The Importance of Following Your Dreams
Posted by Moses on Feb 4, 2008
I’ve been thinking a lot about life and finding your passion. John Wood’s story of how he transformed his career from that of an common executive to one of international importance and impact is the best example of how following your dreams can create happiness which leads to an increased productivity and improved economic growth. Yes, I am arguing that it is in a nation’s interest to encourage citizens to follow their dreams and achieve true happiness.
It’s pretty well accepted that productivity leads to increased economic growth. For example, much of the stellar growth experienced in the 1990’s is attributed to the increase use of technology by businesses. As businesses ramped up their investment in technology their workers were able to increase their productivity. The aggregation of the individual increases in worker productivity (e.g. ability to produce more work in the same period of time) stimulated demand and expanded the economy.
This growth came at a cost. Many jobs were eliminated because new technologies made them unnecessary. If you remember The Secret of My Success
How does this translate into following your dreams? Well, being happy at work is another major productivity booster. According to Alexander Kjerulf over at The Chief Happiness Officer, happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster. He gives ten reasons why productivity increases when a person is happy. Essentially, being happy at work makes a person more creative, a better teammate and more engaged in the work they are performing.
I believe that passion for the work you are performing is essentially to being happy at work. I’ve stated before that God puts a desire in our heart to perform a specific task. It may be being a parent, teaching children or creating a large company. Whatever your purpose, the level of happiness and fulfillment you experience in your life is determined by your willingness to embrace and go after your dreams/purpose/passion.
Since happiness at work is essential to increasing productivity. And, increasing productivity is essential to growing the economy. It is reasonable to conclude that it is in a nations interest to encourage its citizens in to follow their dreams. Quite frankly, the wealth of the nation is dependent on that very fact.
However this is not simply a policy question, it is also a cultural question. If the cultural norm is for an individual to follow a specific standardized career path it may prove difficult for that person to find the courage to chase their dream. In United States, we praise people like Bill Gates and Micheal Dell while encouraging our youth to follow traditional career paths that have little to do with achieving personal happiness. Thus we have organizations that are filled with moderately motivated workers who would rather be somewhere else.
The reality is that many of these people need a wholesale change of career. Some people have made this realization and have become amateur professionals. These are individuals who take on causes, hobbies or other activities because it is what is important to them. These activities become their true career even if they have a “day job.” This is how John Wood’s journey began. He went on vacation to Nepal and saw the desperate need for books for school children and organized an international book drive that eventually became Room to Read with him serving as the Executive Director. His personal passion to help others became his career and he and others that have joined him are beginning to change the world.
I believe that everyone can find and embrace their passion. I also believe that it is in the nation’s interest for them to do so. Productivity is the link between an individuals personal happiness and a nation’s economic future.
If finding your passion and changing your career is too a big step. Life hack has 50 simple ways to help you increase your productivity. Sometimes it takes baby steps to move forward. 
Tags: career, desire, economic growth, finding your passion, John Wood, passion, personal development, productivity, purpose, room to read, technology
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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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