When my brother Frank was 4 years old, he ventured into a neighbor’s garage and found a bushel full of apples.
Being a devilish little guy, he took one bite out of each apple, then placed them in a circle on the garage floor. When the neighbors found the apples, they were not happy about my brother’s sampling methods.
There’s a serious challenge facing business owners today, and it’s analogous to those apples — taking control of and enjoying life. There are limitless options, and studies show the average college graduate will have three to five career changes in his or her professional life.
So how can you choose the right apple(s) from the bushel? How can you develop a career or personal plan that truly addresses your needs?
The answers affect not only you, but your employees. It all begins with passion. A Stanford study revealed that 85 percent of people don’t like to do the work they do. The biggest gift an individual has is the ability to choose. In your pursuit of passion, you need to ask yourself several questions to determine whether your choices make sense.
First, where does passion occur? It occurs at the intersection of what one loves to do and what one is good at (or believes he or she has the potential to be good at). It’s imperative to have a competency for —and be challenged by — the activity you are going to direct your passion toward.
If you’re overqualified, you’ll become bored. If you’re underqualified, you’ll find anxiety in the work. Shoot for a balance of work that puts you — or your staff — slightly on the edge while still being within realistic capabilities.
How do you find your individual passion? Consider the following questions:
- What do I love to do in my job? List five things.
- What do I love to do in my free time? List five activities.
- What subjects in school fascinated me?
- What activities give me the greatest feeling of self-esteem and personal pride?
- What accomplishments have given me the greatest feeling of importance?
- What am I really good at? What do I think I can be really good at?
- How can I combine what I like with what I am really good at? Can I put this into a greater purpose or mission? Will I be enthusiastic about this purpose?
After you’ve determined passions, visualize your preferred future and focus on the goals. Realize that you can’t take a bite out of every apple. Use the following strategies:
- Ask the experts.
- Learn to say no. It allows you to stay focused on your goals.
- Develop time management techniques. Don’t spend all your time putting out the short-term high priority fires that are in front of you instead of pursuing the higher value, longer time frame projects that will lead you to your goals.
- Mobilize support. Involving others sets you up to be on the line for success and opens you up for greater opportunities.
- Define passion in a larger purpose. When passion is not just me-centered and has a larger positive impact on others, it’s possible to get many people to take action. Martin Luther King Jr. did not start out with the goal to be the leader of the civil rights movement, but his passion to eliminate injustice mobilized a large part of the country.
- Assess your status. Can you create meaningful and challenging work that overlaps with your passion? If not, take the initiative to create it.
Once you’ve begun, don’t let your energy level wane. Here are some ways to keep moving toward your goal:
- Set up a system of mini-rewards.
- Recognize that progress comes in a zigzag fashion and that rotten apples will take you off course.
- Self-education is the key to new ideas that can reinvigorate you.
Remember that the first apple you choose might not be the best apple. As you learn more about your preferred future, adapt and re-evaluate your goals. Continually polish your apple to better fit with both your changes and those in your environment.
Mike Foti ([email protected]) is CEO of Cleveland Glass Block Inc. and president of Leadership Builders. Foti works with organizations and companies that want to influence and motivate their people and grow their businesses. He can be reached at (216) 531-6363.