Today's Business Lessons
Important progress
There
are people who are both happy and successful with their careers. Then
there are people who are successful, but not necessarily happy.
Achieving progress is important, but we need to ask ourselves this
from time to time: Yes, we have progress, but are we making important
progress?
Do you have this sinking feeling that something is missing in your career and your life?
You do what you always do and because you are very good at it, you
already know the results. Results are expected. And the reports no
longer surprise you.
One evening, I spoke to an audience of about 400 and more; they were
all doctors. I have presented the same material before to a different
group of doctors, and I know how to provide a winning presentation –
good material, good content and good delivery. I know the works. But I
felt nervous that evening. It wasn’t because of the size of the
audience; I have spoken at several speaking engagements with greater
number of listeners.
I felt nervous because I did not know for sure what the outcome would be.
Thoughts were racing in and out of my mind. Will I let them down? Will I disappoint?
Somehow, all this feeling of doubt came back and flooded me.
In times of uncertainty, I do the most certain thing I know would help: I pray.
Then I was called in front. I took a deep breath, smiled, and looked
at the audience. That evening, I spoke with confidence. I felt so good.
The listeners were gracious, and God was merciful.
When it was over, I processed the whole experience in my mind. At
first, I was unsure of the outcome but when it came out well, I was
ecstatic.
People are continuously improving. It is unfair to say that people fall into a state of stasis because of mediocrity.
I would surmise that the reason why we feel like we are not making
important progress is because we know unconsciously what the outcome
would be.
When the outcome does not satisfy our expectations, we feel
depressed. When it does meet our expectations, we feel nonchalant about
it.
Think of this, we want to earn more, so we pour more effort into our
work, but for some reason, it’s not satisfying. The quick fix is to
raise the bar higher and try to achieve the new target. If achieved,
people still feel empty. Many people find the entire process
meaningless.
The cause of this ‘meaningless and unsatisfying feeling’ is simply
our tendency to focus on ourselves. We do what we do and it doesn’t
matter how it can affect other people.
These feelings of self-focused purpose and self-interest lead to emptiness.
But if we do things based on how it can benefit other people, then we are not just doing work, we are fulfilling a purpose.
Work now carries a meaning because it is no longer self-centered, but centered on others.
You see, the desire to excel is no longer about satisfying the
objective of self-image management. The desire to excel becomes more
meaningful, it now has a higher purpose of wanting to express truth and
ideas that would help other people.
Very few people know this and in their blind pursuit of satisfaction, the quick fix leads to less.
God has created us with a purpose, and that is to be of use and service to others.
So, back to the question: Is our work and progress meaningful because they serve important purposes?
Something to think about.
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