by Sylvain | Aug 12, 2009 | Shift
© iStockPhoto - wh1600
It’s starting to get really hot, you’re with a zillion others on the streets, defending your rights, sticking it to The Man, building a better future. You’re chanting. You’re not sure what exactly, with all the noise and lack of coordination (it definitely looked easier on the movie last night), but you’re chanting anyway. You feel proud, and good, and somewhat angry (yeah, I know…). Everything seems to be going great, you’re in the flow, you don’t have to decide anything, it’s as easy as it could ever be. But then, you see at a distance, a small, little shop with a giant poster of your favorite band. It’s getting closer, but you aren’t. A strange feeling arise. You’re starting to wonder.
Where’s the crowd going? And why you shouldn’t follow.
Following a crowd is exhilarating. As part of a movement, we feel empowered, nothing can stop us. Crowds have overthrown governments, crowds have stopped conflicts, but crowds have also started wars and induced the death of many people. When you’re part of a crowd, there are questions you should be asking yourself, and others.
The advantages of being in a crowd
- You’re powerful
- You can fight for your rights, or justice
- You don’t have to decide everything, you can rely on the crowd
- You’re part of a group with similar values or interests
- You benefit from what the crowd provides or obtains
- You share with the crowd, and it shares with you, you’re not alone
The disadvantages of being in a crowd
- You act differently than when you’re by yourself (you are less inhibited, maybe also more aggressive)
- You’re a small fish in a large pond, you may not be able to voice your opinion (or concerns)
- Unless you’re at the top (if there’s one), you don’t decide much
- You become less aware of your actions and their true implications
- You probably don’t know where you’re going
- Your interests might diverge from the leadership’s or the crowd’s and might end up helping changes against your values
- It’s not always easy to get out once you belong to a group (and/or to realize you’re not a good match for it anymore)
Two faces of the same coin, obviously. When you commit to a group action, it is important to keep the goal in sight. Both yours, and the group’s. If it’s a one-time thing, no problem, but if it’s a long-time relationship, there might come a point when you don’t totally agree anymore. If that happens, and you still follow the crowd:
- You might feel bad about the path you’re on and start building resentment
- You’ll engage in actions that don’t match with your values anymore
- You’ll work towards a goal that won’t satisfy or fulfill you
- You’ll lose interest in the group’s activities and will not help the group anymore
- You’ll miss opportunities to do things that really matters to you
Basically, you give up control over (part of) your life.
It is important to join a movement boasting our values, it can even be life-changing, but beware of getting caught up in the action. It might not do you only good. Follow your heart, follow your values, join a crowd, but don’t simply follow it.
by Sylvain | Aug 9, 2009 | Passion, Work
© iStockPhoto.com/WoodenDinosaur
It’s a beautiful summer day, the sun is shining, the clouds are hiding somewhere on the other side of the Earth, you can smell the delicate smell of roses nearby and your only desire is to go out and have fun. Nothing unusual, just taking a little walk alone and working on your paper sculptures (they are so gorgeous you suspect your old neighbor inadvertently transported one into his living room), but..
You have to make money
Of course, you have to work. Those damn reports won’t compile themselves, will they? So, you’re struggling, not able to decide with a clear conscience to do one thing or the other. You can’t enjoy the day because you should be working. But you can’t focus on your work either, because, really, you should be enjoying yourself. Who asked for these reports anyway? Will they ever read them? What are you doing? Don’t even think about forgetting all of it and simply relaxing.
Make enough money, and then, you can have fun.
This phrase is so common, so ingrained into our brains since we’re little kids, we need to make money before we can have fun. Whether it’s on a summer day, or in your life. Finish the reports, then you can chill out. Work for dozens of years, then you may enjoy life (if you still can).
But here, I want to propose another paradigm.
What if you had to do what you love in order to earn money?
I can already hear the comments “I hate my job but it makes me money so I can travel/buy stuff/feed my kids/eat pizzas with my friends while watching American Idol”. Err.. really?
Ok. But let me ask you a question… How long are you gonna live that way?
Forget about your current situation for a minute, and ask yourself what happens when you’re doing something that you hate (or at least not love to a certain, high, degree).
- You wake up without energy, dreading the time to go to work
- You think about what you’d like to do instead
- You do the minimum that’ll get you what you need (not get fired, enough money, some consideration, maybe even a promotion)
- You tell yourself it’s not that bad, there are lots of things you kinda like in your job
- You live for the paycheck, if it wasn’t there every month or so, you’d be happy not being here
- You complain more than often about how much your job sucks
Not too pretty, I know.
Now, what happens if you love what you do all day?
- You wake up energized, ready to go seize the day, wondering what opportunities will come knocking at your door
- You feel like there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing
- You give the best of yourself in order to accomplish the unthinkable (to people who hate their job)
- You tell yourself you’re lucky to be doing something that you love without feeling any ounce of guilt
- You live for your passion, if you weren’t paid, you’d still be doing the same thing (albeit, with less time and energy)
- You don’t understand why people complain about their work
If you compare the two, the difference is obvious. If you hate what you do, you’ll struggle, if you love it, you’ll thrive. So yes, you can make some money doing something that you hate, you can even get good at it and earn enough to live comfortably (in a materialistic way). But if you love what you do, your potential will be much higher. Whatever level of success you’re achieving doing something you hate would be ten times higher doing something you love, with the same perceived level of effort. Don’t you find it easier to spend time and energy on something you like?
You might be thinking that there’s no way you’d be able to make money with what you love, after all, paper sculptures are not a hot topic on eBay (or are they?).
But what if you had to? Maybe you don’t see a way because you haven’t invested enough into what was only a hobby. After all, you spent a couple (or a dozen) years to obtain a degree in your field, then perfected your skills for even more time. So there’s no comparison.
But if you really, really, had to earn a living doing something you love… You’d find a way. You’d invest whatever time and energy necessary and you’d make it. Because you’d care enough. You’d research the competition, learn about marketing, try to sell your creations on Etsy, talk about it to your friends and colleagues, and slowly build a business. There’s no magic bullet here, but imagine how you’d feel once you’d managed to achieve that.
Isn’t it worth just a little then, to develop your passion? Spend a little more time, invest in what you love. Whether it’s paper sculptures, music, writing, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you start right now and continue everyday, until what you have to do next is clear. Then do it. And most important of all: don’t forget to enjoy.
by Sylvain | Aug 9, 2009 | Shift
©iStockPhoto.com/Photo Kitchen
Let’s say it’s a day like any other. You’re behind schedule on a big project (who isn’t?), your account balance seems to decrease by the minute, you wonder if it was your turn to grab the kids from school (hopefully they’re your kids), and you hope it wasn’t because the car was making a funny noise on the way to work this morning. Okay, maybe it’s not a day like any other. It’s worse. You feel stuck. Things don’t go as planned, you don’t know how to proceed. In a word, you’re overwhelmed and can’t go forward. You’re lucky, you can stop wondering
How to get unstuck
Whether it’s a big or a small problem, it doesn’t matter, the process is the same. The first step is always to acknowledge that you have a problem. Do you? Great! Good work. Now,
1. Step back
There’s no point trying to dream up a solution standing where you are, if you want to have a chance at making any progress, you have to step back, take a deep breath, then look at the current situation. If you can’t see the beginning or end yet, go further away.
2. Assess the situation
From here, you should have a better view of what you’re doing. It’s time to find out where you’re going and if it’s close enough to where you want to be going. If you’re killing yourself working, maybe you shouldn’t. See what’s working, and more importantly, what’s not working. Once you have a clear view of the current situation and what you want to achieve, it’s time to
3. Brainstorm new ways
Write down any and every idea you have that may (or may not) improve the current situation. Don’t disregard anything, be creative and not judgmental. You want to open up new possibilities, new ways to go forward. Just write an idea per line, or draw a mind map, whatever feels easier to you. The process will help you gain more perspective. After 15 minutes to an hour (or more), if you feel satisfied,
4. Analyze
Review all the ideas you have, maybe give them a note, according to how fulfilling they are, or what they can give you. Eliminate those that won’t work or won’t give you what you want or need. Keep the rest. You should still have multiple ideas left.
5. Commit
You now have several ideas that you like and that might help you achieve your goals (if you don’t, go back to step 1). Decide and commit to those you want to pursue right now. Put the others somewhere safe, you might want to go back to them in the future.
6. Act
It’s good to gather some ideas, and commit to them. But now, the real work begins, it’s time to act. Start with one little thing you can do right now, make a phone call, order a book or research a subject, it’ll build momentum. Then identify one action that you can do every day to bring you forward, and do it.
7. Continue.. and repeat
Now that you’ve expanded your world a little bit, and sailed on a new path, you have to continue on your way. Once a certain amount of time has passed (a week?) or you want to re-assess the situation go back to step one of the process, and repeat.
There are multiple ways to get unstuck, but each major overhaul of the current situation follow the same path as this article. The basic idea is to get out of the hole, think, then hop on a new way. Ready? Go!
