Do you live to work or work to live?

At just under 5 minutes, I think this David Brooks presentation is the shortest TED Talk I've ever watched. BUT, it left me pondering in silence for a good 20 minutes afterwards. Brooks contemplates the two sides of human nature as described by Joseph Soloveitchick in his 1965 book, The Lonely Man of Faith. He says that we are in constant battle with our two selves which he named Adam 1 and Adam 2. Adam 1 is worldly and ambitious. He wants to build, create, establish companies, innovate. Adam 1 savours accomplishment. While Adam 2 is the humble side of our nature. He wants to do good and be good. He savours consistency and strength. Ultimately Adam 1 wants to conquer the world and Adam 2 wants to hear a calling and obey the world. Mr Brooks presents a hypothesis that it is the disconnect between our desired self (Adam 2) and our actual self (Adam 1) that leads to disengagement and dissatisfaction with our work. I agree.

Most of the leaders I work with have enjoyed incredible success. They've reached or on track to achieve their highest ambitions, but something just doesn't feel right. They're stuck, struggling, dissatisfied. At best they're bored and at worst they're underperforming. I often hear them say, "Is this it?", "Is it really worth the hassle?", or "I've lost my passion, my MOJO", or even, "Maybe it's true. Maybe I really am crap at my job." Many of these issues originate in the discordant space Soloveitchick tries to capture with his Adam 1 and Adam 2 analogy of our opposing selves. Society prioritizes and rewards the success driven model of Adam 1, and encourages us to ignore Adam 2 - that part of ourselves that needs to think, consider and feel. To be a good leader you need to push your ambitious self, but to be a GREAT leader you need to trust and integrate both parts of your self.

Figuring out your purpose as leaders and consciously considering this in the course of your business gives you balance and strength. So take a moment and really contemplate David Brooks' question, are you living for your resume/CV or your eulogy? In other words are you working to live or living to work? Or better yet, have you found your way to successfully integrate the two into a working life worth living?

Come over and join a larger conversation around the value of prioritising humanity in business as a means of enhancing profits and lives in our free private FaceBook group, The MOJO Mobilizers Colleective https://bit.ly/2r9IGw9.

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