Turns out “life of leisure” is busy.

I wanted to write this article not because of the need to share how much I have been toiling (truth is, I could have done more), I wanted to share my learnings and for it to serve as a constant reminder for myself, so that we can start approaching “work and life” differently.

I have had the privilege to meet with many accomplished individuals over the past 18 months, almost all of them are strangers to me before we met. The networking/ coffee culture in the US is really unique and something we should all do if time allows. What I treasure most is the human connection - every single story about how each of them find their ways into their current role/ profession/ calling/ life is different, the common thread lies in everyone’s generosity in sharing.

Here are some of the things I learned after 18 months of coffee, 100+ new connections and endless self-reflection:

1. Happiness must have a goal and challenges - you need to actively seek them out

2. We are not tired of work, only tired of the way we are using our time

3. Time is the only thing that cannot be acquired. We tend to fast forward time when we were young, willing time to move faster by focusing on the next big holiday break (I guess I am still young in this sense, ha!). But when you have the luxury to observe how time can quickly escape from your grasp, you know you need to populate your day with meaningful activity so that it does not pass you by in vain.

4. The most valuable thing someone can share with you is time, treasure every second

5. Knowing what you want is important, but not knowing does not stop you from doing

6. Do not imprison yourself with a fixed identity, you are allowed to evolve

7. Horizontal growth is just as important as vertical growth, especially in a world with exponential growth coming from every single direction

8. Embrace every single advice, but do not take all advice to heart, listen wisely

9. Be able to start over, but know that your starting point will never be zero (take every learnings from the past with you)

10. Find ways to shift our focus from success to significance. Start by finding out what issues/ activities mean the most to you, you are most passionate about

11. This, I learned from an improv class - always respond with “yes, and”, the worst you can do is say “yes, but” (try it, it’s more difficult than you thought it would be!)

12. Just enjoy and have fun - what’s more important than this?

I am sure there are more to add and I will keep coming back to it as I evolve along the way. Stay tuned!