There was a time in India when a person could finish their lunch before a deadline digested them. A time when “urgent” meant there was an actual fire, not a missed comma on a pitch deck. That time, sadly, is now filed under “archaic behavior” by the HR department.

Welcome to Corporate India, 2025.
Where deadlines are aggressive, managers are passive-aggressive, and burnout is a team KPI.

The Rise of the ASAP Cult

Let’s begin with the word itself. “ASAP.”
Sleek, sharp, and innocuous—like a paper cut.
It sounds like urgency, but it feels like a threat delivered in Helvetica.
Because what your manager really means when they say “ASAP” is:

“I knew about this two weeks ago, but I only remembered it after lunch. Impress me.”

Urgency culture is not about speed.
It’s about power.

It’s about who gets to decide what’s urgent and who must contort their lives around it. It’s a stealth hierarchy: the closer you are to the bottom, the faster you’re expected to move.

Performance Theatre and the “Green Dot Olympics”

We’re now in an era where your Teams availability status is a political statement.
If your dot isn’t green at 8:00 a.m., you’re not a team player.
If it isn’t green at 10:00 p.m., you’re not hungry enough.

We’ve mistaken presence for performance and availability for ability.
You can spend twelve hours responding to emails with “noted,” “sure,” and “circle back,” and still be considered a “go-getter.”

We no longer work to build. We work to prove we’re working.

This isn’t a job. It’s a performance art piece.
“Man Slowly Turns Into Wi-Fi Icon.”
Coming soon to an inbox near you.

The Manager Who Assigns Tasks at 11:59 PM and Calls It Hustle

Let’s address the origin story of many of these crises:
The chronically online, work-married manager who romanticizes suffering.
They believe in #RiseAndGrind, #DeliverablesOverDinner, and #PushThroughPainLikeYourPrinterDoesn’t.

They will say things like:

“This will only take 15 minutes.”

It never does.
What they mean is:

“I will take 15 seconds to assign it. You will spend 5 hours fixing it. I’ll take credit in the team call.”

They confuse speed with excellence, and confusion with clarity.
They call it “high ownership” when what they really mean is “I don’t know how to plan.”

What It’s Doing to Us

This constant need to prove ourselves—to show we’re quick, responsive, efficient, indispensable—is aging us in real time.
Back pain in your 30s. Migraines from Slack. Anxiety over calendar invites titled “Quick Sync.” Sunday scaries that start Friday night.

We go on vacations and carry our laptops like pet parrots.
We log into meetings from hospital beds.
We draft decks on our phone screens during funerals, birthdays, weddings.
We forget how to breathe without checking our mail app.

We are no longer human beings.
We are pop-up notifications with anxiety.

Why Corporate India is Especially Vulnerable

Because we are taught to conflate obedience with excellence.
To stay in line. To not ask “why.” To never say “no.”
Because we are grateful for the job. Because someone else will take our place. Because we don’t want to be that person—the one who says:

“This is not sustainable.”

Because in the toxic logic of urgency culture, slowing down means you’re falling behind.

What We Must Reclaim

It’s time to say the unfashionable thing:
Work is not supposed to be worship.

Deadlines can be sacred, yes—but not if they’re written in blood.
We must start rewarding thoughtfulness, not speed. Clarity, not urgency.
We need to normalize these sentences in corporate India:

• “I need more time to do this well.”
• “This is not urgent, and we shouldn’t treat it like it is.”
• “Can we plan better so we don’t live in last-minute panic?”
• “No.”

That last one? It’s the full sentence. Use it generously. Like ghee.

The Flip Side: You’re Not Lazy—You’re Tired

Many of us are running on the fumes of unfinished weekends and emotional hangovers. We don’t lack ambition. We lack permission to pause.

You’re not unproductive—you’re just not built to sprint marathons every day.
You don’t need to “show” you’re working every minute.
You need to know you’re not a machine.

And here’s the quiet truth:
If you drop the ball once in a while, the world won’t end.
You just might find that the world doesn’t need you as urgent,
but more present. More well. More whole.

A Better Culture is Possible—But You Have to Opt In

Start small. Say no to false urgency. Say yes to better planning. Ask why.
Protect your colleagues when they need rest. Stop replying just to be seen.

Make “urgent” mean something again.

And most of all, if you’re in a position of power—model slowness.
People don’t need more motivation.
They need leaders who leave at 6 p.m. and don’t Slack again at 11.

Corporate India, let’s be radical: Let’s value people over pace.

Your merit is not measured by how fast you turn something around.
It’s measured by how long you last—with your soul intact.