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We all are aware of the benefits of 24X7 environment that is the reason we all have subscribed our lives to it, so here I will be featuring only the negatives associated with the 24X7 work environment.

1. Stress: One of the most rewarding gifts associated with 24X7 work environment is the stress. Good news for the new age yoga gurus, but certainly a big cost for those who have made their lives hell because of stress. The tragedy of 24X7 era is that we have too much to live with but nothing to live for. We are so obsessed with 24X7 work environment that despite knowing that stress is the cause of our distress, we don't have any plans to cope with it. We hardly have any time - is what most of us will claim, but how long will lives continue like this. Stress has severe affects on our lives and most of us continue to ignore that till the outer limits are crossed and we are under the severe grip of some disorder. Burnouts, headaches, and various heart diseases are the gifts of the 24X7 life.

2. Increasing Expectations: One of the problems associated with 24X7 work environment is the increasing expectation at the work place. Excellence is rewarded, but this reward is setting trends for increased expectations. Every time you excel, more is expected out of you the next time. True, such an expectation is governed by the logic of improving one self to ones potential but their needs to be a limit of such expectations. The moment one tries to cross those limits, frustration sets in and suddenly life becomes dull and hopeless. There is, though, nothing wrong in increasing ones expectations, but the moment they become unrealistic, they are bound to create trouble.

3. Less Time: The more we make our lives 24X7, the less is the time we are left with for our family and ourselves. Today, we have families that might be earning lakhs of rupees per month but where people do not meet for weeks together. Life looks like a drama. First, we bet our lives to earn wealth, and then, we spend our wealth to regain life. What a mad-rush is life? People keep running on and on only to realize late in their lives that the problem with rat race is that whether one wins or looses, one still remains a rat. Less time, you might argue, can be monitored with efficient time management - but I would like to differ. You can manage time with effective time management, but you cannot save time. Its comes and go. It will go whether you are managing it effectively or not, but the substance of the matter is how many of us can balance that well. Also, you might manage your time, how can you manage your child time? You return to home at 2:00 midnight and get up at 7:30 am, and by then your child has left for the school. So where does time management comes into picture. How long will you be proud of the 24X7 environment?

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* Contributed by -
Vineet Tandon is an MBA from ICFAI Business School, Batch of 2004. Currently, he looks after Corporate Communications at GEODESIC Information Systems Ltd. Views expressed here are personal.