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Working through the Festive Season? Well, you have Some Opportunities!

Working through the festive season when everyone around you seems to be enjoying doesn’t have to give you the ‘fear of missing out’. Read on.

Working through the festive season?

Having the ‘fear of missing out’ on the festivities, or what they call FOMO?

While some of us are enjoying the festive season with gatherings with our near and dear ones, seeking blessings and indulging in delicacies of all flavours, some of us don’t have this opportunity.

But there’s a different set of opportunities for this latter lot. Read on.

The Opportunity to Enjoy the Routine:

Festivities- organising events, redecorating homes and offices can be tiring. And the thing is, work commitments can pile up around such times. There’s just so much to juggle- office, home, events at the office and events at home- that it can become difficult to manage everything.

So, the ones who aren’t busy with the festivities have an opportunity to enjoy their own calm routine. There’s a quiet beauty in the mundane but productive daily life that tires you just about enough to fall asleep peacefully at night.  

The Opportunity to Use the Festive Spirit Differently:

There’s a certain festivity in the air that can make many feel alive. Whether you are in India with people around celebrating the Diwali nights, or somewhere else on the globe, fresh out of celebrating Oktoberfest or Halloween, or your part of the world is on its way to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas, there’s just a certain momentum around.

Now is a great time to channelise this lively momentum into your work. Old ‘new’ initiatives lying pending somewhere in a file at the back, finishing up a long due task, or who knows, even planning for a new year resolution! If one must work through the festive season, why not show the pending tasks some dazzling lighting too!

The Opportunity for Gratitude:

Now is a great time with longer evenings and shorter days to be grateful about what we already have. Longer evenings, dark and cool call us to light our own warmth into it, and isn’t gratitude the best kind of warmth? Gratitude for the work that gives us the means to live well and dream more, gratitude for the learning each day brings, gratitude for our abilities and competencies. Once we start thinking about it, the list of small and big things to be grateful about it is endless.

The last stretch of the year brings ample opportunities for all of us. Sometimes, the opportunity to rest, rejuvenate, celebrate and indulge. And sometimes, the opportunity to plan, implement and being grateful.

More or Less? Can Less Lead to More Outcomes?

‘More’ doesn’t always equal to ‘better’. Limits and limitations, that is, ‘less’ is equally important (if not more) for productivity.

When we think about generating ideas, starting and running a successful company or just about any small or big venture we think about abundance. We think of ‘more’. We think limitlessness.

We think more the number of resources, the better everything will be. More work hours. More ideas. More plans. More objectives.

Not just about tasks and plans, but even in day to day to interactions- ‘more’ is considered positive.

More agreement- better results. More encouragement- more work done. More power. More control. More responsibility. More people. More anything? Better. We think anything limitless is great.

But what if we told you that sometimes, less is better? Or in other words, rather than a free-flow of more ideas, more resources, more encouragement, more people sometimes it’s the ‘less’ that make things better? That sometimes setting limits, a cap of some kind is the way to making something more successful?

 The principle of setting limits or imposing limitations for benefit is actually used in everything around us, right from music to sport. Each genre of music has its limits of acceptable melodies, pitches, instrumentation. Magic happens within these limits. Each sport has its rules- be it the number of overs in a cricket, to the literal ‘boundaries’. It is these rules and boundaries that make a sport enjoyable. What’s more, economics operates on this principle too: companies cannot offer limitlessly increased or decreased prices without leading to issues in the whole market.

Not just in music, sport and economics but in any enterprise, it’s the ‘less’ that produces better results.

Think of limited resources: A company with limited capital will find ways to make the best use of that capital after thinking things through. A company with excessive capital may end up spending it on ventures that may or may have been carefully thought out.

A city that has limited tourism spots will maintain that small number of tourism spots really well. A city with more tourism spots may maintain only a few well-known ones even if they have ample resources.

Think of limits in idea generation: A whole list of ideas will likely lead to chaos with no proper direction. There will be no room for trial and error since the time will be spent in trying one idea after another as quickly as possible to arrive at the ‘big’ successful idea. But just two or three limited ideas that seem realistic will lead to a more concrete plan, with enough room for trial and error for each idea.

You know how they say, that too many chefs spoil the dish.  In some cases, too many choices! A candy-making company with four or five flavours was doing very well. They thought ‘why not add more flavours?’ going by the conventional understanding of ‘more is more’. They announced ten more flavours. All over the shops, the company now had close to twenty flavours.  But contrary to what they had thought, more flavours did not lead to more sales or more popularity. In fact, the sales of that candy brand had gone down!

A survey was conducted which found out that the ‘more’ number of flavours had confused their customers. With so many flavours to choose from, the customers were overwhelmed and ended up not buying any candy at all. Naturally, the company decided to withdraw the more flavours and of course, the sales increased again.

When we start thinking about limits this way, we realise they are everywhere and they push us towards producing better work. We work only a limited number of hours a day to prevent burnout. Limitless working hours do not lead to more output. Offices hire only a limited number of people. Having more people doesn’t necessarily mean a job well done. Each one of us has only a limited number of responsibilities attached to our job description even if we might be capable of doing more.  It is not ‘more and more’ but ‘less’ that help us remain productive, focused and successful. Less is actually more!

Two Perspectives about Getting on and off the Wrong Train

Life sometimes puts us on the ‘wrong train’. How to decide if we need to get off the train or just enjoy the view?

Life rarely goes as planned. Maybe you didn’t plan on the having the job you currently have, even five years ago. Sometimes, we chase after opportunities and sometimes, we are made to create opportunities for ourselves. We decide on one thing and another thing happens. There are two perspectives to these ideas about change (of life and plans of life for us) and growth.

The Cost of Change:

There’s a well-known Japanese proverb that goes:

“If you get on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station. The longer it takes you to get off, the more expensive the return trip will be.”

This can be applied to so many scenarios of life:

-Feel stuck in a job you don’t like? Quit before your mind gives in to the habit of comfortable misery. Get off the next station.

-Feel stuck on an idea you know doesn’t seem to be working out? Stop and check if you should put it on the side for now, quit or course correct. Decide the ‘station’ you want to get off and do that before the train rams into your sense of competence.

-If a project needs you to test something on a user, test on one user, in a controlled environment, so in case there’s a flaw, it doesn’t reach thousand users later. Decide if it works and make the required changes as early as you can. The more you stall, the more expensive the return ticket becomes. As the writer Steve Krug puts it, ‘the cost of change grows over time.’

The Suprises of a Journey:

On the other side of this coin about ‘getting off’ from the ‘wrong train’, there are countless writers and philosophers from across the world that remind us how it is the journey that is more important than the destination. One may get on the wrong train, one may not reach their originally planned destination. But they still get to take in new, undiscovered scenery. The ‘wrong’ train may eventually make us find new a destination we didn’t even know we needed.

This too can be applied to many scenarios in life:

-Stuck with a job which you didn’t plan on having? Might as well learn something about it now and try your best to do it well, with your full presence. We may know people professionally who didn’t plan on getting in a career they are in right now and somehow, managed to be at the top of that career they ‘originally’ hadn’t thought of choosing.

-Your initial idea has turned all topsy-turvy and you don’t know what to do with it now? Maybe there is a new direction your idea is meant to go in.

-Testing on a thousand users led to a different outcome than anticipated? Maybe think if the users can still benefit from this ‘new’ outcome.

Getting on a wrong train may either lead you away from your planned destination, or it may lead you to a destination you were more suitable to go in. Our decision then lies not in quitting, or staying but deciding the cost of staying on the ‘wrong’ train. And both decisions can be sensible ones depending on our situation. Some questions we may ask ourselves are:

  • Is the cost of change likely to make your life miserable?
  • What will you lose if you stay on the wrong train?
  • Is there something you may gain if you stay on the wrong train? 

These are the answers we need, which may help us decide whether to get off at the next station or enjoy the scenery. So dear reader, would you like a new ticket or would you like to get off at the next station?

Women’s Day Everyday: The Power of Flipping the Script

A tribute to the woman who knows how to wield her quiet strength, loudly!

It was lunch break and all through it, Ann had a sullen, gloomy expression on her face. She had barely any appetite due to her mood, and had swallowed down her lunch very mechanically.

Sarita, her senior colleague and a friend had noticed this, and had gently asked Ann if anything was wrong.

‘Everything seems wrong!’ Ann had said, as if that gentle question triggered a deep-seated anger, pain and frustration in her. Ann continued,

‘I feel like all these Women’s Day posts don’t mean anything at all. At the end of the day, everyone expects a woman to do everything. She’s made the caretaker of everyone and everything, including herself and her own activties. But no one really cares for her when she needs it!’

Sarita had been listening intently, and now she gently spoke to Ann,

‘I absolutely understand what you mean. A woman is expected to manage her home well, and do good professionally. If she struggles in her career, those struggles are not taken seriously because her career often isn’t taken seriously. If she struggles in taking care of the home, that same career is blamed.

‘When someone in the family falls sick, she takes care of them, but when she falls sick, she almost always never receives the care that she gives. She starts receiving the care only when everyone realises the home management has taken a hit.

‘If she does receive good care without having to ask for it, that is considered an exception, when actually that care should be the norm… ’

Ann had been nodding hard at all these points that Sarita was making.

‘Yes, this is what I mean. Don’t you find it frustrating? This huge burden of expectations, this tight-rope balance?’ Ann asked Sarita.

Sarita responded, ‘I agree with this too. However, I have something to say, which might turn your frustration into a calm motivation.’

‘What is it?’

‘You said how a woman is turned into a caretaker. How about we flip the script here, and think of a woman not as a caretaker and instead as a caregiver?’

‘How so?’

‘We can think of it that a woman chooses to balance her career and home. Not because she is made to. We all know women who successfully do so. We also know women who choose to successfully prioritize home, and let their career become a second priority. We also know women who do vice versa. Maybe, even if the society did not make her balance it all, she’d still want to do that, because she is capable of making a choice for herself.’

Ann at this point had become more pensive, and less angry. She nodded, calmly, and not as vigorously as she had done earlier. Sarita continued,

‘I do agree that even in 2026, many, many women are not fortunate enough to have this ability to flip the script, that is, of making choices and not have choices made for them. The change perhaps can begin with us. Think of it celebrating Women’s Day every day…’

‘How so? How do we celebrate Women’s Day every day?’

‘Women’s day every day means assuming that whatever a woman does, it is based on careful thought on her own part. That it is her choice. It means assuming that her gentleness, her care, her kindness, her priorities are displays of her strength and not her weakness. It means assuming that even in circumstances that may or may not be the best for her, she is in charge of her own decisions. It is assuming that strength can be loud, assertive and powerful, but also quiet, gentle and kind. Sometimes, these qualities are seen separately and sometimes, they intermingle beautifully.’

Sarita continued,

‘We should definitely continue to empower the women who do not have the privileges and freedom we take for granted. But we should not assume that a woman does not have the strength to make a decision for herself, no matter how dire the situation is.

‘Think of it this way- within the limitations which may have been imposed on her, she will still most likely decide to do what is best for her, in that situation. Of course, I am not saying the situation will always be good and that it shouldn’t be improved. My point is that women are incredibly strong. And one can be strong in many ways. We have a quiet strength that doesn’t fade, whatever the situation might be.

We are not mere caretakers, passively taking care. We are caregivers, because we willingly give that care. And this is how we celebrate Women’s Day every day- by reminding ourselves about this quiet strength, that knows when to become loud.’

And that, dear friends, is the power of flipping the script! Team UHR extends warm Women’s Day wishes, to all the strong women. We salute the strength that can be quiet, gentle, kind and loud, powerful, assertive in equal measure.

From Old to New to Old: A Reminder About Being ‘Good’ At Our Jobs

Ashok had decided to start his own recruiting firm. He felt he had enough of experience working in the industry and now it was time to start something on his own.

Janki had been thinking about going back to her job as a programmer now that her child had grown up enough. Her industry had undergone massive shifts during her maternal sabbatical, and she had quite a task to do with all the upskilling and re-training that she was going to need.

Ajeet had been a successful architect, having made a name for himself for years, and with many famous projects to his name. But he had now decided to change tracks and start working at an NGO that provided vocational training to the underprivileged.

In all these different cases, there is one thing in common.

You may guess that all of them seem to be people going after their passion. But maybe Janki’s case is just that she wants to get back to working, passion or not, we do not know.

You may guess that all of them seem to be people who are starting something new. Maybe, but Ashok is starting a new recruiting company, but he isn’t unfamiliar with recruiting. Similarly, Janki isn’t completely unfamiliar with programming.

You may guess they are all taking a leap of faith in trying to do something out of their established lives. They are all seeking to venture out of their familiar zones. While that is true, there is one common thing that binds all these cases together, and that is they might take time to get ‘efficient’ at their new ventures.

In their old established jobs, they could put in 20% of effort and would be able to reap 80% of the outcomes. That 80/20 ratio of the Pareto Principle may go for a toss for these people as they undertake something new.

Like we said, they may need more time to get things done. To feel like they actually ‘achieved’ their dreams.

This is a thought a lot of us may have when we think of following what our heart tells us. The world around has trained us for instant gratification. We want instant results and instant effectiveness. We want the results of the Pareto Principle where 20% of our efforts are enough to get 80% of the results.

But the truth is that venturing out of our familiar comfort zones has an initial cost, and that is our time. Learning something new requires our time and we may not get immediately efficient at the task. In those moments, it is tempting to give it all up for the comfort of old efficiency. Ashok may need some time to understand how to manage an entire firm, formulate its policies from the scratch, manage personnel and he may be tempted to go back to his old job where he just had to follow his boss’s policies. Janki may need some time to upskill and understand the new developments in her industry and she may be tempted to go back to her life as a stay-at-home mother. Ajeet may need a lot of time to understand how an NGO works, and it maybe tempting to him to go back to his job as architect where his years of practice come to him automatically.

But what Ashok, Janki, Ajeet (and all of us!) should remember is that their ‘old’ old jobs also required years for them to gain mastery. It was years of experience and hard work that made them an efficient recruiter, earlier programmer and later mother and architect. Years of hands-on experience and hard work for them to achieve the 20/80.

Any new path, any stepping out of comfort zones may not give us instant results. Efficiency takes time to develop. Does that mean we give up?

Of course not!

When we begin something new, the path is rarely easy. In those moments, we might need to give more time to things. We may need to work overtime (and not be a clock-watcher at that!). An old task we have been doing for years may require less time than a new task we have just learnt. But just because we aren’t efficient now, doesn’t mean we cannot get efficient ever!

Getting ‘good’ at any new job, any new venture requires time. Instead of looking back at our old life, the path is to look forward, because soon, this ‘new’ will become ‘old’, meaning, efficiency will soon come to us!