Ensuring Adaptability and Happiness Dance with Passion
and Ambition…
Are you loving Life?… So
what’s next?? A promotion, a new job, hobby or even a new chapter in your life???
Or maybe none of the above??? Maybe it’s better to wait until a better time
economically to think about oneself and reflect on such questions? Maybe status
quo is ok?? Maybe it is.. But what is certain is that they are piercing
questions, which demand exploration!!!
Too often, good folks
move along Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs without really thinking about what they are looking for from
psychological needs to self actualisation. On that note, I recall a talk with a
life coach who talked of a very successful Merchant Banker and self
actualisation. He was trained at a young age as a clerk in the bank, which was
led and co-owned by his father. His father, the President showed him no favour
in his career making him work hard for every promotion, sometimes trying many
times to get promoted until he climbed every rung of the ladder to the top of
his profession as President of a Merchant Bank many decades later. He lamented
to the life coach about how hard he worked and how successful he was, yet when
he reached the top of the ladder, he realised the ladder was facing the wrong
wall to truly fulfill him as a human being! On paper, his success was
incredible yet in his heart, he felt a gap where his true passion was left
unfulfilled.
A sad story of enormous
success may leave some slightly confused as to why he can be sad at all? He
doesn’t have to worry about a roof over his head or food on the table, right?
Very true, but his success is testament to the fact that we are all human and
at a human level have very similar needs in order to be whole in this life no
matter who we are! We need “to be”, not “nearly to be!”, which is about
remembering that life’s true bounty is in the journey, not the destination.
So how does that
translate into career ambition and choice? In my view, there is a direct
correlation between our work and our lives as the former is such a dominant
feature in the latter. If we just follow the societal viewpoint, we will select
role and compensation that reflects on what standing we think we deserve in
society. In all this focus and decision making, where does happiness and
passion fit? Do we dismiss it as folly or embrace it on equal terms with
ambition and adaptability in a world that is changing every faster than it did
before! I think it would be wise at every career juncture to map out choices in
the following areas and rank them from negative to positive as one sees fit!
- Passion: Is my passion stirring great interest in the role description and/or proposition?
- Purpose: Do I see purpose in what is been done at the company and/or industry and/or profession? Also, does this purpose give me a “feel good” feeling that I cannot fully describe when things go well? Do we make a difference?
- Culture: Does the company and/or industry have a culture that relates to my core values or at least does not offend nor challenge them at a core level?
- Adaptability: Am I prepared to be adaptable to my circumstances whilst maintaining my core values as a human being? Will I think outside of the box when it comes to planning my future in a structured manner allowing me to see threats and opportunities in a clearer and more structured way?
- Ambition: Does my ambition align to my passion, purpose, (company) culture and/or adaptability? Will it override who I am as a person or develop who I am into a better version of myself?
- Self-Actualisation: Will all my efforts from this point on lead to me becoming successful, happy or both in life?
If your answer to the
self-actualisation question is “both”, then you are truly lucky to have gained
the vision to see what you want to become as a whole package and the courage to
see it so! If like so many, you are effectively asked to trade happiness for
success, then I leave you with a quote from Steve Jobs in his Stanford 2005
graduation speech: “If you haven't found
it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll
know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better
and better as the years roll on.” When we look back on our life, we just
want to see a full heart that was made whole by our decisions in the here and
now. We are the culmination of these decisions and who we are should ultimately
reconcile with who we want to be. When they reconcile, we take our place in
this world as we have seen ergo our legacy is not an echo of what could have
been!
Sources/Credits:
Pics;
Credits:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs by Simply Psychology at http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Steve Jobs quote from
Standard Speech in 2005 by Goodreads.com at http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/445070-if-you-haven-t-found-it-yet-keep-looking-don-t-settle
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