Living a sustainable life! Content V Context!

How context can make or break us…

There are so many cliches that come to mind when I think about how we live our lives. However, when I think of context, an old Bushido saying comes into the forefront of my mind “We should never obsess about if we are going to die, but instead focus on how we live as those whom live an honorable life will always die a glorious death.” Whilst meant for the warrior elite of Japan’s Samurai, the wisdom it holds has value and meaning for us all! If nothing else in our time here, living an honourable life is a context for all things great! Even in failure, it’s a respective premise for living and without that context, any ‘grand’ content is meaningless.

I have come to conclude that in business as in life, if we want to have an honourable existence, we should at least learn from or adopt in part or in full the Samurai’s code for defining honourable living.

Rectitude (義): Courage (勇氣): Benevolence (仁): Respect (禮 ): Honesty (誠) : Honour (名誉): Loyalty (忠義)

Rectitude - A morally correct method of thinking otherwise known also as righteousness

Courage - Courage to do the right thing. It’s a commitment to the world to be inherently good through ones intent and resulting actions

Benevolence - Kindness and well meaning to others

Respect - Respect for oneself as much as for others. Even in conflict, respecting one’s enemies existence in this world is required for honourable living

 Honesty - Never leaving a path of honest discourse and engagement with the world. In essence, be true to others, thus be true to oneself

Honour - Holding oneself in high esteem and never deviating from morally correct intent or a morally correct course of action

Loyalty - Holding true to one’s feeling of strong support for one’s leaders, family friends and society to which one is loyal to

To me, this is an arguably complete set of attributes that defines honourable living and is transposable into any area life with a degree of accuracy that impresses. So, if we can set our life on a road that embraces this context, what are benefits and pitfalls:

Benefits:

Like attracts like - Those who live an honourable life have a lighter spring in their step through the good times and a look of resilient character in the bad times. As the old saying goes “When we surround ourselves with like minded people, we can do great things”

Stress weight - The weight of anything we feel living an honourable life even in abstract failure is far outweighed by the mounting weight of dishonourable living where betrayals, deception, immoral and/or criminal actions of all kinds take a toll on body and mind

Clean Heart -  If we are to engage life and liberty in the pursuit of happiness, living an honourable life allows us a clean heart and a good context to be happy. There is no point having all the gold in China if all we can feel is the prickly thorns of bad behaviour we set ourselves up in.

Positive Impact - In giving and not taking, we use our abilities, our courage and commitment to contribute to this world in a sustainable manner where we leave a positive imprint as a legacy for others to benefit from. They in turn are inspired to do right by others and the cycle of good intent to positive outcomes continues.

 Pitfalls:

Giver Taker Mentality - Ever have a favour done for you and be asked nothing in return? Well if you are “that guy” and want to positively impact somebody else’s life in a similar manner then there are those who will admire you for it (givers) and those who will target you because of it (takers). Takers perceive givers to be weak and thus target them in an exploitative manner.

Short Term Loss - There is no doubt in my mind that doing the right thing can bring a downside that should not be overlooked. “Learned helplessness” is a term coined to capture the feeling of justification in business for allowing others to do the wrong thing because of their standing, associations or some other criterion that can come back to hit the observer where it hurts causing short term loss.

Troubleshooting Tip: Networking is a great way to make a coalition of like minded people who look after one another. Be careful to make your network in your likeness so you have like minded people around you. If you become targeted, their support could limit your losses and prevent untold suffering on your part. A single twig breaks easy in the wind, whereas many twigs together bend but never break in the wildest of storms that rip the mighty oak tree from the ground.

Betrayal - As you become who you want to be, there will always be people in business and in life looking to profit from, take advantage of and/or abuse your good nature. The most dangerous of these are those who can deceive you into thinking they are good folk when they are really targeting you to exploit you. Know your enemies so you can understand your friends and why they are by your side. In doing so, you limit your exposure to betrayal.

It is up to us to take responsibility for our lives, our actions and our mistakes as much as our successes. When we are old and grey in our chairs many years from now, wouldn’t it be nice to look back knowing you not only made a good life for yourself but you made a positive impact on the world by being true to yourself and how you chose to live! I know I’m on board, are you? Leave a comment with your opinion…

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

www.hobicell.com

www.en.wikipedia.com

www.4photos.net

www.picjumbo.com/?s=meeting

www.rocketfuelradio.com

Credits;

The Basics of a Successful Career

In it for the long haul?… why good preparation matters…

We all were 21 once and the indestructible to the world! I can’t count the amount of stupid things done by myself, which have been written off to experience. How any of us get through our younger years is a miracle in itself as the learnt lessons from these years spell out a hard fact! If we don’t prepare in these years for a sustainable career, we will not have one!

So, still in reflection, a brief yet candid reflection of my own twenty something experiences:

A)   Staying fit = Good move

B)   Joining the Army = Good move

C)   Studying Finance = Good move, could have being better

D)   Not embracing my passion after the Army = bad move

E)   Not developing my networking skills = bad move

F)    Not thinking long term career satisfaction = bad move

G)   Not doing a degree that stirs my passion = bad move

So laid bare, one can see how hindsight is definitely 20/20 vision and that its difficult to make a decision in the present, especially when you have just turned 20 and feeling larger than life itself!

I would like to share a story from a course I did after launching my second career in Finance back in the day when the Celtic tiger was roaring for all of Ireland! I was at a life-skills seminar by Ian McClean & Partners and Ian himself shared a great story about a President of a Merchant Bank who was in attendance at one of his courses. When finished the course presentation, the President of the Bank approached Ian and thanked him for the hearty presentation, which he found impressive. He especially liked the analogy of the career ladder against the wall, where you climb it one step at a time. He said that his father was also a President of a Merchant and made him join the bank as a Clerk with no perks or favours done for him. He went into the bank, worked hard and climbed the ladder like everyone else, one step at a time until some decades later; he reached the very top of the ladder! It was only at that time did he realise the ladder was not facing the right wall! Imagine a lifetime of work, success and acclaim with no intrinsic reward for the impact you have made on society? A life’s work spent on a hollow success??

As a youngster, we would argue that “well didn’t the banker get well paid for his troubles?” Sure he did, but money itself is not what makes us happy, it provides a medium for living. Currency is a means to travel life’s path, nothing more. Thing is, if you do your planning and stay committed to your happiness, you can get paid doing what you love, which is a win win!! You win by getting paid doing that you love and your employer wins by having a better and more committed professional working for the company. Society also wins by the increased positive impact given the “good cultural fit” of the employee to the role and organisation.

So, if I could go and do it again, I would change nothing! We all have regrets, no matter how perfect our plans are! Life tends to work on net outcomes with plenty of crests and valleys along its path. That said, there are things folks may want to think about now that will impact their future either way.

Passion – find out what interests you. Use social media to research your areas of interests and keep on going until passion is stirred in an occupation and/or discipline. Don’t think of it in best earning class, think of it in what makes you happy class!

Keep fit – fitness assumed is fitness lost in later years. Stay fit whilst young and it will stand to you in years to come. Develop a lifestyle of keeping fit through exercise, running/field sports and walking. Stay active always!

College – College is a must for charting your career path! Getting a degree will give you more flexibility than without it. A 25 year old genius with a secondary school education, an IQ of 160 and a coding ability that would make Steve Wozniak jealous will not get his CV/Resume past HR in most major technology companies; but the Philosophy degree holder, who partied through college will have a CV that gets an interview! Degrees matter regardless of what path you take! Try to marry your degree major to an occupation you are passionate about!

Networking – 80% of all major decisions in management are made based on the confidence of those presenting according to a McKinsey Institute study I read a few years ago. Networking consistently through meetup.com and social media is a great place to start to polish and practice your networking skills and build an active network for yourself that will last the pace of time! In technology, it’s estimated that over 90% of software hires in junior roles are done from personal networks. Networking will increase your career prospects, potential and effective development over the course of your career, the more you network, the more successful you will be!

All that said, whilst now is the time to be doing the above, make sure it’s all being done to support a direction that you love! If you love what you are doing, you will be happier and the world needs more happy professionals in love with their roles! Why not be that guy today! I will join you are the happy bar as I start my third career in technology and am loving every minute!

           

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

www.unsplash.com

www.businessinsurance.org

www.careers.answers.com

www.njstatelib.org

Credits;

Course by Ian McClean & Partners was delivered to the Irish Institute of Credit Management, which I then attended as an active member.  Ian McClean & Partners  

Yulia Vambold for the feature picture on unsplash.com

Mental Agility –Staying Fresh, being Agile!

Feeling the past to see the future.. One small step for man… One giant step for….

We all would like to walk on the moon like Neil Armstrong and his Apollo crew but sadly, the nearest most of us will get is on a 737 airbus to our next work destination or vacation spot of choice! As we get older our dreams augment to a point where reality salvages what dreams are plausible to circumstance and leaves the rest for the garbage collector to remove as they are unassigned to our greatest variable, which is our reality! Sounds familiar eh? As we all reach that point, how successful are we in coming to terms with our “reality” and staying mentally flexible for best possible outcome each and every day??

I would wager a minority are successful in creating a yellow brick road of strongly focused thought that creates new opportunities through the axiom of mental agility. It’s no surprise many don’t given economic crises, redundancies, career, family and life. The average person has enough on their plate to last them a lifetime! Getting through it all is reward enough! I won’t argue that point as life can be very harsh for so many, but I humbly submit, we have more control over our destiny then we think!

Imagine a world where we get up in the morning, are filled with energy and enthusiasm about the day and nothing will stand in our way! We are a force of nature and nature does not step aside for life, she forges her own path! Mindset, health and happiness are great starting metrics to taking as much charge as one can over our future. Is one burdened by pressures they cannot reconcile to physical events and/or measurements? Is one in good health, bad health or anything in between and is that individual happy??

If you feel happy, are of a positive mindset and in good health, then you are well positioned to dream your future and plot a course for a longer term happiness that only you can make happen! With mind, body and purpose at a good starting point, becoming mentally flexible is about sharpening the mental pencil whilst at the same time living a healthy lifestyle that supports your aspirations and your mental agility.

So, we have a sense of where we are at from our self evaluation, let's get started on next steps:

Sharpening the mental pencil - IQ exercises like the workout on mensa.org or any IQ testing site is a must to regiment the mind into certain types of processing. Its a mental workout that sharpens deductive reasoning and mathematical ability. Doing it daily for 30 mins is a must, expect mental agility improvements after 8 weeks or so. After that, 30 minutes twice a week is enough to keep that mental pencil sharpened.

Free the mind - learning mindfulness was a big learning step in my own self discovery and development. I recommend it for everyone BUT be warned, there are allot of snake oil salesmen and women out there looking to sell you nothing at a profit. Be sure your mindfulness vendor is recommended and effective. If you are a good fit for it, you will learn it very fast!

Develop your focus constantly - Primary attention (full attention) doesn’t last long past 35 minutes at a time so keeping high level focus is a task best served with regular breaks from high level mental activity. A 2 min break to do something else or get a glass of water is all that is needed. The more you do that, the better regimented your mind becomes in being focused. This focus can deliver you to new heights of mental performance!

So, with focusing on your mind under way, lets think about good advice for the body:

Exercise - 30 mins a day, 3 times a week. In addition, a 20 min walk daily is a good addition to any exercise regime. A healthy body breeds a healthy mind

Sleep - Don’t skimp on sleep, you will never become mentally agile sleep deprived! 6-8 hours a night and try to get to bed around the same time every night. A good routine increases the benefits of sleep.

Food - Fresh food regularly taken in 3-4 meals of reasonable size is the best fuel for you. A good breakfast, a healthy dinner and an evening meal that is light is the best formula for good health. High fibre (apples/pears/green vegetables) should be part of the daily diet and junk food along with alcohol should be taken in moderation. You would be surprised how impacting digestion related illness is to mental acuity and overall wellbeing.

Eye Test – as we get older, our vision detiorites and those of use married to our laptops <<<cough!!… programmers, cough!!>>>, slight double vision can set in with accompanying headaches. Don’t strain your eyes and become distracted with headaches, get tested and use glasses if necessary.

Socialise - Call a friend, grab a coffee and talk about the weather. Small talk matters as it gives the brain a rest and embraces our group nature. We are social creatures!

Needless to say, our path to mental acuity and strong focus is an individual one. We don’t all sail in the same slip stream as each other! However, when we are mentally agile, our focus is a powerful tool in discerning our environment, the moving parts in it and the opportunities we have to chisel out our own future… If we surmise that our preparation, training and readiness for the life ahead of us is in place, we can then set about charting its course.

On a final note, we can do whatever we want within reason so why not build a career on a ladder that leads to happiness, loving without boundaries those closest to us and decades from now, leaving this world a slightly better place? That is what I have concluded in my latest career change where my passion has been ignited for technology. It embraces my mind in enjoyable detail and delights my intellect in problems that need to be solved! It’s also frustrating, hard and overwhelming at times, but where it’s easy to give up, my passion stirs me onwards and with it a new day is born with greater understanding and commitment! Why not join me and celebrate this marvellous innovation together, it’s our life, our focus and our dream!!..

Credits/Sources:

Pics;

www.unsplash.com

www.nasa.gov

www.expertrain.com

Credits;

Hieu Le on Unsplash.com for feature pic.

Self-Actualisation, love your life!

Self-actualisation comes with a price… is it in $$$ or just finding yourself?

I remember watching an interview with Marshall Bruce Mathers III aka ‘Eminem’. He was asked if he was relieved as a successful artist that he no longer has to worry about the poverty issues he endured from his early years. He said “while you do not have to worry about money any more… all you really do is trade one set of problems for another”. His insights are consistent with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of which self actualisation is at the top. So if a Rap star has such insight, do we also posses similar insight into ourselves or are we a little more adrift then we realise in our ‘raison d'être’?

Great professionals are passionate about what they do and all passion comes from our centre of gravity that is our ‘reason for being’, our ‘raison d’ être’ if you will. Our ‘raison d’ être’ houses our values, our beliefs and our interests in a seem-less structure that motivates us to reach for the stars should we dream it so. So how can we harness this and realign our lives to what will see us happy?

Fortitude. One needs to be sure they are lacking in self-fulfilment as a human being, before calling and committing their energy, strength and resources to change.

Honest Self Reflection. Be sure to be honest with yourself as you will be the sole benefactor of truly knowing what lies in your own heart, thus able to see where passion can be found from within. Without this, there is no compass to direct us to happy outcomes in life.

Understand the outcome to begin. Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. I submit that we also need to make sure it is in the right direction. When we find something that stirs our passion; research, testing and insights from established professionals in the area are of paramount importance. Tragedy occurs when our hearts are broken by simple misunderstandings on what we thought something was ‘V’ what actually is.

New Direction ‘V’ Old Values. When we make change, we leave allot behind on the way despite our intention to bring our “transferrable skills” with us. We leave experiences and expertise on the shelf to expand ourselves by engaging our passion in change for our new professional direction. It’s important for sustainable change in our lives to be rooted in that centre of gravity that is our raison d’ être. Without it, we risk conflicts with what lies there such as our values, our beliefs and our inner peace. Without synergies established with these elements within us, we will struggle more in our new profession and never truly find happiness, which rests upon self-fulfilment and actualisation. If we listen to our inner voice in self-reflection, we increase our chances of success in just about anything we do that is aligned to our raison d’ être.

Knowing our course and direction in life, our need to be happy through self-actualisation, should be considered a given, so what’s next?

Harness the passion. Structure passion to purpose and it will drive you forward with impressive energy. Make this your presence in the world.

Feel a single purpose. Commitment can be felt. Feel it through your passion for your new direction as a single purpose, a single cause in your life. Feel pride when asked, “What do you do?” The reward lies in the two golden words of reply “I am…”.

Draw from the past, don’t let the past draw from you. My dear old mother once told me that being able to let go of bitter experience and become better by learning the lessons it teaches for the future is a real plus in change.

Be flexible. We all become settled in our comfort zones. To reach a better place, we need to become happy outside of our comfort zones and be willing to never stop learning and growing as individuals as much as professionals. Be brave, be flexible and you will enable success to visit you on your journey.

Plan a direction only. Avoid detailed planning for your career change as you will become bogged in the plan’s detailed points, which inevitably will be conflicting with life and it’s changing goal posts. My own career change plan is simple and in a few lines: “(Research+Testing+Validation)+Plans/(College+SoftwareDev+Networking*2+CompScience+JobSearch+DevelopmentProjects+Progression)==Happiness."

Loving what you do is not just a tagline for the ages, it’s a way to live your life, so deep thought now can direct or redirect your life to greener pastures that you would never think possible on any given day. By truly recognising our own raison d’ être, we embrace our values, beliefs and inner qualities fuelling our passion for the direction we want to take in life. By travelling a road to self-fulfilment and meaningful contributions to the world we all share in, we make a better tomorrow by our efforts today! Not a bad start, middle and end, don’t you agree?

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

www.vccaugus.org

www.free-to-be.net

www.lifechoicememphis.org

www.socyberty.com

www.thesexywallpapers.com

http://publicdomainarchive.com/public-domain-images/page/14/

Credits;

“Public Domain”