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In my last post, I have written about the importance of having one’s profession in one’s area of interest. However, there are a couple of other factors that also matter, which decide whether you’ll be successful  in that profession over the long term.

The Ikigai, as shown in the Venn diagram above is an area where four circles overlap. The four circles represent the following four factors:

1. What we love to do
2. What we are good at
3. What the world needs
4. What we can get paid for

As mentioned earlier, the start point is to identify what we love to do. i.e. our areas of interest. We need to find out all those things which we would enjoy doing if we were supposed to do it for a lifetime. Very often there could be multiple areas that meet this criteria.

The next thing that we need to check is whether this is something that the world needs today as well as in the long term. It may not necessarily be something that the entire world needs but may be something that a specific set of people or companies require.

We also need to check if we could get paid for doing this task, and if yes, how much? would it be enough to ensure a good income that can take care of our current and future expenses.

Then finally, we need to check if we have the ability or skill related to that area. We are checking for skill a the end, since it the first three are fulfilled, then developing skill is something that can definitely be done if we are willing to put in the required time, money and effort.

Think about this, would it be of any use if our profession was in our area of interest but if the world didn’t need it or if we couldn’t get paid for it. Would we be happy if we were in a profession that was needed by the world, we got paid for it, but we weren’t interested in it. That would make our professional life boring.

We also need to take into consideration paradigm shifts since often, over a period of time, certain professions simply move out of the circle “Does the world need this” i.e. certain products or services just become redundant over the years.

To see what happens when our choice fulfills three of the criteria but not all four, check out the figure below.

I chose Training in the field of Leadership, Behavioral and Soft Skills, since it fulfilled all the four criteria. I was passionate about Training, The world needs it, I could get paid for it and therefore consciously developed the skill required to deliver training and keep trying to learn something new so that my skill remains updated all the while.

My work in the areas of Healing also fulfills all the 4 criteria. I am passionate about healing, I have developed the skill and have helped more than 450-500 people to heal, People need healing and are willing to pay for it. Although right now, I don’t look at is as a source of earning, who knows ..this could possibly become a significant source of earning some day.

I recommend that you too use the Ikigai model to choose your profession and trust me, you’ll be happy and successful for a lifetime. Have a nice day ahead !!

Choosing one’s profession  is a decision  that can majorly impact not only the financial success and well being of an individual but also the happiness and satisfaction that he/she experiences in life.

I have observed that many people often get their first job based on chance than choice.  In case of most campus placements, boys and girls recruited from their campuses are not aware of their exact job profile. The only thing they know is the organization they are joining. In several cases they don’t even know their location of posting. All those details are disclosed later by the organization. People often end up doing jobs that they never wanted to do.

I know people who ended up spending years in a particular domain, area or profile just because their first job got them into that field and then, time and again, in their subsequent shifts they got pushed into the same field, whether they wanted it or not. Very few are able to shift into their area of interest.

I have observed that when an individual works in a field that he/she is interested in and passionate about, even 12 hours of a stressful work schedule does not create fatigue whereas when one is working in a field that is not their area of interest, just four hours are enough to get them tired.

I recommend everyone to choose his/her profession primarily based on their area of interest. That will ensure that they remain happy, enthusiastic, energetic and engaged on their job every day. Such people eagerly wait for Mondays so as to get back to their exciting workplaces and are not waiting for Weekends to rejuvenate themselves after a dull, boring and stressful week at work.

However, finding one’s area of interest is also a challenge and then building one’s profession around that is another challenge. I have noticed that in many cases people don’t give a thought to the above as a result of which their areas of interests remain simply as hobbies which they indulge in only once in a while, when they have spare time. Their jobs and their interests are in two completely different areas.

Later in life, with multiple roles and responsibilities, and when time is a major constraint, we completely forget about our areas of interest and hobbies for years together, often till our retirement. Most often, by that time it is too late to start.

So ask yourself, is there any way by which I can identify my passion areas and then invest time in finding out how I can build my profession in that area. I consider myself very lucky that I got an opportunity to build my career in the area of Training and Development which was my area of interest. I thoroughly enjoy my work and even after 8 hours of standing and delivering training, I am fully charged and never tired.

I hope the universe helps you too in achieving the same. Good Luck to you !!

In my next post, I will share a very interesting approach using which one should choose his / her profession. It is called the  Ikigai (in Japanese).

Our belief system plays a very important role in the way we perceive our environment and therefore are instrumental in forming our version of reality which  in turn affects our decisions, responses and actions.

Many of us live our entire life with certain beliefs and therefore are never able to experience reality as it is. These beliefs also creates several mental blocks and limitations to our performance in life.

For example when I decided to quit my job and start my own business in consulting, quite a few people advised me against this saying that You better stick to your job. Gujarati, Sindhi Marwadi or Punjabi people are more suited for business. Job is a safer option for you.

Luckily I don’t haven’t that belief, so I took the plunge but all those who live with such beliefs would never even attempt to start their own venture even when an opportunity would come by.

You might be aware that large elephants are tied up with a small chain tied to their legs. They are actually powerful enough to break that chain and gain freedom but they don’t even try. This is because they have been tied that ways since their infancy and so have developed a belief that it is impossible for them to break the chain.

We too, like that elephant have probables developed hundreds of such beliefs over the years and quite possibly we aren’t even aware that these are simply beliefs and not reality.

In our childhood we start believing that we will catch a cold if we get drenched in the rain and then that’s how our reality gets shaped.

A few common life related beliefs that I have seen people have, are :

1. Everybody cannot get everything in life.
2. One has to struggle in life
3. One cannot become successful without putting in too much effort.
4. It’s not possible to become rich overnight.
5. Formal education is a must to be successful in life.
6. My 10th standard marks are bad so my career prospects are finished.
7. Problems always appear at the last moment
8. Certain things take long time to heal Etc etc etc..

Trust me, each of this belief becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Therefore, the sooner we break these beliefs, the better for us. People who believe that effort is required to succeed, often are not able to see the easier or effortless path to success since they are blinded by their wrong belief system. People who believe that they take time to heal will essentially take longer to heal.

Positive beliefs that I would choose to live with are:

1. I am lucky
2. Good things happen to be
3. Miracles do happen
4. It is possible to become very rich
5. People are usually helpful
6. I heal myself quickly
7. life is smooth and effortless
8. Every problem has a solution  etc..etc.

I suggest that we must spend time regularly trying to assess our beliefs and check which of these are useful to us and which are counterproductive. We must then replace the bad ones with positive beliefs. This can have a tremendous impact on the way we create our future.

In my earlier post, I have written about the importance of setting goals. However simply writing goals will not help if goals are not SMART.

Goals that are not smart are more or less like dreams or desires, not goals. Goals essentially need to be SMART for them to get converted into reality.

Let’s try to understand what SMART means along with an example. Years ago, I was conducting a session on goal setting and I casually asked a participant about any of his personal goals. He thought for a while and said that one of his personal goal was to buy a house. After he shared that, he looked at me, and observing the expression on my face, asked me why I wasn’t happy with his response.

Then I told him that his goal was very vaguely defined and that he should make it SMART. Then I went on to explain how he could make it SMART.

SMART stands for

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Relevant

T = Time bound

Then I started helping him to make his goal smart.

I asked him what SPECIFIC type of house he wanted.. Dis he want an Apartment, a Row house, a Bungalow? Was it supposed to be a One Bedroom Apartment, a Two Bedroom apartment or a Studio apartment. If a Bungalow, would it be a single type or a duplex. He told me that he wanted a 2 Bedroom Hall Kitchen apartment.

Then I asked him to make his goal measurable. I asked him what should be the area of his 2BHK flat. Would it be 800 Sq ft, 1000 Sq ft or 1200 Sq ft. He said approx 1000.. Then I asked him which floor (since floor rise affects the rate. How far from the nearest railway station etc. Since that would also affect the price. Basically we were making it measurable.

Then I asked him to check if this goal was Attainable based on his current source of income, ability to get a loan, current cash at hand etc..

I also asked him to check if this goal was relevant to his life considering his job, future plans, suitability for the next 10-20 years etc. (I know one person who put in his entire investment in buying a flat that he has never lived in since his job would get him transferred to different places. In addition, property prices didn’t rise as expected so his investment did not increase in value as compared to what it would be have if it was still invested in mutual funds or shares.)

Finally I asked him to make it time bound. When did he actually want possession of the flat. I asked him to put a Year, Month and date to it.

Finally I asked him to read out his goal statement and check if it was SMART now after all the additions.

As mentioned earlier, goals that are not smart are like dreams.

So, if you haven’t written your goals in this format, it’s never too late to make your goals SMART. Good luck!!

It is said that everything in this universe is created twice. There’s a first creation in the form of a thought, a design or a visualized image. After this, then there’s a second creation. If the first creation is not done properly, then the second creation usually gets negatively affected.

If one is building a house, then he would first create a design or drawing in great detail trying to achieve everything that he wants in the house. the elevation, plans of the living room, bedroom etc even before a nail is hammered anywhere. If this first creation is not done properly, then he might have to make costly changes later.

The first creation is similar to what we call in life as ‘Goal Setting’. Knowing exactly where one wants to reach. i.e. the Destination.

Most of us have probably read the story Alice in the Wonderland (By Lewiss Caroll) in our childhood. This story has a very important lesson on the importance of Goal Setting.

In this story, Alice, a little girl gets lost in her wonderland and while she goes here and there trying to find her way, she gets lost. While walking around, she comes to a fork, where the road divides into two paths. Now Alice is confused since she doesn’t  know which way to go. Finally she finds a Cheshire cat and she asks the cat as to which way she should go. The cat in turn asks Alice ..”Where do you want to go?” and Alice say’s “I don’t know.” . Then replies the cat “My dear Alice, if you don’t know where you want to go, then which way you go, doesn’t matter” .

What this means is that if we are not clear about our destination, then what path we choose or what approach we follow, doesn’t matter. We must first be clear about our Goal, and only then everything else becomes relevant.

Goal setting is formally done in the corporate world every year where the organization sets its goals, which leads to the Management team’s goals, which then are broken down into departmental goals, and finally individual KRA’s (Key Result Areas) . However, people do  not realize that similar to this, goal setting is also very important in our personal life.

Each one of us, must essentially have clarity on our long term life goals. We must know what we intend to achieve in a lifetime.

Then we must break it down into 3 year or 5 year goals. At least that’s what I did. I had set a goal way back in the year 2002-2003 that by the year 2008, I would have my own firm offering training and consulting services to corporate clientele.  Exactly in 2008, I quit my job and started my consulting and training services. Clear goals naturally lead to flawless execution.

There’s a simple method that I follow for annual goal setting and trust me, this works like magic. For instance, in the annual goal sheet of year 2016, I had written that by the end of 2016 I possess the ability to heal people. Surprisingly,  in July 2016, things happened in such a manner that I actually was able to heal people and since that time till date I have now helped more than 450-500 people in helping them heal themselves from various ailments. Check out my blog category ‘Healing’ for more details.

I recommend that you too could follow this simple system of writing a goal sheet every year. Take a piece of paper and on the top, write the goal achievement date. For example,  you could write 31st Dec 2019 or for Financial Year 31st March 2020.

Then, below that write each goal in present tense as if you have achieved it. So instead of writing I will buy an apartment in Mumbai city, you have to write I have bought an apartment in Mumbai city. You could be slightly more specific too if you want, but don’t be too specific. Let the universe have some flexibility.  The reason why goals have to be written in present tense is because the universe does not understand Future tense. The only time zone it understands is the NOW (The Present Moment). So, this way, write each goal (Financial goal, Health Goal, Education goal, Materialistic goals, Family or relationship goals etc) in the present tense.

Then, at the end of the goal sheet, put your signature. That represents your  commitment  towards the fulfillment of that goal. Keep this goal sheet to yourself and do not make it public or show it to others. I normally keep it at a place where I would come across it at least once every quarter. I read it, and put it back.

Apart form an annual goal sheet (Macro Goal) , It is good to follow a system to write down our Micro goals i.e. a daily To-DO List.  In a separate post, I will share some tips on writing a daily To-DO list.  Till then think about your purpose in life, write down your long term goals and create an annual goal sheet. I wish you all the best. Have a wonderful day ahead. !!