Finding Your Passion
Posted by Moses on Sep 24, 2007
I recently finished reading John Wood’s book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children. It describes the intensely personal journey that Wood undertook to transform himself from an extremely successful Marketing Executive for Microsoft to the founder of one of the fast growing charities in the world, Room to Read. The goal of Room to Read is to ensure that all children in the world have access to books and an education. Room to Read sponsors schools, libraries and scholarships for thousands of students all over the developing world. Since it’s founding in 2001, Room To Read has founded over 3600 libraries, it’s an amazing accomplishment.
The book starts with Wood describing how exhausted both mentally and physically he was from his position as a Marketing Director for Microsoft’s Greater Asian Region. He also spends time showing you how disappointed he was in what he saw as a disconnect in the behaviors and actions of some of his colleagues and superiors and what was best for Microsoft in the long-term. In an effort to rejuvenate himself, he takes a trip to Napal. There he finds that the educational system has little in the way of facilities, books and other supplies. On a visit to one school he is so overcome their lack of books for the children that he commits to sending more books to them. This begins his journey that eventually leads him to founding Books for Napal, later renamed Room to Read.
I believe that it is his personal commitment to this transformation that is essential to his success. In support of his personal mission, he leaves Microsoft, ends a promising relationship, let’s go of his desire for the traditional trappings of success and commits himself to improving the lives of children in the developing world. There are several key concepts that enables him to quickly bootstrap his organization from a one-man show into a truly powerful tool for improving the lives of children.
- Relentless focus - He dedicated his whole life, sacrificing friendships and other relationships to make his dream come true
- Thinking Big - Although always constrained by resources, he encourages his staff and volunteers to always think big
- Acting - Instead of constantly planning to act, his organization acts quickly and avoid the analysis-paralysis trap
- Build a Great Team - Creates a loyalty driven culture in which, employees and volunteers have genuine support
- No Egos - In Room to Read the best ideas win, not just the boss’
Wood’s commitment combined with these organizational characteristics create a foundation that allows for Room to Read to quickly take off.
Finding your passion and making it your career, can be a difficult challenge. However, John Wood’s story offers some clues on how we might make this transition. First, find your cause. This may require you to take a step back and really make an attempt to understand and accept yourself. Second, take action, the Wood’s first step was to ask friends and family to donate books as part of a book drive for the first school. It took over a year from the time he asked for books to his shipping the books to the first school. It was only after he made the first donation that he realized he had found his passion in life and knew that his life would have to change. Thirdly, commit, once you have found your passion and have tried it out commit yourself to making it your career. Lastly, have faith, if it is truly your passion it was assuredly placed in your heart by God, he will be there to help you make it real.
Tags: applied reviews, career, faith, finding your passion, John Wood, Microsoft, passion, perosonal development, purpose, religion, religion and sprituality, room to read
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Overcoming the Personality Ethic in Blogging
Posted by Moses on Sep 19, 2007
In my article Celebrating Character, I explored Stephen Covey’s concepts of Character and Personality Ethic. In summary, Character Ethic is the belief that success is based on the strength on one’s character. In contrary the Personality Ethic is the belief that success is determined by establishing the appearance and attitudes of success without putting in the effort for personal growth and character development.
As usual, I examined my own life and tried to see how I either consciously or unconsciously applied the Personality Ethic to my life. Much to my dismay, I found that my some of my actions were influenced by elements of the Personality Ethic. For example, throughout my academic career I relied on my intelligence to “get by” with above average grades, however had I put in the hard work necessary to truly excel, I believe that I could have had a brighter career. I can remember that at the time I would be honestly disappointed in my grades and myself for not achieving better grades and the status that came with it. I wanted to short-cut the process and not put in the effort to truly succeed.
Unfortunately, indulging in the Personality Ethic in one aspect of your life can allow it to spread to other areas. I now know that some of my lack of success as an entrepreneur is do to attempting to create the illusion of success without putting in the work necessary to truly succeed. One of my greatest weaknesses is being consistent, it’s not a question of being lazy, but rather of being immature enough to allow myself to be distracted by other activities instead of being focused. As a result, I have above average success as defined by the world with my above average paying job, but little success in other areas.
Blogging is an area in which you can allow the Personality Ethic to take hold and limit your success. What do I mean? If you are a blogger and exhibit the following behaviors, you might be following the Personality Ethic in your blogging;
- Constantly checking your stats (money earned, number of visitors)
- Expecting instant traffic because you just released your masterpiece
- Inconsistent writing
At one time or another nearly every blogger has exhibited these and similar behaviors and their is little harm in that. The danger occurs only when these types of behaviors become habits.
The “success without work” mentality that is fundamental to the Personality Ethic can harm others, but does the most harm to the person practicing the behaviors and habits instilled by the Personality Ethic. You can experience great external success by relying on the Personality Ethic, but because it relies on manipulation and control to portray an contrived image to the world, you will find yourself feeling empty and emotionally exhausted.
As bloggers, we are especially prone to engage in the behaviors endorsed by the Personality Ethic. Many bloggers inherently want the approval of others if for no other reason than to increase the traffic of their site. This could lead them to hiding much of who they are and what they truly believe in order to increase their appeal and level of acceptance.
However, there are plenty of bloggers that make the conscious choice to embrace the Character Ethic and achieve real success. Steve Pavlina is an example of a blogger that has chosen the Character Ethic as the path to success only after exploring the Personality Ethic earlier in his life. I too have chosen the Character Ethic to guide all aspects of my life. I hope you will too.
Tags: blogger, blogging, Character Ethic, habits, personal development, Personality Ethic, Stephen Covey
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