What Immediately Flashes Through Your Mind?

What immediately flashes through your mind? Sit back for a moment and really consider this situation. Make it as vivid and real as you possibly can. Then evaluate your instinctual reaction. Tonight I polish my résumé, tomorrow I start circulating it discreetly, and in three weeks to two months I’ll be gone? Or is it That’s really too bad! What do I have to do to manage with my reduced compensation, and what can I do to make my organization prosperous again so I can get back to where I was and even surpass it? If your reaction is the former, you’re wasting your life. If you’re ready to leave where you are instantly and the only thing holding you back is a paycheck, then you’re paying a psychic cost that is too high. If your remuneration is normally outrageous, as it frequently is in the financial services industry, you may be tempted to hold on in the hope that a few years of perdition will free you forever. If your reaction is the latter, then you have much to be grateful for and you’re not too far from the vision I described. Odds are that you’re somewhere in between, and that’s a good sign that you should start moving in the direction of greater engagement. In the Middle Ages, there was a famine in the countryside, so the young men went to the city to make a living. They had not known each other before. The artist had risen from beginnings because of a combination of talent, luck, and hard work. Now he was famous across the continent, and even the Pope beseeched him to paint the murals in a great cathedral.

Someday Soon

He was resting at home and intended to take up that job when he was done with some paintings for which he had been commissioned. He set the three youths to work immediately, and the hours were long. He also gave them samples of plants and sent them out to distant hills to gather great quantities. They then had to crush the plants and boil the juice into a concentrate. From all this came pigments of rich color that the artist used in his work. He was creating a stockpile of materials he would need for the murals. John disliked the work, the smell, and the hours and only remained because he saw no alternative. Peter did not particularly like what he did, but he thought it was better than the hard labor that was the lot of a friend who worked at the blacksmith’s foundry, so he diligently did what he was supposed to do. Paul was intrigued by the iridescent colors that appeared from humdrum sources as if by magic and began to experiment. He paid attention to what the artist said, observed him at work, and asked questions. When he was not rebuffed, he felt encouraged and began asking questions regularly. That is how he knew the artist was looking for a particular shade of red, and he saw a plant that he thought would yield such a hue when its juice was mixed with another, which turned out to be the case.

Think For Yourself

The artist was mightily pleased. When his commissions were finished, the artist wound up his establishment. As for Paul, the artist asked him if he would like to accompany him and be his apprentice. Paul accepted joyfully and, in time, became a noted artist in his own right. This, in a sense, is the choice you have every day. You can be, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy, or you can be an eagle soaring effortlessly in the sun. You can be John, essentially a laborer for hire. You can be Peter, essentially an industrious craftsman. Or you can be Paul, an eager creator of beauty who is curious about the world and actively engaged with it in a quest to make it better. Observe your emotions as you perform such activities. Now recognize that you can wallow in these negative feelings, or you can simply let them go. And you can let them go.

You Know Whats Coming Next

Make it a game or many games. See how long you can carry on a conversation with the person you dislike without making a sarcastic comment. Concentrate quietly on playing your game, and the unpleasantness melts away. Everyone wants to be there. I have heard thousands of confessions along the lines of What you say really makes sense to me, Professor Rao. The problem is that nothing really calls to me in the way you describe. I mean, I like my job, but it’s just a job. I certainly don’t go into rhapsodies over it, and there are many times I actually find it distasteful. Not ecstatic, but satisfied. How do I get to what you’re talking about? It is possible, indeed likely, that you feel this way. I ask people to describe their ideal job, one that would make them come alive, that they would feel passionate about. They begin excitedly. They specify how much it would pay, where it would be located, how much travel it would involve, the type of person their boss would be, the culture of the organization, the nature of the work they would do, what the hours would be and how much flexibility they would have, their prospects of moving up, and so on. A very few also specify what good their work would bring to the world. All are convinced that their ideal job is out there and their task is to find it. Do you think the same way? That if only you could find this specified set of characteristics you would be passionate about what you do and fulfilled in your work? If you believe this and are seeking such a position, sometimes desultorily, sometimes actively, then I have some bad news for you.