What Really Matters!

On what really matters:-

It has been sometime since I have written. Thank you for all the positive reinforcement that has prompted me to write again.  I would like to write about the almost clichéd topic of health, success, family and one’s career – not necessarily in that order.

 Success is very relative and does not exist:-

“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years” ~ Abraham Lincoln.

As a BBM student during a campus interview I told myself that this is what I wanted and straight away decided “I want to be that guy taking the interview”, I took up an MBA course for that sole reason. I achieved that dream in my very first job and was surprised to find that it was not as satisfying as imagined, the thrill began to wear off after a few campus drives. Then I decided that I wanted to work with a corporate rather than a consultancy, this was achieved almost from the moment I had the aspiration, no surprise, It lost its allure within a few months.  The next notion that I had was the need to move from a recruitment to an employee relations role for the sole reason that it would make me more important and push me towards leadership – no surprises, once again, the feeling of emptiness crept in again and a new goal to reach a manager band and earn more money was defined, this was achieved, as well – I’m currently in this phase and do not wish to comment further.

It is similar to when you buy your first car, rent a good apartment, buy furniture etc… The point is that once achieved, everything loses its value.

 What really matters:-

Based on the above paragraph, let me tell you that more is lost than is gained through such materialistic aspirations. In order to further one’s career or to have aspirations that involve materialistic goals, you lose your precious health which can never be regained, you lose friends as you have no time to spare because of a hectic work schedule. You change as a person – become less in touch with your feelings and emotions, home is not home but more like a place to sleep, get ready and leave for the office, the list goes on. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that you are losing what is most important.

I don’t know how many of you will agree with this, but there is a solution. Pick a career and become an expert at what you do, this is the nirvana solution and you just know when it happens; confidence comes in, you are able to predict the outcome of an action, in discussions your inputs are valuable and are crucial, you can build solutions from scratch and achievements/milestones become a habit, errors are almost zero and are rare, you are a natural at what you do and like your job, work is merely a part of one’s life, not 90 % of it. Once this stage is attained, one needs to stop working crazy hours and losing out on life. In order to succeed you need to first commit 100%. P.S:- I’m not there yet. Once this stage is attained, regain what you lost.

 The best investment:-

The best investment one can make is in himself or herself.

Use time well, it is extremely scarce!

Pay attention to your health - it will surprise you how fast the human body ages and deteriorates, you can go from being really fit to fat and flabby in 6 months flat. Spend at least an hour on exercise.

Travel – It is now or never, go on a holiday or at the very least to local scenes and sights, whenever possible.

Family & Friends – Ground rule, they are the only ones that will be there through good, bad and ugly, call/visit a family member whenever you get a chance.

Follow a passion - Sad thing is that while growing up, we were good at sports, arts, music, etc. after working for a few years all those talents or hobbies are gone. Bring them back along with additional hidden talents.

Step out of your comfort zone – Office is not the only life out there, talk to people, live a day in their shoes, make new friends – there are so many extraordinary people out there.

Help others – “We are hardwired to give” – for some reason it is extremely satisfying to help people. This applies to both people who need a helping hand and the ones around us. Most successful people have this quality.

The list goes on and time is so limited!

 The by-products of living life:-

You are happy, fit, well-travelled, more social etc. this reflects on professional life and creative performance at work, and you are more fun to work with and can work more efficiently because you are physically ft.

You never know who you will meet – you get more ideas from travelling, maybe the next million dollar idea that nobody thought of in your country. You meet more people, maybe even someone who helps you kick off a successful business.

Family time – Life with your spouse and family is so much more fun because you do things together and spend more time with each other.

I end on this note and intend to start living life before it’s too late!  

The moral:

“The more you live life, the more successful you are”

~Vikram James