'This March is Mine' - The 1.5% rule

Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed. – St Francis de Sales

As I sit down to write this column, I am surrounded by people with subtle reminders of the 50 vibrant shades of Holi and of course, looking rather embarrassed at the perhaps well-deserved overdose of fun! We started the 'March is Mine' series with a lot of colour. The big question is can we keep the vibrancy of the colours alive? 

I have often wondered, why we leave out these little engines of positivity in our everyday lives. Saturdays and Sundays are already fun days. What do we need to bring colour into our lives everyday? Why can't we have some vibrant shades of Holi, every Monday? What stops us from experiencing the moments of joy and rejuvenation of Christmas and Easter, every Tuesday? Can we bring the festivities of Eid, into our lives every Wednesday? Can Fridays be a day of rejuvenation and fresh beginnings like we do on New Year's Day? Can we bring in a little bit of fun every weekday?

Let's try this for March, which is just some 15 odd working days. I know what you are thinking. Who has the time? Who has the money? Who has the resources? So try this. As you return to yet another Monday, here is what I want you to do.

Step 1: Pull out a pen and paper, or if you are a smartphone user, start typing. Think of the last week or the last three months and list down the tiny events that gave you immense happiness. 

Step 2: Next to each event, write down how much money it cost you, in exact rupee or dollar terms. If the event was free, think about how much time it took, in minutes. I think you will find they did not cost much money or time, but they gave you immense satisfaction. It made you feel nice. 

That brings us to the question of why we build a barrier by separating work as work and play as just play. Why can we not merge the two? Can work and play exist in glorious harmony? Can work be enhanced with play? The answer is a rather resounding yes. 

This week’s column is about people who took their work and made it into play and obviously took the biggest risk of their lives. 

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul’s estate Henry David Thoreau

The science and the importance of play in the field of performance and positivity is rather underserved and at the least, misunderstood. 

Let me explain. Human being operate in rhythms, the most popular being circadian rhythms or the rhythm of day and night. We feel alert a few hours after we have woken up and sleepy late at night. 

We also operate in an ultradian rhythm, when we start an activity, we move towards an ultradian peak, and after 90 minutes of doing any activity but no later than 120 minutes, we hit the ultradian dip. When we encounter an ultradian dip, our concentration and focus begins to waver. We begin to feel lethargic or just more irritable to the distractions around us. Things that normal do not normally bother, begin to gnaw at your nerves. 

That is the time, you need to just withdraw from the activity and take a break. Taking a break makes business sense. In a research conducted in a Bank and published in the Harvard Business review by Schwarz, employees who renewed their energies saw a 13% increase in loans and 20% higher revenue in deposit.

Ultradian dips occur through the day and the best antidote is play or even a nap. Here is a daring though scientifically proven tip, which was authored by Sara Mednick Mark Ehrman in a book called, Take a nap, change your life. They have proven that a power nap of just 20 minutes (not a long siesta) can leave you energised and motivated to take on the challenge that you were about to abandon.

The next best thing is to indulge in constructive play. The best person to talk about play and more specifically play-writing is Niren Bhatt. Niren is a writer on the famous show Taarak. “I realised that each person has a purpose in life, mine is to write. There is no point getting suppressed by financial insecurities and do something that I was not born to do. My worst nightmare was to tell my kid at the age of 50, your father was an artist too when he was young”. So he gave up a job as a business consultant to become a writer. He made play his raison d’etre, his reason to be. 

If you think it was all so easy, his first play found no takers. The first six TV shows that he wrote, never made it. He wrote scripts for five films and did not get any remuneration. When he got a break in TV, it was for a late night horror show on a channel with the lowest ratings. In his words, “I blew away all my savings, but never gave up. Slowly I crawled my way to making a foothold in this industry”. 

What kept him going? A combination of his meaning in life and his zest to change the perception that art and culture can be used for its true purpose. A play, film, poem or a TV show, can make people think differently. It can perhaps ignite a thought or two and most importantly, put a smile on someone’s face. And we know how important a smile is. 

That is where we get to the first exercise of the week. It is what Positive Psychologists call, Play.

Play is just doing something a little differently. Instead of going through yet another 'normal' week, plan to say yes to yourself. Say yes to what you would normally say no to. Research shows that when you do something new or out of the ordinary, the brain releases dopamine, which aids in learning. Learning is fun, when it is something that you want to learn. 
You could open YouTube and watch a movie clip or an inspiring speech or a section of your favourite film or Niren’s work in Taarak or his other award winning movies. If you do not consider yourself a “social person”, then plan a lunch with someone that you have not had lunch with. If you feel, you are too focused on work; plan to learn how to let go for a moment and leave office 20 minutes earlier and drop into a park. Before going home, treat yourself to a 15-minute coffee or bhel-puri break. Observe how the vendors make the bhel or coffee. Observe their art and skill. Maybe, it is time to discover your writing skills. Plan to write a random email to friends that you have not spoken to in a while. Maybe enroll into a free class or go to an art exhibition. Learn a new skill. Or just sit back and observe the world around you. 

One of the most recommended activities is to get in touch with nature. Nature can come in the form of the small park close to your house or a weekend getaway. MV Shreeram, the founder of Darter Photography sums it up, “In the day and age when we are losing our connect with nature, I think it is significant. Art and photography are a great source of relaxation for people watching them. It is important to have a hobby as it takes the mind off everyday life (even for a short while), thereby rejuvenating the person and also helping them think out of the box for everyday problems.” 

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare, is to lose oneself.” Soren Kierkegaard 

Shreeram had “an itch to learn more about the world”. He had a deep interest in photography and travel. He helps people connect with nature and wild life and mentors amateur photographers in the art and science of photography. 

Nature has been researched, and in a study, people who spent just 15 minutes strolling in a natural setting were not only happier, but also better at solving problems. Kaplan and Berman, whose papers were published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, found that even just browsing through photos of nature calms people down and give them time for reflection and most importantly, increase attention spans of people. 

Play is good for you. Some people give up their jobs for play and some for nature. There are some who devote their careers to another gift of nature, dogs. Preeti Sood started Poochmate, a premium spa service for those really lucky four legged pets. Her rewards come in the form of “Endless cuddles, sloppy kisses, from the furries, face licking and return visits”. She does not “work” any more. Her play has remained as play. She is out to convert pet "owners" into pet parents. She wants to teach genuine care to “parents” that a well-groomed pet is a happy, bouncy, cuddly, tail wagging pet. When I met her, she looked happier than ever before. Working with your passion changes your life. It is a risk but the journey is simply exhilarating. You just need to dive in. 

Since this is March, she will have more furries walking in through the door and strutting out with a new hairstyle and a shiny new coat to show off. Remember, 'This March is Mine', even the four legged folks will agree. 

Just like Preeti has a love for pets, teachers who have a love for learning will thrive. Doctors who have a love for well-being will flourish. Train drivers and pilots who enjoy the thrill of  trains and pilots will be the safest folks to travel with. Insurance agents who have lived through the ups and downs of lives, and have a love and value of life are most likely to succeed. Car sale professionals who love cars and driving, will sell more cars. Shop floor assistants in fashion stores who love clothes and shoes will have customers eating out of their hands. Waiters in restaurants who love food and have a passion for feeding hungry folks will get higher tips. Customer service agents who care for customers are known to connect with everyone to learn how to serve customers better. It is never late. Start now. 

It is how you interpret “play” into your everyday work is what matters. People who can bring personal meaning into their work flourish.

Fill your life with as many moments and experiences of joy and passion as you humanly can. Start with one experience and build on it. – Marcia Maxler

You may not have the passion for dogs, but then like Mayur Bajaj, you may have a passion for music. Mayur is your typical “first day, first show” types, who spent his college days watching movies and conducting Bollywood quizzes. He keeps his colleagues enthralled with trivia on artists, music, singers, songs and anecdotes. So where does Mayur Bajaj work? In Saavn, the music company. Good choice, Mayur! His colleagues, just like him, are obviously self-selected, by their common passion for music. Before you think he is the creative types, Mayur is the hardened head of finance operations for Saavn. Obviously, you need not be a part of a music company, but all you need is a pair of earphones to plug into some energising music. 

The Final Step 3: Ultradian dips are a reality in our lives. The best way to combat the dip is to take a mini vacation every single day. Every day brings a thousand plus waking minutes. Can we slip in a 15-minute mini vacation everyday? Fifteen minutes a day account for just 1.5% of our time.Think of what play activities you can bring into your life. It does not matter what the activities are, write them down now and commit to doing at least one, if not all three! See how it feels. There is a lot of science to it, but the net result is that it will make you feel super. When you take on a new set of challenges to build skills, it makes you feel open and alive to the world. You will feel your horizons expanding in real time. It makes you want to explore and take in new ideas. Learning small new skills improves your ability to absorb new ideas. 

The evidence in the favor of play in our everyday lives is compelling. I hope I have made a compelling case for a mini vacation for you to consider. That, in short, is the 1.5% Rule to resume the 'March that is Mine'. 

With that we wish you a positive and great week of March, and just a reminder that March is Mine!