Many months have elapsed since the first time my blog was posted. I have received numerous comments from well-wishers and skeptics. It’s interesting to note how our thoughts, when posted on the web, could stir many different feelings.
This time around let me dwell a little on the subject of ‘love’. Love in all its splendor forms. Love makes the world go round. Love begets peace and I recall in the sixties, I often come across the slogan “Make love not war!”; strangely we don’t see this slogan anymore today. Is that why there are more wars now? And as I recall it was also love which was my theme during the MSU 6th convocation address last December.
I will refrain from talking about love in the romantic context. Love in this context comes naturally at one point of time (in some cases a few times!) in our lives. The intensity of such love varies depending on the personality. It’s mundane yet complex and complicated, it’s tiring yet exciting.
I want to talk about love in the context of success and achievement. It’s the kind of love that creates personalities – the kind of love that generates positive outcome, a sense of pride and respect. Funny thing is, such love is plentiful within us, but yet many fail to see it.
Addressing some fresh graduates of Stanford University on their commencement day Steve Job once said, “You have got to find what you love doing ”. Simply put, if you do something out of love success and satisfaction is definitely within reach.
So, this takes us to the question of whether our current job is the manifestation of what we love doing. Do we finish our work with a sense of accomplishment? Do we go home feeling satisfied?
In responding to the above, let us not be confused between what is our ambition and the love of doing something even though it may not be a part of our ambition. These are two different things yet both are capable of bringing about a profound sense of accomplishment and personal gratification if done right. A point that I wish to stress is, despite having to do something that may not be a part of our aspiration, but if done with passion and commitment the return is likely to be the same as the pursuit of our ambition. Many of our successful graduates will agree to this and many of those who have made it in their career feel the same.
I am inclined to believe that when a career is deficient of passion and conviction (or love) one tends to lose touch with attempts to fulfill the set objectives. One tends to go astray without having a real sense of purpose. In such a situation targets (or KPIs if I may) moves and fluctuates according to moods and uncertainties.
So how do we go about instilling love into something that we are doing which may not be a part of what we have dreamt of doing? I suppose the answer lies within us – it is in our heart. It is about discipline and commitment. It is about the sense of purpose that we should let ourselves feel as we step out of our houses every morning when we go to work.
I envisage that we all can be better individuals and all of us have the capabilities to do so. Why not give it a shot. Do it for the sake of LOVE !