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Beyond Money’s Grasp: A Deeper Drive to Success

January 13, 2025 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Beyond Money's Grasp: A Deeper Drive to Success

Successful individuals often find themselves driven to excel long after the allure of material rewards has waned. In the early stages of a career, financial concerns often take center stage. Young professionals are preoccupied with using disposable income to repay student loans, cover daily expenses, engage in some indulgent spending, and lay the foundation for financial stability. As their careers progress, however, there’s a noticeable shift in the importance of money. This transformation varies among individuals, but nearly everyone reaches a point where the stress of bills and even luxury desires diminishes, only to be supplanted by a need for what sociologists call psychic income.

For the ultra-successful, wealth accrues at a pace that outpaces practical spending. Their life becomes abundant, yet paradoxically, time feels limited. They have the means to pursue their passions but lack the time to do so. What truly captivates these successful people are factors that transcend monetary gain. Inspiration is fueled by ego, a sense of passion, and personal fulfillment—it thrives on the stimulation of challenges and the sheer joy of the journey. Success is rooted in a sense of mastery, achievement, and making a meaningful impact.

For those still on the path to success, a valuable lesson emerges: what many successful people value about their careers when they’re already successful mirrors the same qualities they sought throughout their professional journey. When climbing the corporate ladder, they didn’t gravitate toward safe, high-paying positions. Instead, they pursued challenging opportunities, and these ventures proved to be profoundly rewarding.

Idea for Impact: Success is a complex and personal concept, shaped by a blend of factors that align with one’s values and aspirations. Once you’re no longer a slave to the coin’s cruel reign, you’ll discover the true wellsprings of inspiration—an invitation to a richer and more purpose-driven existence.

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Filed Under: Career Development, Living the Good Life, Personal Finance Tagged With: Balance, Career Planning, Getting Rich, Happiness, Money, Pursuits, Success, Winning on the Job, Work-Life

Does Money Always Motivate?

August 26, 2024 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Does Money Always Motivate? Most credible studies by psychologists and economists have indicated that money alone doesn’t accomplish much when you want to add motivation over the standard effort.

By and large, money contributes considerably to happiness as people move up from poverty. It contributes to happiness more modestly as income reaches the community’s norm. Beyond that point, money only adds a little to happiness.

People indeed welcome a raise and regret a decline. But most adapt to their change in circumstances, and the change doesn’t markedly affect their happiness over time.

This being said, ask people if they’re willing to change their job for a better one in virtually every aspect they can imagine—better environment, cooler technology, more exciting products, and broad scope for self-development—but with lower money offer, few would give in.

Idea for Impact: The money-as-a-motivator premise has some validity, but it’s not all-encompassing. For the most part, the dominant motivator for many employees is meaning—the prospect of learning and growing, engaging in stimulating work, and getting recognition for achievements.

Wondering what to read next?

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  4. Beyond Money’s Grasp: A Deeper Drive to Success
  5. How to Handle Employees who Moonlight

Filed Under: Managing People, Personal Finance Tagged With: Balance, Getting Rich, Great Manager, Happiness, Human Resources, Performance Management, Work-Life

How to … Jazz Up Life This Summer

June 20, 2024 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Summer's the Perfect Time to Break Free and Add Color to Life As the warm breeze of summer rolls in, it’s the perfect time to break free from monotony and infuse a splash of color and meaning in your life.

  • Seek Fresh Adventures. Introduce variety into your life by exploring different hobbies or activities. Try Origami, rose-breeding, Islamic architecture, or Latin dance classes for a change. Enjoy the excitement of acquiring new skills.
  • Stay Open to Surprises. Don’t drift through life, missing its wonders while chasing future goals. Recognize the beauty and enchantment around you. Break from routine, whether it’s a midnight snack or an unplanned day trip. Stay curious, engaged, and unafraid of setbacks.
  • Connect, Reconnect, Thrive. Enhance your life by rekindling old connections and forming new ones. Reach out to neglected friends and make that overdue call. Welcome opportunities to meet new people by attending social events and using social media. Each interaction offers the potential for fresh experiences and meaningful bonds.

Idea for Impact: Step out of your comfort zone, shake off the doldrums, and reignite your enthusiasm. Get out there and make it happen!

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Disrupt Yourself, Expand Your Reach.
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  3. Challenge the Cult of Overzealous Time Management
  4. Transient by Choice: Why Gen Z Is Renting More
  5. The Truth About Work-Life Balance

Filed Under: Health and Well-being, Living the Good Life Tagged With: Balance, Creativity, Mindfulness, Personal Growth, Procrastination, Pursuits, Social Life, Work-Life

Prevent Burnout: Take This Quiz, Save Your Spark

February 26, 2024 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Wondering if you’re on the burnout train?

Prevent Burnout: Take This Quiz, Save Your Spark Take this self-assessment quiz to check if you’re really feeling the burn.

  1. Are you starting and ending most days feeling like you’ve been through the wringer, both physically and emotionally?
  2. Do you carry around this constant sense of cynicism, where everyone and everything seems to let you down or drive you crazy?
  3. Have you reached a point where you’re losing the ability to connect with your colleagues or clients on an empathetic level?
  4. Ever feel like you’re stuck, like you don’t really have control over your day-to-day life?
  5. Has anyone, or maybe even your closest peeps, raised an eyebrow about some changes in your habits? Maybe you’ve amped up the drinking, smoking, eating, or other not-so-healthy behaviors?
  6. Finding it hard to finish up tasks that used to be a breeze? Procrastination starting to take over your life?
  7. Do you seem to always be in crisis mode nowadays? Any tiny change to plans or assignments causing a major freak-out?
  8. Is your body giving you more signals than usual? Are colds hitting you right after those big deadlines?

If you’re nodding along and checking ‘yes’ to four or more of these questions, it could be that burnout is paying you a visit.

Don’t brush off those burnout signs at work.

Feeling constantly tired or cranky is your cue to make some changes.

Don’t be shy about asking for help. Prioritize tasks, and make sure to carve out some me-time.

Idea for Impact: If the cracks are appearing, don’t wait for breaking point.

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  2. Great Jobs are Overwhelming, and Not Everybody Wants Them
  3. Why You Can’t Relax on Your Next Vacation
  4. How to Encourage Yourself During Tough Times
  5. The Truth About Work-Life Balance

Filed Under: Health and Well-being, Living the Good Life Tagged With: Balance, Emotions, Mindfulness, Stress, Work-Life

The Never-Ending Office vs. Remote Work Debate

November 22, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

The Never-Ending Office vs. Remote Work Debate Don’t we love talking about it endlessly! The debate on the balance between office and remote work days continues, with a possible shift from the current two or three office days to four days in the office and one day working from home.

Remote work was vital for business continuity during the pandemic, but it has limitations. In-office work fosters collaboration, innovation, and spontaneous interactions that nurture a unified company culture. It also delineates work-life boundaries, improving well-being, focus, and discipline.

The question of whether more office time boosts productivity lingers. In a cohesive company culture, flexibility in office days is crucial, tailored to the unique needs of employees, culture, and clients. Rather than strict rules, workplaces need to focus on building team chemistry and accommodating diverse work styles, enhancing collaboration and talent optimization for productivity.

Idea for Impact: The office itself doesn’t possess magical productivity powers; it’s the quality of focused, distraction-free time that drives productivity.

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  4. Can’t Ban Political Talk at Work
  5. Should Staff Be Allowed to Do ‘Life Admin’ at Work?

Filed Under: Career Development, Health and Well-being, Managing People Tagged With: Assertiveness, Balance, Human Resources, Performance Management, Teams, Time Management, Work-Life, Workplace

The #1 Warning Sign That You’re Burning Out at Work

July 21, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Burnout doesn’t happen just because you work too much. Instead, it’s investing emotionally and not getting an adequate emotional return on your investment.

The primary indicator that burnout is looming is when your patience wears thin. You’ll find yourself feeling cynical and irritable most of the time, resulting in frequent arguments or constant outbursts towards your loved ones, including colleagues and superiors.

Idea for Impact: If you feel depleted or exhausted, pace yourself and set clear boundaries. Think strategically not only about the work you enjoy but also about the life you want to lead.

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  1. The Truth About Work-Life Balance
  2. Great Jobs are Overwhelming, and Not Everybody Wants Them
  3. The Champion Who Hated His Craft: Andre Agassi’s Raw Confession in ‘Open’
  4. Busyness is a Lack of Priorities
  5. How to Leave Work at Work

Filed Under: Health and Well-being, Living the Good Life Tagged With: Balance, Life Plan, Stress, Time Management, Work-Life

Why Your Hobbies Don’t Need to Be Perfect

May 18, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

In a captivating op-ed, Columbia law professor Tim Wu explores how the pursuit of perfection has infiltrated and corrupted the realm of leisure.

If you’re a jogger, it is no longer enough to cruise around the block; you’re training for the next marathon. If you’re a painter, you are no longer passing a pleasant afternoon, just you, your watercolors and your water lilies; you are trying to land a gallery show or at least garner a respectable social media following.

Lost here is the gentle pursuit of a modest competence, the doing of something just because you enjoy it, not because you are good at it … alien values like “the pursuit of excellence” have crept into and corrupted what was once the realm of leisure, leaving little room for the true amateur.

The demands of modern life and the pressure to be constantly productive have turned hobbies into serious endeavors. The pursuit of excellence, Wu argues, is at odds with true freedom and can lead to feelings of self-judgment and inadequacy. “Demanding excellence in all that we do steals from us one of life’s greatest rewards—the simple pleasure of doing something you merely, but truly, enjoy.”

Idea for Impact: Abandon the desire to excel and fully embrace the pure delight that hobbies bring. Let them be the sanctuary where the soul can sustain itself.

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Filed Under: Health and Well-being, Living the Good Life Tagged With: Balance, Discipline, Perfectionism, Pursuits, Simple Living, Work-Life

Avoid Being Money-Rich and Time-Poor: Summary of Ashley Whillans’s ‘Time Smart’

April 13, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Stress and life dissatisfaction are often caused by being chronically “time poor”—having too many things to do and not enough time to do them. We equate time poverty with success and pay the physical and emotional price of rushing around.

'Time Smart' by Ashley Whillans (ISBN 1633698351) Harvard academic Ashley Whillans’s Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life (2020) shows that people with more free time are happier, healthier, and more productive than people who work all the time and make more money.

The effects and costs of time poverty are so stark that researchers now compare it to a famine—a severe, drastic shortage of time affecting all of society—that carries many of the attendant negative consequences that a natural disaster produces. … No matter our age, education, or income, we share the same reality: none of us knows how much time we have left. One day, time runs out and tomorrow never comes. … Chasing money is valuable to a point, but it’s an infinite errand. You can always try to get more—and research shows people do that, no matter how much money they have already. Given how precious time is, we should put it first.

Idea for Impact: Develop a time-centric mindset and work fewer hours if necessary. Consider time as currency and become more purposeful, dodging mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. Ask how much time you will give up for more money or productivity. Money is a powerful tool that can buy you time and amplify your freedom to pursue your values and priorities.

Wondering what to read next?

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  4. How to … Tame Your Calendar Before It Tames You
  5. Everything in Life Has an Opportunity Cost

Filed Under: Living the Good Life, Mental Models, Sharpening Your Skills Tagged With: Balance, Discipline, Happiness, Procrastination, Time Management, Work-Life

How to … Rethink Work-Life Balance

January 24, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

A successful corporate life demands high-level performance for sustained periods. Success doesn’t come without a price. It’s a price that those who advance to the heights of the corporate world are prepared to pay, especially if they care much about what they do. They understand that some pursuits are demanding and require a 100% commitment. They get fulfillment from going to work, as others get from spending some time on sports and hobbies.

When it’s harder than ever to separate work and play, contentment comes not so much from ‘balance’ but from defining success for yourself and setting and living your priorities. Everyone has a value system, but not everyone purposefully prioritizes things that have to be at the forefront.

Wondering what to read next?

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  3. Great Jobs are Overwhelming, and Not Everybody Wants Them
  4. Avoid Being Money-Rich and Time-Poor: Summary of Ashley Whillans’s ‘Time Smart’
  5. The Never-Ending Office vs. Remote Work Debate

Filed Under: Living the Good Life Tagged With: Assertiveness, Balance, Happiness, Time Management, Work-Life

Co-Workation Defeats Work-Life Balance

January 16, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

There’s a new workplace “wellness” movement, and travel agencies are touting it big-time.

“Workation” or “work on holidays” (WoH) invites employees to lug their work laptops along to their holiday spots, find decent Wi-Fi, and peg away full-time for a few days.

At first glance, untethering from the physical office and conventional business hours seems like a liberating lifestyle perk. But co-workations are a further erosion of work-life balance, and they’re bad for business. Here’s why.

Co-Workations subvert the very purpose of a holiday: to check out, disconnect, and recharge the batteries. Co-Workations means getting work calls at four in the morning if you’re in a different time zone than the rest of your team. Instead of feeling overworked, stressed, and deadline-obsessed at your cubicle, co-workations encourage you to feel overworked, stressed, and deadline-obsessed while lounging in a hammock surrounded by a bunch of people gaudily enjoying themselves by not working.

A practical way to encourage employees to set boundaries between their personal and professional lives is by simply not asking them to work while on vacation. Many people don’t have the self-discipline for the “psychological detachment” that’s indispensable to rest and refresh.

Idea for Impact: Inviting—empowering even—employees to check in on their work responsibilities is a slippery slope. There’s an expectation that they are more generous with their personal time and consent to being badgered on days off. Besides, when senior managers don’t truly take a vacation, they set a cultural precedent for how others should use their time away from their desks.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Why You Can’t Relax on Your Next Vacation
  2. Do Your Team a Favor: Take a Vacation
  3. Great Jobs are Overwhelming, and Not Everybody Wants Them
  4. Prevent Burnout: Take This Quiz, Save Your Spark
  5. The Champion Who Hated His Craft: Andre Agassi’s Raw Confession in ‘Open’

Filed Under: Health and Well-being, Living the Good Life Tagged With: Balance, Mindfulness, Stress, Work-Life, Workplace

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About: Nagesh Belludi [hire] is a St. Petersburg, Florida-based freethinker, investor, and leadership coach. He specializes in helping executives and companies ensure that the overall quality of their decision-making benefits isn’t compromised by a lack of a big-picture understanding.

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