- January 2, 2026
‘I Don’t Have Off Days’: Jaishankar Says Wife May Disagree With His Work-Life Balance
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EAM S Jaishankar, on Friday, January 2, offered a rare glimpse into his approach to work-life balance.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (Reuters Image)
Needless to say, the debate around work-life balance refuses to fade, with voices from all walks of life pitching in their ideas about the same. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is the latest to jump on the bandwagon.
EAM S Jaishankar, on Friday, January 2, offered a rare glimpse into his approach to work-life balance. He highlighted that his role leaves little room for conventional “off days” and that he doesn’t follow the typical “Monday-Friday” schedule.
Speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Jaishankar said, “In my life, I don’t have off days. It’s not like I work Monday to Friday and say Saturday-Sunday I won’t do anything because the world doesn’t accommodate that,” he said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The minister explained that his life doesn’t work on a single time zone. “My life is very mixed up; it doesn’t operate on a single time zone, and there is no off switch and no on switch,” he said.
EAM Jaishankar, however, outlined that his life isn’t without balance. He resorts to building habits and developing hobbies, which help him deal with the rest of the world, he explained.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: At IIT Madras, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, “In my life, I don’t have off days. It’s not like I work Monday to Friday and say Saturday-Sunday I won’t do anything because the world doesn’t accommodate that. The world still runs on Saturday-Sunday. My life is very… pic.twitter.com/yxE0mWPV6N— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2026
“What I try to do is, within that, build habits and practices and indulgences which make you a stable, reasonable and congenial person who can deal with the rest of the world”, he remarked.
Jaishankar opined that a well-fashioned everyday routine that includes reading, writing, thinking and talking, rules out the need for digital detoxes or breaks.
“If you build a physical routine into your cycle, give yourself some time to read, write, think, talk, watch, I can tell you your daily routine itself is so balanced that you don’t need to unplug,” he said.
‘My wife may contradict me’
On a lighter note, Jaishankar said that his opinions on work-life balance might not be universally agreed upon at home. “But my wife is sitting here, and she may contradict me,” he stated, drawing chuckles from the audience.
January 02, 2026, 16:51 IST
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