Manage Yourself

Have you thought about real motivators in your life? Is it money or something else? Many research shows that it’s not money but opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others and get recognized for your effort and achievements. 

To make yourself happy, try to answer these three questions honestly - 

• How can I be happy in my career?
• How Can I ensure that my relationship with my family is an enduring source of happiness?
• How can I live my life with integrity? 

 In all these, you are at a focal point with limited resources - time and energy and talent. 

 To answer these questions, think below pointers –

A.    Resource Allocation

You have a bunch of businesses who compete for these resources – rewarding relationships with family, contributing to my hobbies or community, succeed in my career, visiting religious places periodically etc. One needs to allocate your resources (time, energy and talent) appropriately and wisely on these. People allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most. So workout a balance. 

In every step of your analysis, you will realize that there are limits, restriction, cap, ceiling, regulations or in short, Constraints (Money, Time, knowledge/talent). Though we hate constraints in the pursuit of happiness and liberty but it offer structure that can liberate us from chaos and disorder of entropy. Constraints brings – faster feedback (quick experimentation, learn and adapt), sequential trails, stay focused. 

Time and energy have great correlation one need to understand. If you manage your energy properly, time will never be a challenge for you. To understand this point better, one need to think energy in broader sense –

A1. Physical energy – reduce stress, eat meals on a regular time interval, sleep well, take breaks between work and understand body signals like fatigue, hunger, difficulty in concentration etc.

A2. Emotional energy – Defuse negative emotions like anxiety, insecurity by appropriate means. Fuel positive energy by sharing or thanking etc.

A3. Mental Energy – Reduce interruption, think the priority task for tomorrow while closing the day today.

A4. Spiritual energy – Think about the activities which gives you a feeling of effectiveness, sense of fulfilment.

B.    Discipline & Culture 

Keep your practice disciplined and believe in your principles. Culture dictates the proven and acceptable method by which members of the group address recurrent problems. Culture defines the priority given to different types of problems.

Attitude of “only once” is dangerous. You should not compromise with your discipline and culture. you have got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.

C.     Humility

It’s crucial to take a sense of humility to the world. Be humble and honest. People surrounding you may not be smarter than you but humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunity will be unlimited. You can set examples and precedence not only for yourself but for others too.

In your life, it is not important how much you have earned, but it really matters how much happiness you have spread, the individual people whose lives you have touched.

You should not worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved but worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.

References - Various HBR Articles