Yashas Mahajan's Blog

You know, as much as I like to call myself wild and erratic and this and that, there are some things that stay relatively steady.

I have heard a lot of people talk about their energy levels varying across the day based on what and when they eat, yada yada yada, a thousand other things… Somehow, I am almost never affected by this. Yes, I have gears and moods, but by far, I am always able to get things done.

And, I don’t know, it comes pretty easy to me. I am able to just instinctively drown out any of the noise that tends to follow us, or reverberate with us, and keep moving forward. Because that’s all that matters in the end, right? When one thing is done, you move to the next.

Each time before going to bed, after waking up every morning, after every meal, at any moment of emptiness, I am aware of everything else that needs to be done, and I have only one question on my mind, “What next?”

How long can I keep pushing like this? We’ll know when we know, I suppose. Unless I never do stop, right?

We’ll rest when we’re dead. Till then, let’s keep moving forward.

I think a large part of today’s work culture is built on creating and distributing stress.

Quite frankly, the industry in which I work should not be stressful at all. Yes, we do things that are important and that help a lot of people. We do make the world a better place for a significant portion of its inhabitants. If we did not exist, the world would miss us. It’s not like I work at Wall Street, after all.

Still, it’s not like I work in the ER either, right? If something doesn’t get done IMMEDIATELY, nobody dies. Nobody even suffers.

When a project comes to us with a crazy timeline, it is always from a highly disorganised client who approached us far later than ideal and is generally underprepared to begin working the project. More often than not, they are late because their internal management is not on top of things, and they will try to make us work far faster than we should, all because they didn’t start digging the well before they were already thirsty.

What does happen in this situation?

Well, first of all, key discussions about specific requirements gets missed.

Second, key inputs needed by us aren’t delivered at the right time in the right way.

Third, the team will do its bare minimum to meet the requirements within the deadline instead of working to its potential to recommend more creative and effective solutions.

All of these spell disaster.

Result? A project that should’ve taken 5 weeks but is tried to rushed through within a month, leading to additional 3 weeks of corrections. And after all this, they get a product that is 80% in quality compared to what they could’ve received if they’d just let us do things our way. But that’s just not the culture out here, is it? If the middle management isn’t actively trying to make everyone miserable, who would even notice their existence?

It’s odd working surrounded by an inordinate amount of unnecessary stress. Luckily, I don’t strain easy. I’m still Young, after all.

I think I can finally relate to Icarus.

Could really use a nap…

Or a massage…

Or a meal, honestly…

Huh…

Gotta get back to work, though.

Miles to go before I sleep…

In my entire professional career of over 5 years, I have never missed a single deadline.

Ironically, as a college student, I may have never kept a single deadline, but I suppose that is a story for another time…

This impeccable record is something I have long held as a testament to my work ethic, perseverance and just overall productivity. I get things done. And that is why I have clients that keep coming back to me. It fills me with immense pride.

However, lately, I have realised that there is another way to read my record. Over my years in the industry, as my workload has been steadily increasing—which has been exponential since I started my own company—I have noticed that there is one other skill I have gained that has kept me from missing a deadline. When I say it out loud, it might sound ridiculously obvious, but I am sure most people are unable to do this. Hell, I’m sure even I wouldn’t have done it a few years earlier.

I simply don’t accept a deadline that seems unreasonable.

Easier said than done, quite often.

Still, one of the most important skills I have built over the past year or two has been the ability to negotiate schedules with clients and coworkers such that the entire process is optimised to the maximum limit from our end.

In any (or at least most) line of business, several processes are interrelated. The dependancy of one process on the other is something that can put a lot of unnecessary pressure on the people who actually have to work to get the things done. At these times, being able to talk to the middle management (sigh) clearly and directly to find a solution that actually works wherein the client does not suffer any losses but you and your team does not work itself to the bone is a vital skill for any leader to have.

Give the client everything you can without sacrificing your long-term health and productivity, not even by an inch. That is how you keep things running like clockwork for years.

Miles to go before I sleep.

Don’t you hate it when one minor change in your schedule—regardless of its own innate nature or origin—leads to another, which leads to another, then another, then another, until your entire week is thrown off rhythm?

Hah… It is the worst.

I suppose I should have more buffers in my schedule.

You know, I sat down here with the complete intent of writing something extremely bleak and pessimistic.

I’ve had a great week personally, but the world around us has been on fire. It is hard not to be weighed down by it, right?

Then, just as I opened my draft and begun to type, I got a text… which turned into a conversation… which turned into a gleaming reminder of everything that is good in this world. In my world—which is small and pretty and always warms my heart.

A quiet life filled with love and hope and joy, isn’t that the greatest rebellion of all?

As long as we have that, we have enough to live to keep fighting another day.

Tatakae…

So, what do you do when you have roughly 20–24 hours of work to finish off over the next two days?

Most “normal” people would try to hit 10–12 hours each day, right? Seems logical enough.

Actually, most logical, sane people would ask me why I even have THAT much work scheduled for just two days.

Why DO I, now that I think about it?

No, let’s not go there. There are some questions that lead nowhere, right?

And of course, I didn’t do the normal, sane thing. Instead, I went hard on the first day, working some 16 hours today.

Interestingly enough, I’m not particularly tired.

I mean, I am tired, of course, but it’s just “I guess it’s time for bed” tired, not “Holy Mother of God, I shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing anymore” tired.

I’ve had enough food and water throughout the day. I kept taking short but adequate breaks to stretch my limbs and relax my eyes.

It’s almost like I’m built for these kind of marathons, right?

It’s almost like I’m built this way intentionally.

So, I have been having a crazy week.

My workdays have stretched past the 12-hour mark consistently for the last 8 or 9 days by now.

And in my life of work, a 12-hour workday doesn’t include multiple hour-long meetings where other people talk while you zone out. I’m not working a shift just trying to run out the clock.

If I’m working for 12 hours, I’m actually working for 12 hours.

And this current string of projects has been especially heavy. I can’t go into detail (because NDA), but it is quantised such that I have to work in blocks of 5–7 hours.

Cannot do less than 2 blocks a day. That’s not lucrative enough.

Cannot do a fraction of a block at a time. I’ll lose track and end up wasting hours upon hours just getting back in rhythm. Not a viable option.

It’s been a heavy week. I expect roughly 3 more such weeks.

My eyes are weary. My forearms ache.

And, as ridiculous as it might sound, I am NOW leaving for the gym.

Because, of course I am, right?

Indomitable Spirit!

Ah, I’m so gonna die…

So… every now and then, I do something dumb, and instead of making a big deal out of it, I just ignore it. I pick myself up, dust myself off, and walk away.

Shit happens. It is what it is, and we don’t need to talk about it.

Heck, there isn’t anything to talk about in the first place.

Fevers are the worst. I hate them more than almost anything else.

They just render me so… non-functional.

I can’t see or hear much. Can’t really smell or taste too well either. My whole body feels weighed down. My joints ache.

Everything feels just a little bit worse.

BUT there is one silver lining.

No, not the rest I get. I hate it.

No, the one interesting thing about fevers is the deliriums I get!

So, as I’ve mentioned over the past few weeks, I have recently resumed writing, and it’s been going pretty well. I really like the way the world is coming together.

So, while I was ill, during each of my deliriums, I got thrown into my own world, where I was watching scenes from the story suddenly come to life. Scenes that I hadn’t even conceived just yet. And they were so detailed and vivid, so alive!

It was crazy, mostly, but it was an interesting experience.

Of course, all things considered, it was still not worth the rest of the pain and discomfort. Just, we take the best from whatever we get, right?