Hard Work and Stress - Just Not The Same Thing

Hard Work and Stress.... often times considered synonymous 

Passionate about work and Getting carried away.....again often considered synonymous 

                            

With folks who have chosen what they do for the sheer love of what they do, hard work and passion are part of daily life. They carry neither 'stress', nor are they 'carried away' as they will often be told by others.

It's the conditioning of the mind which forces those terms into the same lens.

And I can talk from my own example, and I will because I've learnt this at an experiential level, in fact at a whole new level in my current job with SELCO. Not that I didn't enjoy my earlier jobs, I loved what I did at my first teaching job, then at IDBI and of course at Google, all from different perspectives. But what I do now, is at a whole new level. It's a connect from the heart.

I've always put my all into whatever I've taken up, yet I know in terms of hard work this kind of tops it...... and a lot of friends are like, slow down, you're taking on too much stress, even physically your body won't take it.

And then I get surprised, because I'm also feeling the least stressed out today, in fact never more invigorated or energized.  It actually puts you in really good space. 

Above that, I realized that stress comes from other sources.......sources or happenings or expectations that take you away from being what you are, be it at home or at work. 

A friend, long back at Google, once asked what enables happiness, joy, enthusiasm, and I remember telling him. Don't go searching for those. They are yours by default. Watch for what takes you away from them. If you can identify those and either move away or deal with them, that's your key.

Then I said it.....today I know it.