[From Unsplash]
Good morning,
Do you sometimes feel you have achieved most of the things that you have set out to achieve, and yet there is a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction? And then, you sense that the dissatisfaction is because you have achieved most of the things, but not all. Therefore you work harder to achieve some more? If you are on this path, you might want to take a pause and listen to Simon Sinek. In Start with Why, Sinek writes:
“A wise man once said, ‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it pays for the yacht to pull alongside it.’ There is great truth in this statement. The yacht represents achievement; it is easily seen and, with the right plan, completely attainable. The thing we pull alongside represents that hard-to-define feeling of success. Obviously, this is much harder to see and attain. They are distinct concepts, and sometimes they go together and sometimes they don’t. More importantly, some people, while in pursuit of success, simply mistake WHAT they achieve as the final destination. This is the reason they never feel satisfied no matter how big their yacht is, no matter how much they achieve. The false assumption we often make is that if we simply achieve more, the feeling of success will follow. But it rarely does.
“In the course of building a business or a career, we become more confident in WHAT we do. We become greater experts in HOW to do it. With each achievement, the tangible measurements of success and the feeling of progress increase. Life is good. However, for most of us, somewhere in the journey we forget WHY we set out on the journey in the first place. Somewhere in the course of all those achievements an inevitable split happens. This is true for individuals and organisations alike.”
It pays to go remote
In January Sridhar Vembu, founder of Zoho Corp, made an interesting comment: “There is a much bigger world out there, he said, and smaller cities offer abundant opportunities, resources and talent, which metro cities won’t allow an entrepreneur to realise.” Vembu was in conversation with Sharad Sharma, co-founder at iSpirt Foundation, at Beacon2022, an ideas festival hosted by the BITS School of Management and curated by Founding Fuel. He went on to explain what that can mean to India II and India III and how he uses this thinking to create new opportunities at Zoho. We listened in with much interest and wondered if it may be relevant to other parts of the world. Turns out, it is.
The Financial Times reports how countries such as Portugal in Europe are using skills people acquired to get acquainted with working remotely to wean them to smaller towns. Over the years, young people had been migrating out of smaller towns and villages.
“In an attempt to reverse the trend, the country’s recently re-elected Socialist party government is offering up to Euro 4,800 ($5,280) to persuade workers to relocate to the countryside. ‘The idea is to attract young people back to these areas that have been suffering from a gradual loss of population,’ says labour minister Ana Mendes Godinho.” The report has it that 3,000 workers have taken advantage of the scheme until now.
The newspaper goes on to point out that “Portugal is not the first country to try luring professionals into rural areas. Local authorities in Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Croatia and the US are among those to have offered cash incentives over recent years.”
This is not to suggest the path is smooth. Hiccups exist and it takes some getting used to. But people have started to experiment and companies are tinkering with the idea in collaboration with local governments.
We’re watching these developments across the world with much interest.
Dig deeper
- The rise of the rural remote worker (Financial Times)
- Building Back Better: Sridhar Vembu in conversation with Sharad Sharma (Founding Fuel)
A good sleep checklist
There is a growing amount of scientific evidence to show that a good night’s sleep is important for physical, intellectual and emotional well being. In the past, we have recommended ways to get better sleep. In The Conversation, Joanne Bower, Lecturer in Psychology, University of East Anglia, offers four essential tips.
- Maintain a consistent bedtime and wake time—even on your days off. This helps your body clock get into a routine, improving your sleep.
- Seek out natural light in the morning and avoid blue light in the evening. … using electronics in the evening can result in it taking longer for us to feel sleepy.
- Avoid certain substances—such as alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.
- Allow yourself time to wind down before bed. Before bed, try using relaxation or mindfulness techniques.
Dig deeper
Smith on call
(Via WhatsApp)
Found anything interesting and noteworthy? Send it to us and we will share it through this newsletter.
And if you missed previous editions of this newsletter, they’re all archived here.
Warm regards,
Team Founding Fuel
