despite differences in thinking, abilities and experience.

I visited the world's largest floating Book Fair. This is a vessel carrying 400 people (who work as volunteers) and the vessel has a huge book fair and keeps sailing from one country to another. The vessel had berthed in Dubai for few days and I visited the vessel. They had a cultural night in the vessel and the person who conducted the cultural explained about the different people who come from different parts of the world and work in the vessel for 2 years in various departments as volunteers. He said there is never a "right" or "wrong" as they realise there is a "different" way of doing things when they co-exist with different people.

When we work in a team or group we have to realise that people are different and hence we have to be ready to see different ways of doing things. It calls for an open mind to accept people as they are and work towards the common goals. We have to demonstrate a high level of tolerance and absorption in order to co-exist in a team or group.

Respect all the team members and develop the art of listening to others. Listening to Others and respecting the views of others is a very important virtue that we have to develop in order to work in a team.

When we work in a team it is also important for us to present ourselves very clearly and set the expectations right. I have seen people giving a "larger than life" image of themselves and then end up struggling to meet with the demands of the job. By being humble, simple and straight forward we can achieve lot more than what we could do otherwise by being "smart".

I feel "work is worship" and we have to not only enjoy doing the work but we should also always bear in mind that we do our best at the given work.

One of the key factors to excel at work is to have a clear divide between the personal and official life. I have never carried work to the home and same way I have never carried my personal work into office. It is extremely important to compartmentalise our day, diary and thinking. While we are at work, we should not think about personal matters and similarly while we are at home we should not think about work. This work - life balance is very important for us to achieve success and enjoy both a healthy work life and a personal life. I have seen people engaging in personal phone calls when they are at work. After going home these people also engage in official calls for several minutes. Both are bad in my opinion.

People who enjoy their work and also treat the people around them well are always found to excel in their work. If a Housewife enjoys her work in the Kitchen, the food will certainly taste lot better. Same way if a person at office enjoys the work he does his/her output will be far better.

The following are the key success factors to make it a pleasure to work:

1. Understand the work, your role and the objectives
2. Understand the needs of the team and what the other members of the team are doing
3. Appreciate the work done by others and recognise the contribution made by others
4. Do not present a much higher or larger image of yourself or your capabilities
5. Set the expectations right
6. Be diligent and ensure that the work is done with appropriate planning
7. Be proactive at work and try to pre-empt situations
8. Try to be ahead of the curve at all times
9. Do not mix personal life with official life
10. Do not take more than what you can achieve in a day
11. Do not crack under pressure
12. Always look for improvements and betterment
13. Plan your day and review the plans from time to time
14. Provide time for unexpected work

Enjoy your work and enjoy life.

- T.P.Anand, Dubai, 7th April 2011