In my last blog,
I wrote about how short our life is – it is only 30,000 days. 2016, seems like
started only a while ago, 90 days is almost gone. Intentional living and making
each day count are keys to becoming successful and thus being happy. As success
is always measured on relative terms, there is always a tendency to go for
more. Human beings are driven by one of the strong emotions of being happy and
satisfied in whatever they do. Happiness and satisfaction of leading a
purposeful life is derived based on what we are doing currently and not what we
did last year and even a month ago. A research study concluded that, money stops
being a major contributor to happiness as soon as basic needs are met. So in my
view choosing platforms that continue to challenge us is very important for
leading a happy life than our bank balances and material possessions. We should
not only aim for success but also aim for significance. In my definition –
success is all about impacting one’s family and close circle of friends but
significance is about impacting the broader world and society through our body of
work and actions. Business, Politics, Public service, Social service are some
of the platforms that can catapult one to be a significant individual. In most
cases, every significant person is necessarily a successful person and reverse
is not true.
So if we want to
be significant and happy, choosing platforms and what we spend most of our time
and energy on, is more important than anything else – be it our education,
knowledge and capabilities at a given time. Knowledge and capabilities can
always be acquired by a person with an intentional-living and ever improving mindset
but choosing platforms needs to be timely and based on a thorough analysis of current
environment and emerging future. I have always believed that, people who are in
the entertainment and Sports industry are NOT more talented than a professional
who is great at doing his or her craft. But successful entertainers and
sports-persons tend to be more significant than a successful professional and that
is due to the power of life platforms. There
was a famous Business Article on S- Curves in managing growth of a company through
cycles and that is very true for individuals as well. The 3 Axis graphic below gives
a powerful perspective on platforms in life.
The good and bad news is that, every platform goes
through a growth cycle and after peak, it plateaus and then invariably comes
down. During the growth cycle – we also go through a happiness cycle but during
stagnation and the downward cycle, frustration and unhappiness set in. The
reason for this unhappiness, is because of the demand from the platform is
lower than the competence and capabilities that we acquired through the growth.
Fundamentally Human beings are emotional creatures, which is why sense of
purpose and growth direction is always important. One needs to identify well in
advance when a platform is about to plateau and go down, jump into the next one
to feed our emotions and happiness cycle. This is an ongoing process for
companies and individuals.
I have always
believed that, everyone is capable of designing our own future, platforms and
hence happiness. Happiness is always intrinsic and not extrinsic and it varies
from person to person. We are all unique and let’s all lead a very happy life,
continue to grow and make the world a better place…
