The Mandala and the Hourglass

I'm writing this from Cyberjaya today, where I spend two to three days a week. Being able to work anywhere I choose to gives me a lot of flexibility and joy. I get to change my scenery whenever I feel slightly stale and in the process, receive fresh insights for my work.

One of the rules of working from home or on your own is to treat your workday seriously. I always dress up for work, even if I'm spending the whole day at home. I don't like to work in shorts and T-shirts, as it makes me feel lazy. The key is to not make yourself feel too comfortable. If we feel too cozy, we tend to relax and as a result feel sleepy. Which is why, I kind of like working from a cafe: you are comfortable, yet you are in public and hence you have to keep up a certain public persona. That helps to keep you in focus.

Another trick I use to keep myself on my toes is to time my work sessions. There's an app called Clockify, which I find very useful for timing my daily sessions. At the end of the day, I can see how many hours I have been productive and how much time I spent on which project. By starting the timer, I immediately fall into a state of concentration. Knowing that the clock is ticking keeps me on my toes.

But don't all these things make work a bit stressful? No, I don't find it so because it is important to introduce some rules and rituals to automate good practices. I mentioned in a previous blog article, how devotional religious practices can actually be helpful to intellectuals, who trust their minds too much. We need to put ourselves into a state of productivity easily. Dressing up and starting the timer are physical activities which we can do easily. Once it is done, the rest follows automatically.

Self-discipline is delightful. When time is used productively and the fruits of your labour can be seen, you feel great. Everyday I try to add a little bit more to my store of knowledge and output. As I work, I learn more, which helps me to work even better. It is a virtuous cycle that is very rewarding. And tomorrow I will also wake up early to repeat the same schedule, knowing that I will have an opportunity to grow further.

We are given an opportunity on this earth to do our work. So work, for it is your sacred duty. Only through work can we defeat the forces of death and decay of which the entire universe is subject to.

Like building Tibetan sand mandalas, we must work with the realization that, ultimately everything is impermanent. Beautiful though your works may be, you have to immediately see them crumbling like sands in the hourglass. There is no despair in that. We build, knowing that everything will ultimately be destroyed. That is the cycle of birth and death. Only through whole-hearted participation do we get to transcend it.