It was compulsory for us to wear shoes when we were in school. It was a painful relationship which continued up to the tenth standard. Every morning we got up, got ready for school and then we had to wear shoes. Whether it was a sweltering weather outside or whether it rained we had to be in shoes.
But when I got back from school the feeling was liberating. To get out of those nasty shoes, to feel my feet again, it was a joy. During high school when I changed school shoes were no longer a compulsion. I never wore them ever again.
Blogging is exactly like this! Its like, like getting out of shoes for ever. For the ones who have faced the daily grind of the corporate world discovering blogging is like being on a private island with your girl of your dreams.
I was reading an article on Business world today titled “ What is wrong with Infosys?” Infosys is India’s premier software company and the very first line went like this.
“What happens when a bachelor boy meets a bachelor girl at Infosys at the cafeteria? they decide to go for dinner. Given their workload it happens three weeks later.
Funny but true. But this is the kind of job my class mates are striving to achieve and it is the kind of job which we are prophesised to as the dream job by our teachers.
Blogging on the other hand is liberating. When you blog you are not constrained by time. You are not given deadlines and you do not have to work 9 to 5. You get to spend time with your family.
Yes I am not in a rosy dream. Blogging is hard work but what is not? For me what matters is whether I enjoy the work I do and I can say before any priest that “I do”. When you love the work you do and its making you an income then work becomes play.
Yesterday I read an article on Dukeo where the chap who runs the site mentioned about his previous job which included carrying bags of flour and waiting on insane customers, which included an hour of commute, 14 hours of work and few minutes of sleep.
Elsewhere I read the story of a coal miner who lost his leg during work who now makes money flipping websites for a profit.
If I begin on examples there are scores of them but today I am more interested in telling you about the magic of the dot com lifestyle. Its a lifestyle which made Amit Agarwal call a quit to his fat job at ADP inc for clients like Goldman Sachs and end up into something more lucrative.
There are new tensions and problems which come with time but then every job has its own complications. Blogging doesn’t promise the comfort of a cubicle where you are promised to be ground for 40 hours a week and actually burdened with more but it does promise you the love of your life.
Here is a small video on “ What the dot com lifestyle is about?’”. Though its tiny it has got a ton of inspiration and tells you exactly what the dot com lifestyle is. From John chow himself.
