Success is not the key to happiness
Happiness is the key to success
If you love what you are doing,
You will be successful
Lying down on a lazy Sunday, under that blue cloudy
sky, Marc, 36 years, with career transitions from e-commerce, to sales, and now
in market research, was still wondering, if market research was really what he
wanted to be in. He somewhere knew his tipping point was advertising; Joey had
always consulted him for help with those ad campaigns and jingles. He was
naturally so creative with the ad plots, the campaigns were majorly a success.
Marc was somewhere in between his heart (passion) and mind (purpose), but
sooner or later, he would be capable of uniting them to do something more
meaningful in his life.
“What am I here for?” is one rhetorical question all
of us ask ourselves at least once in our lives. We all have that dream that can
lead to ultimate happiness, but what if the dream is hazy or you are dicey
about it? What if in pursuit to success you are blithely killing your dreams
through ‘paralysis analysis.’
Passion and
Purpose (P&P) are the two pillars; you can lay foundation of your personal
life, career, job, or business. P&P give meaning to life, ameliorate
potential development and leads you to greater heights simultaneously
benefitting the society.
Diving with
statistics, we find: a Gallup survey
conducted recently, only 13% of workers feel
engaged in their jobs. This research leads to a derivation that this 13 %
section carries a sense of passion towards their work, a strong bond with their
employer and they work in an innovation-driven manner taking their company to
new heights. The majority, approximately 63%, are “not engaged,” i.e. they can
be termed as unhappy but not so severely. They don’t enjoy their work,
and put little energy into it.
The remaining 24%, as per Gallup can be
labelled as “actively disengaged,” meaning they totally dislike their jobs.
They dread their work and demoralize achievers around them. The categories of “Not engaged” + “Actively disengaged” =
87% of workers worldwide who, “are emotionally disengaged from their workplaces
and less likely to be productive.”
Let’s get to the core! As an individual we have in
many situations quite naturally thought of following two questions:
1.
Why do I do what I
do? (i.e. passion)
2.
Why does what I do matter? (i.e. purpose)
Now let us
look at these two perspectives from that of a career viewpoint, be it a
start-up, or your leadership position or your skill up-gradation. We often
spend a lot of time looking outside for a novel schema, the untouched gap, the
ground-breaking idea, but its atypical to look inside of ourselves for the
Purpose and Passion. Let us try to understand the concept in profundity.
·
Passion=Passio (latin)= suffering for cause that
inspires, motivates or elevates us
We talk about passion all the
time, and relate terms like engagement, innovation and productivity to it, but
getting to the root, how would you define PASSION? According to
Merriam-Webster, Passion is a strong feeling
of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. In other
words, anything that has a purpose, you love doing insanely, and makes your
heart sing is passion; PERIOD.
“When something hits a
spark of interest, follow it.”
According to The American
Express OPEN Ages Survey, Gen Y entrepreneurs who are passion-induced
are more likely to have undergone increased revenue growth over the last two years
(37% growth ) than Gen Y overall (24%) or Baby Boomers overall (10%);
People who are motivated by passion carry altogether a
different zeal and level of energy. They act like the boosters in the organization,
fueling each task with higher motivation and engagement. The WHY to this can be
answered in simple words: “we put in our soul to the things we believe in.” An
individual with the P-factor may fall 1000 times in their journey to success,
but their passion driven vigour leads them to get up 1001 times and try again.
An individual can either develop a passion for something
or cultivate passion in their current areas of work. It is not necessary that you abandon your job,
or business, to start something new as a result of the ‘shiny disco ball’
syndrome. A quick fix to ‘shiny ball’ situation could be using S.W.I.P.E self
analysis test (Strengths, Weakness, Interest, Potential Development and
Emotional Quotient), it will help you to narrow down your thoughts and commit
to one or two projects at once. Another fun way to figure out your type is to
try this flow chart model: https://www.themuse.com/advice/heres-a-quick-way-to-figure-out-what-you-should-do-with-your-life-based-on-your-personality,
it’s not in-depth, but certainly helps.
Here are 5 reasons why following your passion can lead to
fulfilment (and even get you to the Winfrey show..hoot!)
1.
Passion strengthens
focus-ability: It helps you build greater concentration and intensifies your
focus towards work. It is apparent that you put your sweat and tears to an idea
that’s closer to your heart.
2.
Passion facilitates
innovation & creativity: Yes, it gets your right-side brain functioning at
a better pace. Your creativity is at its peak leaving you with all the dazzling
ideas, and ‘jugaad’ acts like your ventilator.
3.
Passion is contagious:
Your energy is transmittable, the love you feel for your project is well
understood by your team members, and that keeps their ardour on high spirits.
4.
Passion advocates working
for excellence: Following your passion makes you resilient, and perseverant.
You don’t need those tea-breaks anymore! You are killing it with your ‘enthu’
and fanaticism, creating a competitive
edge.
5.
Passion leads to happiness: True
happiness is found at the junction of doing what we love, what we’re proficient
at, and what the world needs. Ger curious, get working!
·
PURPOSE: porpos (old French)= the aim or intention
of an activity carried out
In order to be happy, it is crucial that your passion is coupled along
with a purpose. If we are
able to relate what we do to pay the bills with our greater purpose, we gain
from higher self- awareness and self-esteem.
Finding a purpose is equivalent to finding ways to balance your passion and dexterity to fill a gap in the
world. Stuffing the gap means making efforts towards something that is of use
and value to others, which may or may not solve the worldly problems in a hard
core manner.
According to a Deloitte survey conducted: “Organizations
are likely to achieve enduring success, if they inculcate a sense of purpose
among their employees.
A purpose can be of impermanence nature. Having a
purpose acts like a rock during winds of change. During changing business
climates, it helps leaders and teams to maintain their focus. Noble Purpose
facilitates in developing a framework for decision-making. It drives the actions
those results in a competitive advantage. Cultivating a culture of purpose
answers the root questions of its existence, its beliefs and impacts its
strategy for endurance.
Your quest of self-clarity and purpose isn’t
going to be a cake-walk or a linear path. In fact, you will frequently land up
on dead-ends or roads that lead to nowhere. The recommended way to find a purpose in life is to go out
there and take action, even if you are
blank head!
At the end, all it really narrows to, especially
at work, is the alternative to engage with all you’ve got rather than tussle
with everything you’re not.
P.S.: Why I am writing about the
significance of passion is because I am passionate about writing and I have a
purpose!
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