The First Day of the Month

Ever since I started working, I have always looked forward to the first day of every month. Quite obviously, the reason for the excitement is that we receive our salaries on this day. It used to be measly amounts initially, often handed over in cash. Over the years, the amounts grew and got  added directly to my bank balance. The excitement associated with this day, nonetheless remained pretty much the same over the years.

Now we have our own business, office and team and the first day of the month means responsibilities to ensure all payments are released on time. Honestly speaking, my salary hardly ever gets processed on the first day as there are always many more priorities to review and close on this day. However, the surprising bit is that I am much more excited about the first now than I was ever before. It gives me an immense sense of satisfaction and achievement to be able to provide for the team. As the team grows, their salaries/bonus increase, the satisfaction only increases. Of course, it is the hard work of the entire team that culminates to this day but I am sure none of them (except for the CEO) feel the same excitement as I do.

We often think that achieving money, power, status in life would make us happy. The funny reality of life is that we don’t get as much happiness by accumulating things for ourselves as we get by providing the same to others. In fact the joy of providing is no where comparable to the joy of receiving. It doesn’t pain me one bit to take a lesser salary, later in the month, because I have already achieved the satisfaction of providing for the entire team, at the start of the month. I understand now, why fathers (at least in India) feel thrilled about taking family responsibility, why CEOs of successful corporations are so humble and why shopping gives women such a high. It is all about providing for the family, the employees and the economy!  🙂