In order to appreciate the below mentioned points, you are requested to first read an article from HBR "How will you measure your life?"
This
was one of the best articles I have read in long time, and fortunately, I came
across it timely. I now understand why it is put as an opening essay in the
book titled “Advancing your career”.
I
would just highlight the points that I ponder after reading this,
1. Purpose
of life – Does the sense of purpose emanate from sense of duty? Or is it the
other way around? A greater concern here
is that in an environment where our thoughts are so much conditioned by various
forms of media how does one actually realize that the purpose one is following
is truly his own.
Answer perhaps only lies in talking to oneself, as
the article suggests. But should not one build filters in order to keep the
undue/external influences at a bay? If yes, what could these filters be like?
2. How
to spend an additional hour – The sense of achievement which author talks about
is perhaps not as limited as Prof. Christensen thinks it to be. In fact doesn’t
so-called “Rising Aspirations” of middle class of such vast majority reflect
the same kind of bent of mind? “It is
easier to make a good living these days than to lead a good, calm and happy
life.[1]”
It also bothers me that at a personal level I should not confuse movement,
change, growth and development. Clear understanding of what we mean by them is
essential, but they perhaps evolve with time, and need to be reviewed every now
and then. Most of the times we end up chasing things that we do not really
want/need. Such chases, even if successful, lead to lot of dissatisfaction and
frustration.
3. On
Metrics:
Does good observation skills be a guide to replace
the need for immediate progress with that of a seemingly slow but even more
important progress. For example, if one observes a kid’s or student’s behaviour
carefully, one will surely able to see the results of even higher magnitude than
the ones that are offered by a career. This can be equally true for a case of
creating one’s own enterprise.
The
marginal costs idea conveyed is really a fascinating way of stressing on zero
tolerance on ethics, for me it was the best take-away from this article because
after I graduated, I have never heard anyone (apart from couple of Gatherings) stressing on this point!!
No comments:
Post a Comment