The power of hitting pause during a workday

Due to the inability to carve out more personal time, employees often have a myopic view of their careers

- Geetika Sachdev

Arthak Joshi, 36, believes he's living his worklife in "autopilot mode." Once he reaches office by 9 am, his schedule almost always looks the same. "As soon as I am at my desk, I clear my inbox or respond to emails, attend calls or meetings, and then finish the mundane tasks," says Joshi, an account manager at a digital marketing agency in Delhi. "Last year just flew by without me realizing it. I was inundated with work and was only focused on completing one task after the other. I didn't get any time to put on my creative cap, think of new ideas or upskill myself. When there's so much to do, you feel too exhausted to even go home at the end of the day."

That's a day in the life of most corporate employees across the world—respond to mails, constantly check Slack, attend meetings, many of which could have been a text/email, and check items off.

"I don't think I am capable of using my creative faculties anymore. It feels like my grey matter has depleted just by focusing on survival in the corporate world," says Sakshi Pradhan, 41, a senior content specialist at a multinational in Bengaluru. "When was the last time I sat down and thought of a big idea? Probably three to four years ago."

We operate in a work world obsessed with "getting stuff done." This constant "doing" mode, which revolves around meeting short-term targets, leaves little time to hit pause during the day and focus on real work that brings joy and makes life and work worthwhile—be it achieving long-term goals or investing in learning opportunities to move up the ladder.

Recent global research by Harvard Business Review, based on the responses of 1,500 mid and senior managers, concluded that close to 40% of workers were unable to pause during the day to reflect on how to "plan and prioritize." Fifty-nine percent described meetings as "rushed," and 29% said they were unable to take the time needed to consider and respond to what others said.