Once there was a boy named Guddu. Guddu was a very hard working and an ambitious guy and had a big dream of becoming an entrepreneur like Bill Gates. Hence, he worked very hard in the office. Obviously, he got many appreciations and awards for that. But with every award, his workload was increasing and he was getting even more busy in life.
Seeing this, Guddu’s mom thought that marriage is probably the only way to change Guddu. Hence, she got him married to a beautiful girl named Gudiya. But being stubborn as a mule, this workaholic guy Guddu didn’t change. He did not even plan for their honeymoon in all his busyness.
Fortunately, Guddu’s wife Gudiya was very considerate hence, she never made a fuss about it. One day, she just asked Guddu “Honey, you keep getting appreciations and award for your work. But can you make more impact in the same small company. Why don’t you try for a new big brand name”. Guddu bought the idea and switched to a big brand name.But to his dismay, the new company with a big brand handed him a messier project to handle. Used to working his ass off, Guddu took up the challenge and started making strategies to fix issues there. But with this, he again got very busy.
In the meantime, Gudiya gave a good news to Guddu “Honey, you are about to become a father”. Guddu was on cloud nine to hear this. But as luck would have it, just after 8 months, he was chosen to go to onsite for an urgent assignment.
The day Guddu was attending a workshop with the customer, he got the news that his Gudiya has been hospitalized. True to his workaholic nature, he still continued with full day workshop until it was finished. In the evening, he called up his mom. Here is what mom said, “son, You have become a father of a cute little girl. Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life”. His mom’s word hit him like a ton of bricks. But before he could plan anything, he was asked to stretch the onsite tour for another few months. He had no option but to stay, he was longing to meet his cute little daughter each day he stayed at onsite.
Finally, when one day his frustrations reached the limit he resigned from his lucrative onsite job with this big brand name and came back to his Gudiya and her daughter. But something happened at home which hurt him even hard. His cute little 6 months daughter took him as a stranger and was not even ready to look at him for many days to come.
In the heat of the moment, Guddu thought “Enough is enough, I am not going to sacrifice all my personal life just for the sake of living to just become materialistically successful”. And with this promise, his life changed. He lived a balanced and happy life thereafter with his beautiful small family.
He learned the lesson in a hard way that it’s important to strike a balance between work, health, and relationships. “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life”.
P.S. – Delivered this speech as my ACB (Advance Communicator Bronze) project at Toastmasters. This is project three from Storytelling Manual.
Some great articles on Busy trap –
- http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/?_r=0
- http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636612-time-poverty-problem-partly-perception-and-partly-distribution-why