Playing
the Game, Dynamically
“Success
is the unintended side-effect of one who dedicates himself to a cause greater
than self” – Viktor Frankl
As we venture into the new year, especially
the work year, with COVID in full force in its second peak (in most parts of
the world), it’s only natural that we are reminded how short life actually is
and prodded to really question how we spend our lives, especially the part that
is involved in work, earning a livelihood and ultimately our contribution to
society.
I was listening to an audiobook over the
last 2 weeks, and it helped me make sense of a few key points that really sum
up, bringing meaning and purpose to our work.
You may have heard of it, Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcolm
Gladwell. Gladwell surmises that there are 3 key facets that need to be at play
to help us bring meaning to our job: autonomy, complexity and the link between
performance and reward.
*Autonomy: the ability to be left to
independently carry out tasks and be responsible and/or accountable for the
action.
*Complexity: work that lacks lustre or is
easy, is boring, so having complexity and a challenge would be key.
*Link between Performance and Reward: being
rewarded for our performance and impact, via incentives, recognition and
financial and non-financial benefits, and having these correlated.
If your interest is piqued and you want to
read further on it, but you’re still not sure if this book is your cuppa tea,
then check out my review and others on goodreads.com
and form your own opinion.
But reflecting over these factors, it got
me thinking about another concept I learnt about in my philosophy studies: the
idea of working for a higher ideal. Living a life of action driven by a higher
goal. A goal higher than attaining just personal benefits (selfish and ego
driven). Higher ideals are goals we can strive to achieve and inspire us at a
thought, emotion and action level. An example of a self-driven goal say in a
corporate job, would be to aim to become the best manager in your department.
In contrast an example of a higher ideal at work at an action level, would be
to strive towards to becoming the manager that all staff, even those outside of
your team, would be comfortable coming to you to grow/seek advice/be inspired/etc.
by. It doesn’t matter what the example or action is, what matters is the intention
behind the goal. Is it so that “you” can be the best/be in the spotlight/be
recognised/be rewarded? Or is for the betterment of the staff/the company/the
clients? i.e., is it just for personal gain or is it something outside of
yourself. This pull to contribute and make a difference, outside of yourself,
in essence is working for a higher ideal and the philosophical term for this is
living dynamically as a “karma yogi” (selfless/right action).
I would go a step further and call it more
than work or a job, but our contribution to society, our impact and making our selfless
mark, however big or small, whether corporate or creative or other. Some
schools of thought, refer to it as Servant Leadership.
I also stumbled upon this fantastic article from seek.com that really tested my thinking on whether I was in a comfort zone, whether I had the meaning and purpose I wanted at work. See the link below if this is something you have been wondering about as well.
Whether you related to Malcolm Gladwell,
the karma yogi or servant leadership philosophy or research from Good
People HR, one thing is clear, we don’t know what the future holds, with
unpredictable economies and this COVID pandemic. Change is the only constant
and playing this game of Life, we must carefully think our choices through and
use every moment to live our best lives, with growth, impact and dynamism.