Passion or Fashion?

7 P.M. Cool and pleasant evening. I was on an evening walk.

I was almost pulled by the rhythmic beats of Mridangam (a type of percussion instrument) from behind the hedge.

Raja (name changed) was practising, looking at the notations by his side. He could hardly read the notebook. He was sitting in dark at the farthest corner by the side of the eastern express highway in Thane.

For over five minutes Raja didn't even realise that I was standing by his side watching him play the Mridangam. My wife was watching patiently from a distance. She is used to such foolish halts of mine.

With a little bit of inquiry (finally when he looked at me), I came to know that he stayed in a rented shanty. His workplace was a few kilometers away. And that he sometimes came to practise in this corner whenever he got time. Once in a month he would go to his native near Murbad about 100 kilometres and take lessons from his Guru there.

What a commitment towards one's passion!

Whereas it is very easy to get spoilt (with smoking, drinking and chewing tobacco) in a metro city like Thane or Mumbai, the boy chose a corner and Mridang. The young boy (at 20 age) was pursuing his passion by the noisy and polluted roadside after work hours.

The reason: 

His neighbors would complain to his landlord about the 'noise' of Mridang. 

No room inside his room that he shared with a couple of partners.

Many 'innovate' hurdles to complain of 'why and how a thing couldn't be done' even after the corresponding resources were available in abundance. The young boy instead found solutions over his hurdles while nurturing his passion, staying alone 100 kilometres away from his family.

What an empowerment and self-enablement!

Sure to grow into a real life RAJA (King) of his passion if he continues to nurture it with consistency (rather than Passion as a Fashion) and self-managed supervision like Ekalavya.

Actually while I was writing this blogpost, my wife showed me a WhatsApp ping. It wrote "Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, that was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

If so, do we stop to appreciate it? " particularly when it comes free!

May be the boy is still to go far as a percussionist.

But what I wanted to appreciate was that that's how big names get made. In fact most successful people in various fields have left similar trails in their individual lives. They had little more patience to turn tables over while their problems were hell bent on testing them.

Their passions won over their problems by miles!

Big names get made when people find opportunities in problems without complaining about lack of resources, if any.

Big names get made (with holistic satisfaction as the result) when people find and nurture their passions rather than running after the run-of-the-mill careers.

Who knows (like Joshua Bell) sometime in life the boy may become a great percussionist if not Padma Shri Zakir Hussain!

In his humble mind, perhaps he already is!!

Here's my Haiku poem over the learning of the day:

Passion isn't a Fashion

Success isn't a cushion
Life is being in Motion

Also read a few relevant blog-posts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.

Do you know a Best-Career-Plan

Take your career in fast lane!

Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It! 

Crying? It's time to kick-it-off! 

Is Your Job Boring!

Is the Free cheap?

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
How To Make A Difference 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Do You Ask Right Questions? 

Carrier for the Career 

Is the Free cheap?

It was TIMES (of India sponsored) SANSKRUTI time!

Thane loves anything to do with cultural (Sanskruti for Culture in Sanskrit and most other Indian local languages) activities.

Since a last couple of years, the year had been beginning in Thane with a big bang of cultural programmes representing art from across India... be it 'Kesariya' song from Rajasthan in West to Manipuri dance from the far East and Kashmiri culinary art from the North to the Katthakali dance from deep South.

Among many other programmes to choose from, the celebrity stage was to present the pop-queen of India 'Padma Shri' Usha Utthup on the last day.

I was left with a coupe of tickets extra since my friend couldn't join due to his last minute commitment.

So I offered the tickets to someone standing near the entry gate eagerly trying to catch a glimpse of the stage: I've got this extra. Do you want it? Free!

He looked at me with suspicion about the 'Free' and turned his head away.

Then I walked a little. Asked a middle aged couple if they were interested. It's Free I said. They shrugged as if I was asking for some favour.

Finally I found two young (college going) boys: I've got this extra. Do you want it? This time I asked without saying it's Free. My intention was not to make it appear Free.

Momentary reply was No cash sir!

Then I explained to them (why) it's Free.

They grabbed it. I'm sure they must have enjoyed their grandma like Usha Utthup sporting her trademark Bindi on the forehead with a look of a lady in her 30s, with a soulful but melodious and powerful voice none less than that of a 17 year young girl.

Hats off to the talented 'Padma Shri' Usha Utthup for her lovely-n-lively presentation to a jam-packed 10,000 strong audience at the age of 70 with the same enthusiasm and passion that of (her own) 1970's.

The questions that brushed my mind were:

Although it may be inconsequential to the first couple of pairs to whom I asked, they lost the 'Free' opportunity that came walking over to them just because they didn't hear attentively to what I offered. Poor communication (perhaps from me)! Perhaps I asked wrong questions!

Often people tend to perceive before even they hear completely! 

People hardly listen actively!!

People have no value for the things they get free and get them without any efforts!

People choose to think Free is (always) Cheap!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.

Listen To The Iceberg Beyond Tip

Big-Be Or Bug-Be !

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Will It Work Here? 

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

That's how some business partnerships work

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

Take your career in fast lane!

Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It! 

Crying? It's time to kick-it-off! 

Is Your Job Boring!

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Eternally Happy! 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?

Carrier for the Career

Will I succeed in the career I choose and chase thereafter?

This is usually a question that lingers on the mind of most prospects.

In a couple of blogposts¹ earlier, I offered some guidance. In this one I would like to value add by offering some visual explanation.

There always exists some demand D, correspondingly some careers C and some passions P. In some cases, they overlap as in sketch-1 and in other cases they exist mutually exclusively as in sketch-2. 

Some people nurture their passions after office hours or at weekends. Those who do not know their passions may like to keep a journal of the activities that they enjoyed during working hours as well as after working hours and during weekends. Those could be the pointers to their passions!

Various types of demands could be due to the basic human needs (like food, shelter, clothing, security and education as in Maslow's hierarchical model) or due to wants (or so called glorified higher needs) as well.

CD arrow indicates that you may fall (burn) out of the current career irrespective of the demand being in place. This is true particularly if the both do not overlap the circle of passion.

PC arrow indicates that demand can get created if passion is in place and corresponding careers are available.

PD arrow indicates that career can be easily made if passion and demand both are in place.

If all of the P, C, D, co-exist then what's the problem?
Why does the doubt of 'success and failure' and that of 'choose and chase' exist?

One reason could be that the three might be floating around in isolation in their own P, C and D zones independently (mutually exclusively in the mathematical lingua), something like as you see in the sketch-2.

If however all the three overlap as in sketch-1 then the shaded zone (the green dot area common to P, C and D) is the most easier one for the prospects to succeed. That's because demand and careers are already available as a carrier for their passion to ride upon. In fact there'll be a pull from it for one's passion even if one may not want it.

Career chosen in this zone is where you are likely to make a major difference and leave your impact.

C and D (the orange and red dot areas) are where you need to push yourself very hard to create the carriers for a career to join the demand. You also need to work exceptionally hard to create skills and capabilities in line with the market demand. The reason is you need to work away from what you already have. The degree of push may vary a little depending upon the saturation level of the careers and the satisfaction levels of the demands as well.

Instead working on what you already have (your passion, the blue dot area) in order to enhance skills and capabilities in line with the opportunities that the market provides, creating the corresponding demand and career is much easier even if they hardly exist. You may have to do a little spadework though.

You may need to push very little to create a carrier for your career. You'll succeed anyway it being your passion. The criteria of success will more be enjoyment derived out of the process or journey rather than merely the earnings out of it. You are surely going to enjoy it because it's your passion that you are furthering it.

Those who understand this P-C-D interrelationship, don't have to worry about the Carrier for their Career. This is particularly true for the passionate ones because they are already 'play'ing the game of it rather than 'work'ing it out.

They already have answer to the question of 'choice and the chase'!

They are likely to be the most successful ones!!

Also read a few relevant¹ blog-posts² hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or consider sharing this post.

Footnote-¹

Do you know a Best-Career-Plan

Take your career in fast lane!

Talent-Is-Latent: Enable It! 

Crying? It's time to kick-it-off! 

Is Your Job Boring!

Footnote-² ... Other relevant blogposts

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
How To Make A Difference 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Do You Ask Right Questions? 
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?

Is Your Job Boring

Job gets boring if a job is a 'job'.
Job gets boring when a job gets chosen primarily for the money it pays.

When job gets boring, the output 'bores' customer. And then the employer gets axing on you. 

Very often, people don't love their job if chosen jobs are not their passions.
Mentally as well as physically they get tired faster than they think if they don't love their job... Usually so before even they begin it.

End of a typical tiring day however, most don't mind playing a game of their choice tirelessly.
While playing people don't get tired easily. Usually so because play is a generic passion.

In fact they get happy because people love whatever they do passionately.

Double whammy! 

Not-paid play... not boring!!
Well-paid 'good' job.... but boring!!! 

What do do?

Don't lose heart yet.
Don't allow emotions to overrule you.

Do continue the job as usual during week days.

Ask probing questions in order to unearth your passion.
Finance it by the earnings from the job.
Nurture the passion on week-ends.

Look for skills common to both the job as well as the passion.
Try to compliment job to passion and passion to job.
Probability of the passion becoming passionate-job one day enhances.
'Job' might become a play and career thereafter.

Play gets played passionately.
Passionate play brings in happiness holistically.
When happy, the resultant output gets more productive and value-adding.

Afterall play is a play.
Everyone loves it without bothering about Hours.
And job is a job.
Everyone hates job; watching Minutes-after-Minutes for Hours together and Hours-after-Hours for Years together.

Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan
Take your career in fast lane!
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Do You Ask Right Questions? 
Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?
No Time? Micro-Meditate! 
Talk In Order To Listen! 
Eternally Happy!

Experienced A Delightful Payment !

I was working for this company for the first time.

As usual I sent my diagnostic questionnaire: The tool that helps me in weeding out conn-enquiries. Conn-enquiries are the ones that call for the sake of calling followed by a call to visit them only to have a cup of tea.

Such conn-companies don't realise that primary raw 'material' for offering services is time. Material for product offering can be kept in inventory. Time can't be inventoried: Once gone, is gone for ever. That's why even a TV mechanic or a water-filter mechanic charges visit fees.

So if a company doesn't help you in diagnostics you are likely to end up being a 'pig'. 'Three-Pigs' was the name of my first company where I was one of the three with a mission to scavenge in industries.

If the company answers diagnostic queries, it's likely to be serious and your time is likely to go to the needy. Moreover your time gets saved. Because many a time companies call you to ask the same questions they could have been answered on phone or by mail. Why waste fuel, time and energy kind of questions hardly bother them.

The company I am writing about responded the next day.

Asked for the path-ahead for lean journey alongwith my quotation.

My office sent proforma invoice the next day.

The company sent me their 'supplier registration form' by return with a request to "comply by return". It was followed by a reminder mail saying "Waiting for your immediate reply."

The form was one of the most complete ones that included all the information such as whether my office was a brick or a RCC structure. My office sent back the form promptly duly filled in.

Same evening I got a call saying "Your 'supplier registration' is complete. Please ensure to get bill alongwith you. End of your counseling you will get cheque in your hand."  Communication was crisp and clear.

Deliciously delightful experience! First of it's kind for me!

May be the company had timebound performance criteria for their delivery processes. But I had seen many companies in spite of having such criteria failing to pay even after a couple of years.

A typical Indian company paid me half the amount overdue to me after half century of telephone calls and five times more emails. It wrote-off half, paid me half after two years. That means the money was depreciated by half due to inflation. I have not considered cost of follow-ups though which is actually a part of any Indian's routine.

I used to call my customer-friend every time Sachin Tendulkar used to hit half-century expecting the Sachin-fan's mood to be good, but in vain.

Some such company's performance criteria is to keep more amount in credit than debit. Their unwritten rule is to delay payment multiple times the agreed payment time. Former should overrule the latter or vice versa whichever worked out favorable to them.

This 'taking others for granted' is a typical behavior in high mistrust societies. Hopefully my delightful experience is not a mystery. Actually much more than the performance criteria, it's the culture: the soft dimension that makes the difference.

The delight company happens to be an Indian subsidiary of a Japanese company perhaps richer in the soft dimension: The Kaizen Culture!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference 

An Experience of Heart-and-Soul

Take your career in fast lane!

Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!  

Nauseous Communication Gaps 

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 

Will It Work Here?  

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 

That's how some business partnerships work 

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 

Customer or Custo-Mer?  

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 

Do You Ask Right Questions?  

Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!

How Much Can We Better Our Recruitment Processes?

In Order To Improve Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, How Much To Add To Training Budgets That Are Already Heavy?

How Much To Better Our Succession-Plans?

These are some of the worries that keep haunting HR professionals. One reason is, increasing inventory of disgruntled employees. Employees disengaged due to job dis-satisfaction in particular in spite of having good systems in place. Other reason is attrition.

How to overcome this?
What is the solution to this dilemma?
How to reduce or prevent attrition?

Sometimes the causes might be aptitudinal. Sometimes it may be due to gaps in matchmaking at recruitment stage itself due to misleading presentations by either of the stakeholders.

It ultimately results into recruiting people and then figuring out how to fit square peg into round hole in order to accommodate them. Failure to do so results into branding them as defocused if they stay disengaged or as not-trust-worthy job-hopper if they quit jobs.

Hereunder might be a simple way to find out whether passions and aspirations of prospective recruits match that of a company's needs. HR professionals and companies might like to drive following steps to ease their worries.

Step-1: Prospects, both the recruiters and recruitees, need to look for matchmaking of mutual passions. Read blogpost that answers How To Take your career in fast lane!

Step-2: Prospective recruitees write their comprehension about thoughts expressed in the blogpost in maximum 50-words!

Step-3: Prospects write briefly about their own passions: Maximum 50-words!

Step-4: HR professional (assessor and selector) from recruiting company studies above 100-words in order to draw parallels. Based on the parallels s/he draws her conclusion on matchcmaking of passions and aspirations between the prospects and the company.

The findings might be given an appropriate weightage alongwith that of various other available criteria for recruitment.

In support of the above process, the recruiting company might like to design a few prompting questions that the recruitee answers.

Better the matchcmaking of passions and aspirations, better will be the mutual choices of recruits and companies, lesser will be the disengagement and better will be the Succession-Plans!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Take your career in fast lane!

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 

Don't Forget: Stir-Coffee-Well !

Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily

Listen To The Iceberg, Not The Tip 

Nauseous Communication Gaps

An Experience of Heart-and-Soul

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Be Bug-Be Or Big-Be ?

How To Make A Difference

Beware Of Political-Presentations

An Experience of Heart-and-Soul

Bapu's smile!

Courteously asking for 'tea or coffee'!

Issue of token for work within a minute of entry at security gate!

Prabhakar's speedy response to take car for quick touch-up!

Warm get-up of the cool waiting room!

Job done in a couple of hours although (the paint touch-up was) with a little less of finesse. Generally a dealer would take a work-shift including a bit of waiting due to Sunday rush. Of course it was a planned visit so scheduling the job was easy for them.

Being a Kaizen student, I expressed desire to take a study tour. It was quickly acceded to.

Customer does expect such activities to be performed of course with 'aesthetic-smile' that competition has 'forced' upon suppliers in auto sector in particular.

He 'pays' for the 'standards' alongwith for the Technology, Tools, Materials, etc. anyway that all paraphernalia  management does employ from 'outside' i. e. from the material world. They even don't forget to put a 'smiley' foot-mat that says 'thank you'.

But what one can't forcibly employ is the evidence of heart-and-soul, the 'inside',  while performing above kind of trivial looking but relevant activities as duty (that predominantly need human interventions).

If one passionately enjoys it as a play it gives pleasure to self and hence for others. Inevitably it adds value to self that no one can snatch away from. The 'player' looks beautiful then.

For that 'beauty' to happen the leaders at workplace must enjoy the work themselves. They must enjoy their own work of - leadership by demonstration, - pouring heart-and-soul in playing their own role, - recognizing those colleagues and subordinates who do so,  - employing 'telling' tactics if 'selling' fails to those who don't do so so that they don't spoil others who do.

Hope such Heart-and-Soulful experience doesn't fall back to Heat (the customer First) and then Cool her!

With that consistency then not only will the 'player' look beautiful but also s/he will make the workplace look beautiful!!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

How To Make A Difference

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Experienced A Delightful Payment !

Take your career in fast lane!

Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!  

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)

A Ride To Hell

Will It Work Here?

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it!

Don't Forget: Stir-Coffee-Well !

Sometimes we struggle through a tasteless coffee till its last sip. Then we find sugar lying at the bottom unused.

That's LIFE: (My Haiku on it...)

I fail, I fail !

Why blame others for the hell !!

It's sweet but not stirred well..!!!

That's the dilemma of a teacher or a coach or a guru: Students forget that they themselves are the sugar. Students forget that even 'the knowledge' is sugar. They forget to 'stir' it (as also to 'stir' themselves) well!

Above message received on social media reminded me of a student of Kaizen who bumped into me on a flight.

To my question, how was Kaizen journey-to-excellence going on in his company, his response was: "Well back to 'business as usual', 'full of fire-fighting, blaming-naming', 'no time to breath', etc."

Like most do typically on leaving school, he seemed to have forgotten 'teachings' of the Kaizen-school. That the Kaizen journey itself is to get rid of such ills so that it 'helps' to take 'full-breaths'. Kaizen journey is to get people aligned towards this thought.

It's human tendency to have divergent desires and get defocused by their changing thoughts and desires. They keep dragging themselves towards the undesired: typically in a corporate setting towards individual goals. However it's the role of the leadership team to help individuals to find leads for their 'desires' in the goals of the mutual interest, towards the very purpose of its existence. It's their prime role to keep them aligned towards achieving them.

It's a compulsion by market-forces. It's a compulsion to keep improving continuously to perform at higher levels marching towards excellence while serving the stakeholders; ultimately the society and the environment. In absence of this, the daily (unmeaningful) grind is sure to make you gasp for breath every moment and perish one day.

My friend, the leader himself, had forgotten the role of leadership taught in Kaizen-school: One, that of enabling all stakeholders to make improvements. Two, that of forcing 'crying' people in particular (the ones not having 'desire' to do so) to 'get off the way'.  

His leadership team had also forgotten to keep itself updated on newer ways and means to do so in order to adopt to changing environment. 

External coaches in Kaizen-school can show the what-why-how way and walk them by holding hands only a little far. Beyond that it is the role of internal leadership team to perform the corporate-parenting of passionately walking the shown way and taking their stakeholders along.

It was evident in his 'off the school' response that his company had forgotten it's responsibility of mastering the art and science of 'making the coffee'.

Their leadership team had forgotten it's role of being a learner, of keeping their knowledge warming. They had forgotten to keep their knowledge-of-sugar stirring.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

How To Make A Difference

Will It Work Here? 

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

In-a-problem? No-problem-dwell-a-while

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

ABCD of India Shining

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it!

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Take your career in fast lane!

You might have read news items such as "More than 5-lakh appear for entrance tests competing for 50-60 IAS-seats" or "competing for 500-600 IIM-seats" or "IIT-seats", etc. 

IAS is Indian Administrative Services, IIM is Indian Institute of Management, and IIT is Indian Institute of Technology. Their global counterparts could be premier institutes such as HBS (Harvard Business School), INSEAD, etc.

Looking at such kind of news items many join the bandwagon without even caring to check suitability of corresponding professions in longer run. Some with plush jobs in campus placement thereafter find themselves landed into terrible trouble. In the midst of their careers they begin finding their jobs boring and wish to switch careers.

Why do jobs get boring?

During bouts of self-talk over a period of time, the so-called 'successful' careerists find 'something missing' in their 'plush' jobs in spite of a lot of money in it. They begin feeling underemployed although not underpaid. 

This happens because many a time careers get chosen on face-value of their 'lucrativeness' perceived from media's noise. Very few careers get chosen for the 'profile' that revolves around passion. Most get chosen for the 'pay-packet' without bothering about whether the job might turn out to be an enjoyment or a pain later. 

^ How should one choose a career?
^ Should one choose to be a politician, for instance, just because it appears lucrative?

^ Aren't there dimensions other than lucrativeness and 'pay-packet' that should be considered before shortlisting a typical career?

What are the relevant dimensions?

Every individual has some subtle individuality. It may be in terms of a melodiously timbered vocal chord, or an aptitude to mathematics or to orator-ship or passion to some form of art or a combination thereof.

Lucky are those who explore, exploit and enjoy while building their careers revolving around such individualities rather around their passions. Lucky are those who understand that lack of admissions in engineering, management, medicine, and corresponding premier institutes are not an end of the story. There are endless choices that go beyond such conventional narrow career-lanes.

A simple way to find a balance between passions and careers is to first of all find out what one is passionate about. Liking music or taking to it's thrilling beats for instance is different than being passionate about it. 

Passion is likely to be "what you 'love' doing" rather than what you 'like' doing. Eventually if 'what you like' does turn out to be a passion one must possess or be ready to develop proficiencies in the complimentary faculties to make a related career out of it. A passionate fellow about music should critically examine whether s/he is 'already good at' or is ready to put in the necessary hard-work (with smart-work of course) on cultivating her listening faculty or a melodious voice, etc. whatever may be her god-given 'possessions', into a required proficiency (developing & nurturing abilities or skills) to be a music-critic or a singer as a career respectively.

Even if the choice based on faculties does go wrong if at all, being passion-based, the extra efforts needed to convert those into capabilities and capacities might not be much boring. Passion is more likely to make the choice appear as a 'play' rather than as a 'work' or a 'job' (drudgery). Does anyone hesitate putting in heart-felt efforts on 'play-ground', for instance!

However much euphoric beginning it may be, a lucrative-career might wane over a period of time if the job is not passion-based. It may appear lucrative because of market-demand "what the world wants". It gets boring because it's not in-demand rather "not-loved" by self. So after a certain spell in the career, extra efforts called for by the market-demand appear like slogging. 

That's also may be a reason why human resource development (HRD) professionals find it difficult to motivate and align employees, howsoever they may try with the best-of-best pay-packets ("what the world is willing to pay you for"), towards the organisation's own passionate mission.

A couple of poetic lines ('Sher') by me on this in my mother tongue Marathi:
(One from you in English, Hindi or in a language of your choice is welcome)

असे ध्यास तर नसे तासनतास कामाचाही त्रास 

नसे ध्यास तर विषापरि असे अमृताचाही घास

A simple way to find out one's own passion/s is to engage in self-talk in order to zero-in on the activities that one enjoys;

- enjoys doing the most in spite of adversities and lack of appreciation from others,
- enjoys doing even at the cost of forgetting friends, family and food at times,
- enjoys continuously learning therefrom rather than getting bogged down by interim failures, if any, 
- enjoys performing them in newer ways while raising bar for one's own self,
- enjoys while finding ways-&-means to support them even if short of the required resources.

Knowing these dimensions, what steps does one take in order to make her job worthy and thereby shape her own career?

Steps to make 'work' worthy of 'play'ing

Step-1, Make commitment to choose career closely revolving around passion: "what you 'love' doing". Sometimes it may not be late to even switch the past so-called "liked" careers to the ones "you always loved" (and the ones that "the world 'wanted' and is willing to pay you for") particularly after the financial needs at that particular stage of life have been reasonably fulfilled. Be prepared to do so, even if some compromises are called for, both on your ego as well as on your current pay-packet at times.

Step-2, Zero-in on a couple of passions by a conscious self-talk. Key is in zeroing-in on them early enough. Psychometric tests may be useful in analysing your interests. Passions might be so subtle at times that only your parents, close friends, teachers and relatives might be in a better position to discover those. Unfortunately sometimes they tend to 'kill' those by 'advising' through smoke-glasses of their own successful or failed pasts or through (at times the 'self-taught') parental-conventions.

Step-3, Find out whether a couple of faculties complimentary to the short-listed passions pre-exist within. Are those faculties convertible into proficiencies, skills or Goal-abilities (my term for goal-oriented abilities) and thereby the corresponding passions convertible into careers?

Step-4, Without commensurate preparation passion has no destination. 

Put in the required hard-work and smart-work on cultivating the inherent faculties ("what you need to be good at" to do "what you love doing" in order to satisfy the "needs & wants of the world") into the Goal-abilities. Acquire additionally needed-ones if feasible. You may have to work over-time to do so. It's actually a fun-play working-out to heighten your abilities to suit the higher-level of your passion-oriented goals. While at the same time it's frustrating although may be easy to 'work' for the non-passion oriented lower-level goals.

Do SWOT analysis while nurturing with joy the chosen ones as above.

- Identity and polish your own corresponding strengths (S) if already possessed.
- Identity and overcome corresponding weaknesses (W), if any. It's important to allocate more energy on utilizing strengths rather than on overcoming weaknesses. The former is easier than the latter.
- Anticipate and tackle corresponding threats (T), if any.
- Anticipate and make use of every available opportunity (O) complementing the above process and in fact by being conscious to create some opportunities. 

If you are already employed, it might help greatly if you tune up above steps staying there itself in the same job until "the day" to do "what you love" with full throttle. There, in the current workplace, it may be easier to find out possible intersecting points between your interests and that of the current employer's. In that case, perhaps it might be easy for both you and your HRD to convert your current job into the one that you passionately loved and hence badly wanted. Instead, doing this by leaving the 'bird-in-hand' job might put you in tension ultimately resulting in loss of self confidence. Moreover, in the new job not only you may have to invest a lot of time establishing yourself with new "faces" but also you might get taken for granted there.

Step-5, Take an on-going review. Undertake a self-audit in order to check whether the chosen career is getting shaped as desired. Accordingly take corrective actions by going back to step-4 or step-1 as appropriate. 

A caveat: Being objective in deliverables might be more useful rather than merely being passionate and losing sight of the goals. 

Now-a-days people have been talking about IKIGAI as well, the Japanese concept (that means "a reason for being" or the very purpose of life), while planning careers. It may be practised in a structured manner with the steps and tips as elaborated above so as to take your career in right lane as well as to take it forward at a faster speed. 

Hope the tips help to attain the 'need-based' holistic satisfaction rather than mere 'want-based' monitory satisfaction. Former is long-term. Latter is short-term.

Footnotes:
Goal-abilities: Term coined by me for goal-oriented abilities. 

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

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