What drives you?

I recently red “Rethinking Success” from J. Douglas Holladay, which covers 8 different practices for finding meaning in work and life. The book is an interesting read about several topics such as keeping authentic relationships, being appreciative, accepting risk and more. What caught my attention are two concepts:

- Living an integrated life: Having a holistic view and work at integrating all the elements of your life and realizing these aspects are interconnected. There is no “you at work” and a “you at home”. In today’s day and age we should not have a utilitarian concept of work. One must strive to establish a work environment where you can be you, and also be appreciated for it.

- Determining your legacy: This is particularly true in today’s world, where social media leaves people obsessing about what others think and where we can easily loose sight of our true north. This is something that was very well captured recently by Hanna Henning (CIO of Siemens AG) in her post about progress where her team kept working on tasks although the success (feedback) was not initially showing. Whilst we can’t always control the output, we should absolutely own the input.

At a personal level, Holladay rightly points out that if you don’t link success with something more profound than monetary gain, succeeding can make your life feel hollow. For fulfillment, one should link success with something more tangible. Feelings of insecurity can lead people to question their self-worth and to feel unsatisfied with what they have – even if they are wealthy and successful.

Such individuals often realize that their endless pursuit of “more” is a kind of mirage, which they justify it to themselves as something they’re chasing for their loved ones or their business associates. Those who give freely of themselves report feeling more fulfilled.

“The ancient Greeks had a very different idea of success than we do. For them, the good life was about living a meaningful life and contributing to the greater good.”

So what is meaningful to you? Holladay recommends for young professionals, to reflect on your life by dividing it into five-year periods. Consider what you’ve loved doing since childhood. Do you enjoy working alone or as part of a group? Do you like making things with your hands? Do you like solving problems? Do you want to lead or follow? Answer these questions periodically to discover your strengths and interests. This self-inquiry will also help you determine what contributions you can make to something beyond yourself.

In my case, for having lived in many countries (19), every move, every change of country, of job, or even company, has come with, or following introspection.

I have often been asked “which is your favorite country”. Truth is that our needs, wants, constraints and ambitions evolve, and thus the answer to that question has varied overtime. My answer today as a husband of one and father of two, is not the same as when I was single with no dependents. Introspection is key. Same applies to work and what job you would enjoy doing today.

Again referring to the Greeks “know thyself”. You must, first and foremost, know yourself, and it is important because only by knowing one's character can one be aware of one's limitations, aspirations and likes/dislikes, while keeping in mind these are malleable over time.

I will always remember this comment when doing a Design Thinking Session at SAP where we would use the room to curate and collate ideas on the walls and the moderator made a comment: “You are not trees, use your feet, move around and find your place”.

How often do you do these introspections and self assessments? More importantly when is the last time you acted on such assessments made?

Each of us are a bit like Frank Abagnale (in a non-criminal way of course) in the movie “Catch me if you can”. We are all free, to a large extent, to choose what we do next.

So, where are you going Frank?