| Sunday, 03 August 2025 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning! It’s the first Sunday of the month. I am hoping (on a gray Saturday afternoon as I write this) to pick up a wonderful novel called The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, which I started a few weeks ago but haven’t managed to finish.
What about you?
Sundays for me are this tug of war between two parts of myself. One part, the dominant one, wants me to pick up things that are pending and need to be completed. Like a book, dozens of pending browser tabs, back issues of The Economist or the Harvard Business Review, pending bills or paperwork, or home projects.
The other part, the weaker one, wants to do nothing. Sundays are meant for actual rest, it tells me.
Most of my Sundays end up split roughly 80:20 between the two (of course the first part wins). Maybe that’s just the way it is, and the way I am.
What about you?
Speaking of who we are, are there more of you out there who like to spot and “break” the default physical patterns of your bodies? For instance, if you’ve always carried your wallet (I’m talking men here) in your right back pocket, do you occasionally (and consciously) decide to flip and carry it in your left back pocket?
I do. For one, I’ve always been fascinated by ambidexterity. But perhaps more importantly, I realise that one-sided physical behaviour and habit patterns tend to manifest as repetitive stress eventually.
If you always wear your belt from one side to the other, it will begin to sag in one direction. If you always wear your watch on one wrist, it will show on your wrist. If you always use a mouse at work with your dominant hand, there’s a good chance it might develop into a repetitive stress injury sometime later in life.
Lastly, I like to believe in the idea (not scientifically validated, alas) that forcing myself to reverse sides every now and then in the way I perform tasks forces my brain to adapt and work harder.
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Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
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