In 2010, Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon set out to provide the answers for three basic – but profound – questions that many of us face at one point or the other in our lives. These were: How can you be sure that
- You will be successful and happy in your career?
- Your relationships with your spouse, your children and your extended family and friends become an enduring source of happiness?
- You live a life of integrity – and stay out of jail?
At first, they may seem to be vague questions, but if you do some thinking, you’d see how much relevance they hold in our lives. The three academicians brooded over these questions, researched in the business and academic world, and the result was a book titled How Will You Measure Your Life. The book is divided into three parts and covers the above mentioned questions. We’ll briefly touch upon each question in this piece.
Finding Happiness in Your Career: Since we spend years, rather decades, of our lives in some kind of professional career, it is imperative that we find a meaningful career if we seek to have a meaningful life. There are two factors that shape our professional experience: hygiene factors, which comprise of status, compensation, job security, work conditions, company policies etc; and motivators, which make us excited about our work, the very purpose of doing a job in fact. As authors argue, the hygiene factors determine whether someone will experience job-dissatisfaction. And the motivators determine the job-satisfaction part. It is worth noting that the opposite of job-dissatisfaction is not job satisfaction.
Finding Happiness in Your Relationships: In modern life, given the high-intensity jobs we do, we often forget about the value of family and relationships and their influence on how we happy or unhappy we feel. We take them for granted. The result? The divorce rates are going up. Families are breaking down. That’s because we do not make the same amount of investment we make in our careers. Relationships demand a lot of time and effort. They are like plants. You need to provide them with water and sunlight. Otherwise, they wither.
Staying Out of Jail: It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. As we live through life, the question of right and wrong come so frequently that we might lose track of our own morality. Some of us fall for the classic trap of a corrupt activity: I will just do it once. The problem with this approach is, nobody does it once. It’s easy to do something 100% of the time than 98%. Because in latter case, it’s almost impossible to keep a track. And the consequences can have permanent damage on our life.
To conclude, in order to find fulfilment, it is a good idea to take out a notepad once in a while and see how you are doing in the above three areas. That will definitely give you a healthy perspective on whether or not you are heading in the right direction.
Kalampedia 