How To Make Work Feel More Effortless: Sneha Mandala (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Sneha Mandala’s talk titled “How To Make Work Feel More Effortless” at TEDxReno 2022 conference.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Path to Success: Challenging Traditional Notions

Go to school, study hard, get a job, work hard, get a promotion, work harder, and then you’ll be successful, right? I thought so too, but for you, me, and 3.3 billion other employees in the world, the struggle and hard work won’t stop until we retire or die. So of course I always thought having a successful career automatically translates to tedious long hours risking burnout, until I discovered how to make my work feel effortless.

I grew up in India. My parents, wanting the best for me, gave me three great career options: doctor, lawyer, or engineer. I chose what I thought was the easiest of the three: engineering. In 2015, straight out of graduate school, I was hired by one of the world’s largest organizations. Plus, they gave me a cool job installing robots in warehouses.

Unexpected Career Challenges

My parents were overjoyed. They would brag to their friends about how their smart daughter got into this big company in the U.S. And in some ways, I was happy too, giving my best, going above and beyond my role, working hard, and my results were fine, average.

I also felt guilty because I would walk into a warehouse and the workers there would say, “Oh look, there she is, ready to steal our jobs.” Yes, robots are going to replace a lot of workers, but it didn’t have to be them, and I wanted to help.

So I started volunteering outside my office hours, helping them build their skills so they could never be replaced by a robot. Within a few weeks, I noticed something surprising. I’m not exactly a morning person, but I was waking up at four each day, excited, ready to research, prepare, and go coach them.

Discovering Passion and Purpose

Some days on leadership, other days on planning logistics. I reviewed their resumes, we’d do mock interviews. I even came up with fun creative activities for them. This wasn’t my actual job, so I had no restrictions.

We laughed together, learned together. Soon, some of them reached out to share that they were either getting promoted or were getting all these interview calls. The pride I felt in those moments beat the feeling of installing a thousand robots and being called a job stealer. Coaching the warehouse employees felt so natural to me that I could not wait to do this every single day.

I was performing at my peak, and this work didn’t feel like work at all. It felt effortless. Now, compare this to my regular job, where I was struggling and feeling exhausted, counting down the hours and minutes until the day was over, and definitely not performing at my peak. The contrast was shocking.

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The Crossroads of Career Choices

Same warehouse environment, same me, different experiences. I was at a crossroads then, and I made a choice: Effortlessness over burnout. And since then I have been committed to making that same choice every single day of my career. So how do you go from hustling, grinding, and burning out to making your work feel effortless?

Let’s start with the current reality. A recent study conducted in the United States shared that 52% of employees felt burned out in 2021. That’s an increase of 9% since pre-pandemic. When you feel burned out, your work becomes a never-ending burden.

The Burnout Epidemic

It’s like being stuck in a loveless relationship. You struggle to rekindle the spark, but there’s no passion or energy left. Next thing you know, a shiny new object comes walking by, and oh, the distraction begins. In the corporate world, that shiny new object is that recruiter from another company poaching you with a big, juicy paycheck and a chance for something new.

The problem with job hopping, you’re just going to burn out in a new organization. We spend almost 100,000 hours at work in a lifetime, so your career is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. We need a better solution to sustain a great career without losing our minds or sacrificing a huge part of our lives.

Finding Inspiration in Unexpected Places

And surprisingly, I found that solution at a daycare. My son, Asar, was born during the pandemic. My husband and I wanted him to learn about the world beyond our living room. So when he turned a year old, we decided to enroll him in daycare.

But back in India, daycare at such a young age is a foreign concept, literally. I’m probably the only person in my entire bloodline to even consider it. Even extended family called me from the other side of the world just to say, “Sneha, no daycare.” Okay, so anyone wants to fly in from India and babysit him for the next two years?

Breaking Free from Restrictions

No one? Yeah, didn’t think so. On Asar’s first day at daycare, I was just as awestruck as he was. This was new to both of us, so many new toys, activities, and little people.

I saw Asar getting more curious than I had ever seen him before, losing himself among all the colors, shapes, and voices. He was finally free to explore and discover, shrugging off the pandemic restrictions, the shackles I had placed on him. That’s when it hit me. How many of us have been walking around in shackles since long before the pandemic?

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Rediscovering Freedom and Exploration

When was the last time you truly felt free to explore and discover in life? I know the pain of restrictions, but seeing my son that day enjoying his freedom reminded me of the time when I was coaching the warehouse employees. Watching Asar fully and effortlessly absorbed in play inspired me to make my work never feel like work again. But the question was, how?

So I continued my observation at the daycare, and this is what I found.

Whether alone or in groups, the kids get to have fun learning what excites and energizes them, choosing to do those activities over and over again. We grown-ups call this drive. And the kids are not judged or scrutinized for what activities they prefer or how they engage with them.

The Power of Drive and Authenticity

They can truly be themselves. Grown-ups call this authenticity. These two factors, drive and authenticity, help kids consistently get in the zone. We call this a flow state.

And this concept applies to anything that you do in life or at work. When you enter a flow state, one action seamlessly flows into the next. Your work starts to feel effortless, and you achieve your peak performance. This isn’t merely my opinion.

The Science of Flow

The Flow Genome Project led by Jamie Wheal collected global studies on how flow, on an effortless state, increases productivity by 500%, creativity by 430%, and learning speed at work by 490%. You see, I unlocked my peak performance when coaching the warehouse employees because 1) I felt the drive to make an impact in their life, and 2) I felt the freedom to be authentic.

So these two factors, unknown to me back then, led me into a flow state, and that is why my work felt so natural and effortless. As I progressed in my career, I craved for this experience over and over again. So I started to look for ways to intentionally make my work feel effortless. It was challenging at first.

Embracing Change for Personal Growth

Every day I was at a crossroads of what was expected of me versus what I wanted. The default choice was to keep mindlessly installing robots, keep struggling and feeling exhausted and forget all about flow. But that had to change. And by choosing myself, and by finding my flow over and over again, I started to chip away at my shackles.

For me, this meant, among other things, leaving that big company, letting go of my education, switching my career, and briefly disappointing my parents. But I am so glad I went through this process because now I do feel my work is more effortless.

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Can you imagine breaking your shackles, exploring what engages your heart and mind, what lights your eyes up, what makes you feel alive? What if I told you that you could do all that without leaving your country or switching your career like I had to?

Finding Flow in Your Current Job

You can experience the freedom and joy of getting into a flow state in your current job without leaving your desk. All you need to do is work more on what you love and how you love to do it. Practically, this means three things. Number one, add more drive to your work.

What part of your job makes you feel alive? What strengths do you have? What type of projects do you care about the most? Collaborate with your manager to bring more of those into your workday.

Practical Steps to Achieve Flow

And if you don’t know the answer to any of these questions yet, it is time to start your exploration and discovery now. Two, get more real and authentic at work. Get in touch with yourself. What are your work styles and preferences?

What kind of environment puts you in your most natural productive state? Share this with your manager so they can empower you by removing restrictions that don’t align with who you are. And finally, three, own your career. It’s a mindset shift.

Taking Ownership of Your Career

No one is coming to break your shackles. You have to do it yourself. So keep advocating for an environment that gets you into flow at work. And whenever you can’t find flow, I challenge you to find fun instead.

You could brainstorm with diverse colleagues for fresh perspectives, add a challenging time constraint to finish a task, switch up your work environment from home to office to coffee shop or a park bench. Or my favorite, turn your work into a game. Beat your own numbers each day. High five yourself.

Creating a Culture of Sustainable Peak Performance

We can reduce burnout and all of its toxic effects on our mental health and performance. And instead, bring joy to work. Together, we can create a culture of sustainable peak performance that feels effortless. Thank you.