Researchers have tried for years to find out what people really want. As labor markets become tighter and tighter, the answer to the question, "What do you really want out of your life?" becomes more and more serious. The traditional answer and the answer that more than 75 percent of people actually will give is simple: Money. More money. A lot of money.
There are a couple of ways to think about this. One is in terms of happiness. Studies consistently have shown that if you give people more money and nothing else changes they are no happier after they have the money than before.
Another way to think about it is in terms of what people are willing to do to get more money. You might think about this question yourself. What would you be willing to do to earn significantly more money? Would you move to a different city? Would you work most weekends? Would you travel every week? Would you give up vacations and free time? Would you give up your marriage? How about your relationship with your children? Where would you stop?
It may actually be that having more money is not the greatest good. It might be that, if you stopped and thought about it, you could define several factors in your life that are more important than more money.
This is why we want to think about a new definition of success. When we think about successful people, we tend to think about various high-powered executives and high-profile professionals who have caught our attention.
The first yardstick of success obviously is money. But when you ask people if they want to be like these individuals who each have a high net worth, many will say no. The reason: They have no desire, really, to live lives as driven as they perceive these people are. So, what does success mean, if we are asking in a larger sense of the word? Don’t waste time.
"The most precious commodity in the world to me is time. You just have a fixed amount of life to live, and then you're finished. I don't want to waste a single second of mine. Success, to me, is being able to spend my time doing things that are meaningful and fun to me, and not spending a lot of my time doing things that are boring or meaningless. Do what you do best
"When I get up in the morning, I feel absolutely clear that I can focus almost all of my day on work that I am sublimely good at. To me, success is being able to know what my talents are and being able to use those talents every day, all day. I go home at night and feel that I've really made a contribution to the organisation, and that the organisation is making a contribution to society. I feel proud of my role there, and proud of the fact that I can do what I do really well. Love what you do
I just love feeling excited in the morning about making a contribution on the environment and conservation. "I can't think of anything I would do if I didn't feel passionate about it. Otherwise, why do it? I've been interested in the outdoors since I was a child in Mumbai. I have followed that interest and excitement through some years of my career, and I don't see it going away. In my view, success means that you get to do something for a living that you absolutely love doing. It almost doesn't matter how much you get paid for it, if you love it." Feel connected
How much of your time do you spend on activities that feel unconnected to your real life or feelings? Many people have the sense that work is different from life. "You work. And then when you're not working, you can live. We feel that one measure of success is how closely you feel that what you do at work expresses your highest sense of whom you are. I feel successful when I can look at my life and say that I spend most of my time doing things that feel important in some bigger sense.
I think that as a creative guy, people look up to me and look to me to set the moral course for the company. I want every decision I make and every contact I have to express my deeply held values about honesty and connectedness. I don't want to look back on my life and feel that I didn't really contribute anything.
All of these people are grappling with the question of what success means for them. In each case, it means much more than money or position. It has a lot more to do with their sense of who they are as people and the sense that their work could express that. It may really come down to the idea that success ultimately depends on getting past the easy answers of money and prestige, and finding the more complex answers within.
-by Raj B.
During my doctoral study workshop last week - I had come across a very interesting fact:
People of Bangladesh topped the World Happiness Index (minus economic aspects) which means they are most happiest people in the world....though the majority of them are poor.
Where the world is moving...need a speed-breaker.
It’s rightly said: Work should be fun and not for money.
