A seemingly innocent question, that all of us have been asked and we have asked so many times, to people we know, want to know or even perfect strangers- who would have been either polite to let us know what we do or would have asked us to simply f**k off!

The irony of our times is that even as we know it ( if you don’t you must know now!) that we have 86,400 seconds each day to spend and create lasting value (something that we should be cherishing as humans),we often end up wasting majority of these seconds doing stupid, outrageous and absolutely worthless deeds!

This is what a typical day at the office now a days looks like- office sponsored bitching sessions which are agenda driven, self-started and individually driven bitching sessions to meet and arrive at individual objectives, then department wise bitching sessions to screw that performing or no-performing department with tact and tenacity, sharing opinions on social media posts, images, videos and giving a point of view on every f***ing thing (irrespective whether or not you have requisite qualifications/ experience), have those smoke breaks and lunch breaks with precision and in all this mayhem if you get the time and attention- do some work!

Well there is also a method to this madness, according to me, organisations can be broadly classified into two types- “Future Fit” and “Available Now”. It does not matter which industry or what service you provide, whether you bake cakes or build a rocket engine- doesn’t really matter!

Future Fit organisations are far and few- stand out for all the right and wrong reasons, they succeed and fail and and rise again and keep going- experimenting, staying lean, mean and normally will stifle laid norms and compel to bring about changes in mass public behavior to ensure their success and will ensure that the change effort remains constant- because if that stalls- they will begin to write their tombstone! These organisations are feverishly paced as they need to be on the Tango on an ongoing basis to ensure they do not end up being redundant and this one major attribute that cuts out all the non-productive crap that organisations normally enjoy and end up paying employee for bitching about their low lives rather then working to move the firm ahead!

Available Now- organisations often have a God father- an investor who is high on ancestral fortune, governments which are good at managing the balance sheets and good at begging and borrowing at international levels! The type of people you can feel within the confines of these units are the majority of those people who are always busy and always in a meeting!

Whiling away precious seconds, minutes and hours just to keep blabbering in an one act show of never ending one upmanship and “I know more than you” and all that non-productive rhetoric, discussions on the font size of a power point slide which may also call for opinion polls and have votes- planning for the team outing (which is three months away) in advance for an overnight affair at a location less than 100 miles away! These “Available Now” places are actually great places to learn human behavior, insecurities and know exactly what not to do so that you don’t end up wasted with your life like these morons are- and all the time they have this hippy like grin which is not even warranted! At least hippies learn and soak in the experiences that the world has to offer to the unstoppable vagabonds!

A larger part of these “Available Now” organisations also stems from the fact that, they have been intentionally built to have mediocre jobs which actually can be done by anyone (yes I mean anyone). Take this simple test- Just reflect on what you are doing- and ask your self one simple question- “Does this need me to be doing this”? and if the answer is “yes” well treat yourself, you just got lucky because you are among the top 1% of the global workforce who like to slog with purpose and are driven by their slavery and slogging and if you have answered in the “no” don’t loose heart you are part of a bigger community of loosers how are born to get the pay check- pay the bills and die, after that the next one on the line takes your seat en route to the graveyard!

It really does not matter or depend on what vocation you have chosen to earn that extra can of beer or three square meals a day. What is important here,is how congruent is your conduct and approach to your choices in what you choose to do- given the context that you may be a soulful person- religious or not- matters not- the idea here is being able to appreciate your involvement from a level wherein it resonates as part of your extended self in what you choose to do and what you express within and outward!

Irrespective of which type of organisation you are part of, or want to create one- as long as you have simple checks and balances with regards to spending the designated and fixed seconds that each one of us gets encased every day (if we wake up- that is), things will seem soulful and meaningful not only to you, but everyone and everything that you create around yourself- the value of your invested seconds will amplify and beget more value and purpose driven seconds to create even more wonderful and meaningful things!

So, as I leave to grab my cup of coffee, leave you with these thought, stay invested wisely in your daily account of 86,40 seconds and make each of them count and help you create and add value to yourself, people around you and everything that you aspire to do! keep up the speed!

Until next time….ciao for now….and do let me know what you want to read next about! Add meaning- one second unto the next…keep going!