The Future of Time Investment
Introduction In the new hyper automated age, Return on Time Invested (ROTI) would depend paradoxically on areas of personal growth that are expected to remain free of automation. This piece is about getting a sound Return on Time Invested (ROTI) in the foreseeable future, which is, for purposes of this article, the next 100 weeks of our life. Before we decide what ‘sound’ in this context is, let us revisit the baby-new world that is being born even as I type these lines. The Future is Already Here The future is already here. Driverless cars, coliving, hyperloop travel, commercial space travel, the colonizing of other planets, and living forever are ideas that either exist or are very close to becoming commonplace realities. How many jobs, professional specializations, and professions will go the way of the thatcher, the telegrapher, the typist, the horse buggy driver, the mail-runner? Hyperloop and the Changing World of Transportation Hyperloop, a magnetic levitation vehicle, does not touch any surface and has therefore been likened to an airplane in terms of technology as well as travelling experience. However, as it operates in a sealed chamber, its routines would not be as impacted by the vagaries of extreme weather as an airplane. A road journey from Mumbai to Pune that is covered today in about two hours by road would be covered in just thirteen minutes once Hyperloops are available for the public. Automation, AI, and the Future of Jobs The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2018 report cites an estimate that the changing relationship between humans and machines may result in the displacement of 77 million jobs globally and the creation of 133 million new roles by 2022. Now, if you really wish to add an extra edge to your pessimism, Humans Need Not Apply by CGP Grey with its 17 million views on YouTube is just what you need. The sum of what the video is saying is that the bots are coming for our jobs. Grey points out that human workers are like horses that were used for transportation before automobiles emerged on the scene. The global horse population peaked in about the first quarter of the 1900s, and then went downhill from there because automobiles were cleaner, cheaper, and easier to maintain. Today, there are general-purpose robots that learn new tasks by simply observing them. The repetition of jobs once observed by bots is, thereafter, a simple matter. Sure, they presently only function at one-tenth of human speed, but they also finish the same tasks for one-hundredth of the cost. So, what would an hour of your life pay you in terms of money in this ever-changing world? There are no clear answers, but you could look at two personal ‘to-do’ areas irrespective of your area of specialization that could supplement your ROTI or what you earn in monetary terms in an hour. Two Key Areas to Improve Your ROTI 1. Self-work and Creativity With the creation and distribution of audio-visual media in various formats becoming easier by the day, personal branding through improved grooming, public speaking skills, human connect, voice culture, and articulation will become key to standing out. It is therefore imperative that we foster a spirit of creativity in our schools, our families, and businesses as well. 2. Continuous Re-education Only those with an open mind, fast reflexes, and a readiness to return to school will survive and thrive in such an environment.
What is Your Hourly Worth?
Introduction I first came across the principle of Hourly Worth (HW) in a seminar in 2013 led by global time management guru Brian Tracy, whom I regard as an important teacher, mentor, and friend in my journey as a trainer and coach. He was so kind to endorse my book, Million Dollar Second. Understanding Hourly Worth (HW) HW is arrived at by dividing your yearly income by the total number of hours you work in a year (Tracy approximates it at 2,000 hours). So, you write down the time you spend at work in a given year minus the holidays and arrive at the total hours. If it is x dollars per hour and you decide to arrive at a better HW, say y dollars per hour. You either find ways of being better paid for the same hours or reduce the number of hours of work or do both. When I thought about this wonderful tool, I realized it was the beginning of a conversation that had immense value to offer every leader as much as it did to each person the leader was responsible for. The Scope of Hourly Worth at Work The scope of HW in any conversation on people at work is immense. Let’s consider just one here; the daily commute impact on HW. For instance, any honest evaluation of an employee’s HW from an HR or L&D leader’s perspective must include the hours lost in the daily commute, and the inconvenience caused by it. It must also consider the suffering (which is qualitative but can be measured on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest level of inconvenience) that three to four hours of commuting in a normal working day have on the personal, familial, social and professional life of the employee. The sufferings of daily commuters to a business district are exacerbated by the fact that traffic flows overwhelmingly in one direction during the rush hours. Now, an employee may not consciously process his HW with such clarity, but the hours lost in overcrowded public transport are nobody’s gain. Seen in perspective, this wastes over ten working days per month in cities like Mumbai. The Gap Between Employee and Organizational Perspective What this speaks of is the gap between HW seen from the employee’s perspective and the same person’s HW perceived by an organization’s leaders who could be disinclined to take the HW discussion beyond the eight hours they are legally/ professionally responsible for. However, any initiative by an organization that improves the HW from the employee’s perspective is bound to positively impact work efficiency, job satisfaction, attrition, and the overall culture of the organization. Ways Organizations Can Improve Hourly Worth Examples of how this can be done include: The Rise of Work From Home (WFH) While surviving through the COVID-19 Pandemic, we were in a way compelled to adopt the Work-From-Home culture due to prolonged Lockdowns across the Globe. In a span of a few months, many MNC’s saw the difference and the impact this shift brought along, which made way for official announcements to extend this WFH model even after the lockdown was lifted. The recent idea from Tata Steel of ‘Work from Anywhere’ makes me think of innovations that are likely to emerge in the near future and stay even after the effects of COVID 19 fade away. Conclusion Start calculating your Hourly Worth and take the first step towards making every second of your life count for what it’s worth! Application of this seemingly simple idea has changed some people’s lives. See what it did to Jogesh Jain, my TTST Alumni and mentee, who has emerged as India’s #1 Employability Coach. Watch Jogesh Jain’s Hourly Worth Story
Multitasking is Task-switching
Introduction Don’t we all do it? Texting while walking, sending emails during meetings, chatting on the phone while cooking dinner and making telephone calls while driving or walking on the road? In today’s society, doing just one thing at a time seems downright luxurious, wasteful, and is considered out of fashion. We think, as amazing multitaskers, we are great achievers! Wow! We pat ourselves, and even show off, on and off social media that we can multitask and do many things simultaneously. You think that you can concentrate and do a number of tasks simultaneously, you can get more productive and get your tasks done faster? The Myth of Multitasking I have been a proud multitasker for over 4 decades. It was in 2014 when Col Nandu Warrior, in a workshop, made a statement, “The human brain is not capable of multitasking.” I vehemently disagreed and argued. I was proud of doing and achieving more than my peers and was often complemented for it. However, it left a doubt in my mind and considering his knowledge and the credibility he enjoyed, I decided to check it out. My in-depth study that followed, made me realise that I had been a victim of this MYTH for over forty years. The truth I discovered is so different. Research shows that multitasking does not make us half as efficient as we like to believe. The hard fact is that human beings cannot multitask in the true sense. Guy Winch, author of Emotional First Aid states, “What we call multitasking is actually task-switching.” When it comes to attention and productivity, our brains have a finite amount,” he says. Let me share this wisdom with you with 9 strong reasons why you should stop indulging in multitasking. 9 Reasons Why You Should Stop Multitasking 1. Multitasking Can Damage Your Brain Have you experienced writing emails or a serious proposal during a meeting or while attending a webinar? You’re asking your brain to split its attention and it is not wired for that. For the brain, it is cognitive overload, and it dulls the brain and it retards our response time. 2. Multitasking Makes You Less Productive In this act of task-switching the brain consumes more time to switch tasks than the total time one would take if you concentrate on one at a time. Studies have revealed that multitasking can reduce the productivity by as much as 40%. 3. Multitasking Makes You Dumb Although that may sound somewhat harsh, the fact is that repeated exposure to multitasking adversely affects your alertness and even intelligence. 4. Multitasking Can Even Weaken Your Memory Frequent task-switching can affect your memory cells negatively. When you are juggling between two different activities, you cannot be paying proper attention to any one of them. So whatever you are doing or learning, you will not be able to recollect it properly later. 5. Multitasking Makes You Prone to Errors According to Weinschenk, “you make more errors when you switch than if you do one task at a time. If the tasks are complex then these time and error penalties multiply.” Multitasking itself is not as harmful as cutting corners due to pressures of working against time. 6. Multitasking Kills Your Creativity While multitasking, your attention hops from one problem to another. This makes you lose focus and concentration at the tasks at hand. It is quite possible to work on a few similar tasks at one time, when it comes to serious problem-solving, it’s a big challenge. The concentration suffers affecting your creative instincts. 7. Multitasking Causes Anxiety A major disadvantage of multitasking is that feeling of anxiety which is the result of frequent loss of concentration. The symptoms of interrupted work can range from psychological to even physical. 8. Multitasking is a Waste of Time Contrary to the common belief, multitasking takes away a lot of time in attention-switching. The time spent on the reset is far greater than the usual perceived time-saving. That is the simple tragedy. 9. Multitasking Lowers the Quality of Your Work When you multitask, your work suffers, for sure. Research shows that multitasking reduces performance and makes project completion much longer. I have experienced it many times. I have tried sending emails on my phone, in a meeting and ended up sending it to a wrong address or a different attachment went, as compared to the one I intended. And there are chances I missed some proceedings of the conference, in that duration, too. Conclusion In the present day and age, work pressures force us to multitask. And I think it’s okay, if you indulge in it selectively and consciously keeping the above in mind. Do not miss a series of 5 videos on Multitasking on my YouTube channel. Watch the Multitasking Video Series
