Work Less, Live More!

Most people opt to work 9 to 5 in a job, and maybe spend less than 5 weeks a year on holiday enjoying life with loved ones, exploring new things or working on fulfilling personal projects - WHAT A SHAME! We live in a so called 'modern society' which pretends to have all the answers but cannot even allow its own citizens to be free from a system which is akin to slavery or robotics. The truth is: slavery does not exist in the developed world, yet we still choose to be slaves and work as robots to acquire an invented idea called money. Interesting.

Why do we do this, and what excuses do we and society have?

• We need to work to pay our bills
• We need to work to put food on the table
• We need to work to pay our mortgage
• We need to work to pay for our luxuries

All of the above may be true and we may not see them as excuses because they are a question of financial survival, however ultimately they are all choices we have made and at any given point in time, we can choose to undo those choices with little severe impact in most cases:

• If you have bills to pay, you can cut your losses by reducing uncritical expenditure e.g. moving to a simpler phone package (pay as you go perhaps?), using the internet at your library, watching freeview TV or YouTube videos only etc. Point being: a lot of our expenses are comfort expenses, they are not really necessary for survival.
• For example, if you're paying a mortgage, you could sell your house to pay it off or rent it out to a set of tenants and live in cheap rented accommodation yourself, or move in with a friend or relative. Point being: stop complaining that it's not possible and start thinking outside of the box.
• The only thing necessary for survival of you and your family/children is food. Food luckily we can actually grow ourselves with little effort, in the meantime you can cut back on luxury foods, and still eat comfortably. Worst comes to worst, you can take your family to a Gurdwara everyday for sustenance. Point being: regular healthy food is easy to obtain.
• We don't need many luxuries, they just make life more comfortable, but we don't need them. Also, chances are that you're not really a big spender and you only need bouts of comfort from time to time e.g. a holiday, a spa day, a cruise etc. Also, cutting out luxuries does not mean living poor, it means living smart. For example, selling old clothes and buying new clothes, instead of just accumulating new clothes! Point being: don't live poor, live smart

The underlying rule to all of this rambling? THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH!

I admittedly have always spent a few hours in my job, working on my own personal projects whether it be coordinating the development of a new piece of exciting software (like Sikher), tinkering with a website, managing an event, or even writing an article such as this one. Working a few hours on my own projects, after finishing all of my work at work, always gave me some breathing space, some sanity - it was an opportunity for me to express my full set of skills and qualities, which could not really be expressed in any of my work tasks.

Also, I often finished my entire day's work in a couple of hours, partially because I would find an automated way to complete my task, especially if it was a repetitive one. My managers would often get tired of having to set me new tasks, so in the interim I would work on my own, much more fulfilling projects.

My philosophy has always been that computers are designed and specialised in doing repetitive, automated tasks, so why should I do them? My time as a human being should be spent doing what no computer can do: bringing forth new creative ideas and concepts into reality. These very powerful (and somewhat spiritual) ideas in me meant that I could never be fulfilled doing a job and also that no job could stretch me to my true potential. I therefore one day declared to myself that I would NEVER WORK IN A JOB EVER AGAIN.

It's a pretty powerful statement to make, and there's no turning back from it. I went against every advice given to me, and have never looked back since. One can survive quite easily, comfortably without needing to work as such. Perhaps bouts of doing a few businesses deals, selling products or services here and there would not go amiss, but money is not a requirement for life, richness is.

Richness comes from within, when you feel completely fulfilled and at peace with yourself. Richness is beyond all wealth. Even an investment banker isn't as rich as me, I'm one of the richest human beings in the Universe because I have the freedom to live in joy, express my heart, do what I love, have all the time to do it in, have only deadlines which I create myself, and have the whole world's possibilities at my fingertips, the power to create anything or destroy anything, all with humility, gratitude and compassion.

Lakshmi - Goddess of Wealth

Let me destroy another lingering doubt in your mind, the thought you need money to create something or do something. You don't need money ladies and gentlemen, you need the unwavering commitment and desire to pursue something. You should be so convinced that you can achieve it, that everyone around you also becomes convinced, and out of those who are convinced one will become your financier. Money will come to you!

Do not think about money, think about how to add true value to people, how you can serve and give people what they are truly seeking, how you can contribute to their lives. Give without any expectations of return. This is where our trust in spiritual wisdom is tested because there are no two ways about it, we must apply the wisdom to get the result, else we fall into the traps of the survival mind, running after money again and again and again. Let Lakshmi chase you, Vishnu will be jealous and give you anything to get his wife back.

The result of all this? I hope you will start freeing up your time to help contribute to other people's lives, rather than living a selfish lifestyle where you are trapped in the mode of survival. If a lot of people begin to do this and free themselves from their self-created trappings, we then have enough people to build a new world full of joy, freedom and abundance. Right now, most people would LOVE to start an ashram or a school in India or create their own charity or business, but never have the time to do it. Imagine what people could create if they knew they did not HAVE to work, and that the idea we HAVE to work is the biggest lie any parent, teacher or government ever told us? Just imagine...Sat Naam.