Mixed

Some inspiration that I thought I would share:


Two great quotes that I came across today:


"Nothing is interesting if you're not interested." ~ Helen MacInness


Brilliant! Not something that many people understand or agree with, however true it is. I wish I'd known this quote a year ago. Could have probably used it to my advantage :-)


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This was in one of the responses, in Quora, to a question on God's invisibility: Read the full set of answers here, in case you're interested. 

The worst kind of leader is one who is despised and defied. 

Next is the one who is feared and obeyed.

Then the one loved and praised.

But the best kind of leader is the one whose existence is doubted,

who accomplishes all things, and the people say, "I have done it myself."

-- Tao Te Ching


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Moving on to less philosophical things, here's a nice set of slides on Social Media Strategy by @zaana. She has done a great job of collating data and ideas on the topic, with some cool pictures too


http://www.slideshare.net/zaana/strategically-social-plan-engage-act 


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Finally, I loved this article on the two flavors of passion for work - harmonious passion and obsessive passion. Via @gautamghosh


http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/why_your_passion_for_work_coul.html


In other words, I think it is all boils down to the philosophy of being engaged in work for inner happiness and yet being detached enough to pay attention to other dimensions of life. 

The Passion Thread

If there is no passion, there is no ownership.
If there is no ownership, there is no long-term thinking.
If there is no long-term thinking, there is no persistence.
If there is no persistence, there is no achievement.
Constant: Values, Intentions.

The Nothing Poem

Here's the terrible 'NOTHING' poem ready to unfold its intriguing story,

Giving you every bit of the details, both the noble and the gory!

Does Indifference really turn the corner when it meets Patience?

Or are we but simply staring at a huge bundle of inexplicable Nonsense?

Do we keep (expending energy) crossing many fearful oceans with all our might?

Or should we actually stop and wonder if anything at all is bright or right?

Picture Courtesy: Google Images

Are systems far too complex to understand and control?

Or should the people be blamed for allowing the system to take over and charge an unfair toll?

Is it worthwhile to create an imaginary world and wallow in its non-existent ideals?

Or is it better to put on a mask and fight the real one tooth and claw, however hideous?

Questions, questions and more questions, floating around in my adamant mind

Answers to which I realize, time and again, are extremely hard to find.

The Passion Phoenix

Another of those Twitter moments.

The only disadvantage of being passionate & sincere is perhaps that you're taken for granted & are thought to have no need for anything else. But, well, passion never ever dies. It may dip a bit but it will rise again for it's in passion's DNA to get up every time it falls.


Also, there are 2 ways to react to injustice. Give up or focus harder on being the person you are. Let's always choose the latter. Happy Weekend!

The Dance of Work - Part 2

I first bored you to death with my Life and Dance analogy. Now, I march on regardless of how many bodies I've walked over and promise to bore you to further death with my Work and Dance analogy. If you're the kind of ubiquitous person who likes to be bored to death, get up and - I hope you like the pun - dance. Dance till you drop dead and save me from more blood on my hands. Wait a minute. Any idea what on earth I'm talking? I wonder if I happened to bang a delicate part of my head against something hard, without my own knowledge. Or maybe it was something I ate recently. Here's what I shall do - I'm going to look away and rotate my head vigorously, shut my eyes tight for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths. Once done, I'll come back and explain my profound discovery, "The Dance of Work". Get ready to think like never before.

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Taking off from where I left in the previous post, if the Dance Floor is Life, and we choose to focus on just Work (which comprises a significant part of life for many of us) for a moment, there are three kinds of people we'd find (in the way they approach work). 

1. People who like to switch on music of their choice and dance in solitude. In any case, they are oblivious to others who may be dancing with them and an audience who may be watching them dance. Their major intent may be to differentiate themselves, enjoy their work immensely and feel honestly satisfied with their performance and accomplishments.

2. People who insist on company while dancing (music may or may not be chosen by them). They may dance with a crowd or perhaps choose a single partner...but they essentially need more pairs of feet to accompany them. They rarely hear their own tunes and generally stick to a collaborative choice of music. Their major intent is to chug along the river of life and do reasonably well at work while managing their lives outside of work as well.     

3. People who like to dance for an audience and use their feedback to energize themselves further. They might either want to dance alone (more often than not) or dance with a team. They might also choose a tune that the audience prefers rather than choose something that they alone like. Their major intent is to be recognized, rewarded and appreciated for what they do.

Let's leave out the people who are not a wee-bit interested in 'work' and are intent-less wanderers. 

Okay. So what? In the recent corporate annual celebration that I was a part of, I watched a lot of people being awarded/rewarded for their loyalty, performance on the job, values, problem-solving skills, innovation etc. While watching the proceedings inspired me to stretch myself (especially the innovation and values awards) I couldn't help but think about those that belong to the same category/categories but missed out on the awards by a hair's breath for various reasons. Some reasons are pretty obvious and may be wrapped and bundled under a blanket labelled 'Unlucky'. A manager who does not make a special effort to put her worthy team-member in the limelight. The employee's role being a back-stage (non-customer facing or non-sales) one that hardly gets the attention it deserves. Dirty Department, Management or HR politics. And so on. 

But what I have been thinking about are the subtler aspects of such a situation. Many a time, I've observed that the people who belong to the first category deserve to be recognized for their good work but tend to be ignored simply because they are in an isolated spot and are performing in solitude or doing a so-called 'thankless' job (especially when it is not a customer-facing role which, by the way, may by default put the person in the limelight). Also, in a more dangerous scenario, organizations assume that such people will always be happy because they are intrinsically motivated. There will, however, come a time when such a person takes a break and looks around and realizes he has been dedicated and successful but has received no reciprocation whatsoever and begin to feel horribly cheated. The second category will also look for appreciation and recognition but they may be equally happy just getting along with the stream of people, receiving regular pay-hikes and incentives. The third category of people may, arguably, be able to take care of themselves as their focus is anyway on the audience and on gaining appreciation. 

Two twitter moments in this regard for me were:

"The corporate world reserves most of its respect, recognition & rewards for the people who make the money or fight a fire."

"The people who persevere are sometimes forced to do nothing but persevere. But it ought to be better to die persevering rather than give up and live a dead life?" 

Wow. Just realized that this post has actually turned out to be somewhat gloomy! I do feel strongly about such things - Justice, Fair play, Politics, Perfection and what not. Sigh. 

Entrepreneurship is perhaps the closest answer to many of these questions. Be the change you want to see!~

Ideas....! Ideal or Idle?

An idea that is worth it can both rob you of your sleep & appear sweeter than sleep. Robbery when it eludes you & sweetness when you near it...(does that resonate?)

Here is a weak attempt to put this thought into a clumsy graph! :-)

Infinite Inspiration

This could easily be one of the most inspiring things you'll ever read in your life. At least, for me, it definitely is. Period.

Source: This website

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Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian

 

Dr. Mani is a heart surgeon, an internet entrepreneur and a founder of the Children's Heart Foundation, which saves the lives of underprivileged kids.

A dream fueled by purpose, fired by passion and followed with persistence will definitely change the world. ~Dr Mani Sivasubramanian

If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...If I had five minutes to tell my daughter what I believe to be the success of living happily, this is what it would be...

Have a dream. It may be lofty or small - but it should be yours. And it must do two things. It should make you happy. And it should be of value to others.

Live your dream with passion. Passion is the energy that fires the spark of your desire, fans it into a glorious flame, and shows off your radiant brilliance.

Pursue your dream with determination. Believe with all your heart that it will come true, no matter how remote or difficult or impossible it may seem at the moment.

Dare to be different. Throw off the shackles of what is 'regular' or 'conventional' or 'accepted' - and follow your heart. Yes, it is often scary, unnerving and terrifying to give up the familiar and the secure to follow your dreams. It takes a lot of courage. Find it.

Feel gratitude. Wake up every morning feeling thankful for all the things you have - even the ones that, until now, you've taken for granted. Think about those who do not have those things.

Also, be a little crazy. Have a little fun. Let that little child within you come out and enjoy itself every now and then. Have a personal philosophy that directs all that you do. Mine is a simple four-word mantra... "Be Kind. Help Others."

And in the end, have no regrets. We are all human, and therefore imperfect. We will always make mistakes. And that's ok. Yes, things could have been better. But they also could have been worse.

The only question you must ask yourself is this: "Did I do my best?"
I hope your answer will be "Yes, I did."
That's all that matters.

Steve Jobs's Presentation Secrets

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

View more presentations from Carmine Gallo.

Innovator's Profile

Loved this article on the ideal composition of Innovation teams.

Extracts:

Innovation teams should be made up of VOLUNTEERS who are completely committed to the concept.

I don't care as much about experience as I do PASSION, since when all else fails it will be the desire and passion that pushes through the barriers.

I am interested in RULE BREAKERS.

I want people on the team who are willing to go the extra mile.

I want people who are comfortable with ambiguity, since innovation often works outside the lines of black and white, in the gray areas where there are no templates.

I want people who understand that innovation is as much about learning as it is about creating, so they understand that the ideas will occasionally fail.

I need people on the innovation team to be willing to discover what's great about an idea rather than what's wrong with it. I need the first words out of their mouths to be "What if" rather than "But". I want people who don't care how we did it before, or whether the idea has been considered before. I want people who look for opportunities for success rather than reasons not to try.

Aa..ha! is 5 Years Old!

Whoo! Hey! Ha! Ho! Yippee! And so on!

Wish Aa..ha! a very happy birthday, folks! She’s been around for 5 years now. This blog is no longer a toddler, you might say! ;-) It’s a wonder no one has ever complained and somehow let this blog be for 5 whole years! H’mm. Miracles do happen, like I’ve always believed. I wasn’t really keeping a tab on my blog’s birthday but it just struck me now…all of a sudden and out of the blue or whatever. So, what have I to say on this inconsequential occasion? I’ll share something I was musing about this morning, not that you’ll stand up and take notice, bow and bless my blog.

What I thought of inspires me and the kind soul that I am, I wish to infect you folks as well. So, get ready then. Straighten your back and focus.

We must do whatever we do with sincerity, passion & patience* or not do it at all. [*I suspect am convinced that we are all being gradually rapidly consumed by the need for speed]

Tada! :-) Should I say anything else? Feeling like a 5-year-old myself. Seem to have forgotten how to talk/write. What a nincompoop of a post this one has turned out to be! Anyway, I know I am likely to be forgiven for it is my blog-birthday! Move on and hope for the best. I may speak some sense when I come back to write the next post!

See What I Found... :-)

I loved reading this post! Maybe because I have a thing for enthusiasm and expertise (knowledge) :-)
It also led me to another wonderful post on passion, on the same blog. And do follow these posts to catch up with amazing blog conversations, from some really thoughtful (and passionate) people!!

==========================
I left some excited comments and thought I'd reproduce one of them here...for it provided me with a wonderful opportunity to reconsider and collate many of my previous musings on the topic of competition and passion.

Sukumar,

Brilliant post and, once again, brilliant conversation as well! It feels so good to see your posts provoking such introspective and genuine conversations. :) Here are some additions to this wonderful conversation.

- I suggest that all the people who are passionate about passion and success read the book Success Vs Joy by Geeth Sethi. It is simply awesome. Check out some of my comments on the book here

- And check out some of the things I discovered and wrote about with re. to competition

here

here

here - (Even I believe Google is what it is more because of its own passion rather than an intention to do better than others)

here

and here

and here as well


- Finally, I shall play my own devil's advocate - Gary Kasparov says he is what he is because of Karpov! See this. (Sigh....you can't expect simple and unilateral solutions to life's complexities!)

Waiting to see more such conversations on topics close to my heart! :-)
Nimmy

Life...and its puzzles...

"Life is a balance between holding on and letting go." - Anonymous

I call this emotional and spiritual maturity! a.k.a Wisdom? Oftentimes, holding on to something, however elusive it seems, will result in the expected achievement. What we need to consider during this mesmerizing/passionate journey, however, is whether what we are going after is really what we want. We also need to foresee what we are going to miss out on because of the obsessive focus on that something. On introspection, letting go may come across as the more sensible approach. This realization needs to be closely followed by an effort to realign ourselves and go after things that really matter to us, if we are to not lose hope and slip into a meaningless existence. Looking at it from another angle, not letting go would be the mother of all mistakes if the pursuit itself happened to be a mistake in the first place. It is perhaps the faith and confidence with which we pursue something or let go of it that determines how happy we are likely to be in life.

See This!

Discovered this via Jack. Nothing earth shattering or mind boggling....but nice. Especially if one is a visually oriented person! This is what I got on keying in some of my interests.

0 or 1? Leading a Digital Life....

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." - D.H Lawrence

I like this quote....maybe because I have found myself doing this more often than not, especially at the start of my career. And then, warnings about politics and people dynamics and this and that threw a spanner in the wheel and made me pause every now and then and sometimes prevented me from being myself.........maybe there's no right or wrong to this...........but I guess the tendency is to follow one's heart or head depending on what kind of person one happens to be! ramble....ramble....ramble.......blah.

Shake Up & Wake Up

Discovery time. Awesome. Simply awesome.
What? This.

And it comes to me at a time when I have seen quite a few similar (new and not so new) ideas emerging from many other things - books I've been reading, things I've been doing....etc. I am not sure whether this is the famous game that the human subconscious is known to play or just a 'coincidence' or a superior power at work.......but right now, I am not really bothered about getting behind the scene and discovering the hidden mechanisms. Just want to welcome the experience and soak in it.

The two common ideas that have been coming to me from various directions are these. Who knows, you too may need them now....

- Capitalize on your strengths. Do more stuff that leverages on your strengths and makes you feel better. Don't focus too much on your weaknesses. (In case some of you are wondering, this is not really 'running away from things' but 'accepting things'. End of the day, it most certainly is true that we are all naturally good at certain things). Now, I want to add that this is not just something for people who are focusing on their weaknesses more than they should but also for people who are not perhaps capitalizing on their strengths as much as they ought to. (This is an idea that has also come to me from Living the 80/20 Way and Warrior of Light)

- Stop being busy. Haah. Something I had a lot to say about in the recent past. I will not say anymore. The video says it a lot better. (Another thought advocated - directly or indirectly - by both the books I've mentioned above)

And, this is definitely not a replacement for the video, but I just want to list down the eight principles of fun so I can use it for recalling the contents of the video very quickly. And, btw, I think these are not just the eight principles of fun but also of achievement, success and happiness. If there's a single video that I'd have to recommend you to watch to shake up a dull and monotonous life, then this is undoubtedly the video I'd suggest. Here are the principles....

1. Find out who you are. What's your DNA? Know yourself.
2. Find out what's important to you and do that.
3. Stop following the rules.
4. Start scaring yourself.
5. Stop taking it all so damn seriously.
6. Start getting rid of the crap and the clutter.
7. Stop being busy. (Related to #2)
8. Start something. Take action.

Fabulous stuff!! And the genius who created this video also created this other thing that I think is almost equally thought-provoking. Here's to happy shaking-up and waking-up, then! ;-)

Bill Brilliant/Wonderful Watterson

If you're a regular here and come here for reasons that I would ideally like people to come here for, then I guarantee you that you'll thank me profusely for this link.

http://tomyfriendswithlove.blogspot.com/2008/01/speech-by-bill-watterson-kenyon-college.html

What an awesome speech. No different from all his other speeches/writings. I admire this man from the bottom of my heart. What talent, what an attitude, what an approach towards life, what self-confidence, what values, what sincerity, what honesty, what insight, what an inspiration! And of course, what awesome 'work'! :-)

To some people, his attitude and approach towards life might border on the selfish but that's most certainly not the case. People who stick to their values are almost always misunderstood in this ruthless world. Bill simply stands for his values and is perhaps not diplomatic about the way he deals with conflicts on this front.

It's clear that he's gone through quite a struggle in his life before achieving whatever he has. He still is misunderstood by people. But he remains what he is irrespective of what has happened or is happening to him. But it's not a battle between him and the rest of the world. There are some people who think alike or at least strive to think alike and thus the existence of a huge fan-following. Most importantly, he is happy with himself. He made it big and that's, fortunately, a rare sign of the existence of justice and sanity in the world. There are probably many more people like him who are though unsung heroes who did not really make it 'big' but what's important is that they mostly died happy or are happy (why kill all of them poor things? ;P)

Sometimes, I end up thinking that life in an organization can be no different from what the organization plans/wants it to be like, however much I try to change things or make a difference. The focus will be on money and short-term profits alone. Some aspects of an organization allow for genuine - meaningful - creativity, passion and positive impact on the society and you're lucky if you've been able to find some leg-room in such areas of the business. Otherwise, reading Bill's writings (some direct and some via Calvin and Hobbes) undoubtedly gives hope to those that want to go beyond mundane (or should I say mindless) money-making. You can do what you want to genuinely do, be happy and maybe make it 'big' and influence others positively too.

PS: While on Bill, a recent Calvin-statement that I came across made me smile thoughtfully "Nothing seems to change everyday but one day, all of a sudden, everything is different" I think I got it verbatim....but there may be a slight difference in the usage of the words. Will double-check soon...

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Copying the full speech out here just in case the other Blog link decides to change or disappear...

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE REAL WORLD BY ONE WHO GLIMPSED IT AND FLED- Bill Watterson, Kenyon College Commencement,May 20, 1990

I have a recurring dream about Kenyon. In it, I'm walking to the po st office on the way to my first class at the start of the school year. Suddenly it occurs to me that I don't have my schedule memorized, and I'm not sure which classes I'm taking, or where exactly I'm supposed to be going. As I walk up the steps to the post office, I realize I don't have my box key, and in fact, I can't remember what my box number is. I'm certain that everyone I know has written me a letter, but I can't get them. I get more flustered and annoyed by the minute. I head back to Middle Path, racking my brains and asking myself, "How many more years until I graduate? ...Wait, didn't I graduate already?? How old AM I?" Then I wake up.

Experience is food for the brain. And four years at Kenyon is a rich meal. I suppose it should be no surprise that your brains will probably burp up Kenyon for a long time. And I think the reason I keep having the dream is because its central image is a metaphor for a good part of life: that is, not knowing where you're going or what you're doing.

I graduated exactly ten years ago. That doesn't give me a great deal of experience to speak from, but I'm emboldened by the fact that I can't remember a bit of MY commencement, and I trust that in half an hour, you won't remember of yours either.

In the middle of my sophomore year at Kenyon, I decided to paint a copy of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" from the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of my dorm room. By standing on a chair, I could reach the ceiling, and I taped off a section, made a grid, and started to copy the picture from my art history book.
Working with your arm over your head is hard work, so a few of my more ingenious friends rigged up a scaffold for me by stacking two chairs on my bed, and laying the table from the hall lounge across the chairs and over to the top of my closet. By climbing up onto my bed and up the chairs, I could hoist myself onto the table, and lie in relative comfort two feet under my painting. My roommate would then hand up my paints, and I could work for several hours at a stretch.

The picture took me months to do, and in fact, I didn't finish the work until very near the end of the school year. I wasn't much of a painter then, but what the work lacked in color sense and technical flourish, it gained in the incongruity of having a High Renaissance masterpiece in a college dorm that had the unmistakable odor of old beer cans and older laundry.

The painting lent an air of cosmic grandeur to my room, and it seemed to put life into a larger perspective. Those boring, flowery English poets didn't seem quite so important, when right above my head God was transmitting the spark of life to man.

My friends and I liked the finished painting so much in fact, that we decided I should ask permission to do it. As you might expect, the housing director was curious to know why I wanted to paint this elaborate picture on my ceiling a few weeks before school let out. Well, you don't get to be a sophomore at Kenyon without learning how to fabricate ideas you never had, but I guess it was obvious that my idea was being proposed retroactively. It ended up that I was allowed to paint the picture, so long as I painted over it and returned the ceiling to normal at the end of the year. And that's what I did.

Despite the futility of the whole episode, my fondest memories of college are times like these, where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded. Clearly, I never spent as much time or work on any authorized art project, or any poli sci paper, as I spent on this one act of vandalism.

It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves. And with all due respect to John Stuart Mill, maybe utilitarianism is overrated. If I've learned one thing from being a cartoonist, it's how important playing is to creativity and happiness. My job is essentially to come up with 365 ideas a year.If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood. I've found that the only way I can keep writing every day, year after year, is to let my mind wander into new territories. To do that, I've had to cultivate a kind of mental playfulness.
We're not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Our idea of relaxing is all too often to plop down in front of the television set and let its pandering idiocy liquefy our brains. Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery-it recharges by running.You may be surprised to find how quickly daily routine and the demands of "just getting by: absorb your waking hours.

You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your politics and religion become matters of habit rather than thought and inquiry. You may be surprised to find how quickly you start to see your life in terms of other people's expectations rather than issues. You may be surprised to find out how quickly reading a good book sounds like a luxury.

At school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. Out in the world, you'll have to find the inner motivation to search for new ideas on your own. With any luck at all, you'll never need to take an idea and squeeze a punchline out of it, but as bright, creative people, you'll be called upon to generate ideas and solutions all your lives. Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.For me, it's been liberating to put myself in the mind of a fictitious six year-old each day, and rediscover my own curiosity. I've been amazed at how one ideas leads to others if I allow my mind to play and wander. I know a lot about dinosaurs now, and the information has helped me out of quite a few deadlines.A playful mind is inquisitive, and learning is fun. If you indulge your natural curiosity and retain a sense of fun in new experience, I think you'll find it functions as a sort of shock absorber for the bumpy road ahead. So, what's it like in the real world? Well, the food is better, but beyond that, I don't recommend it.

I don't look back on my first few years out of school with much affection, and if I could have talked to you six months ago, I'd have encouraged you all to flunk some classes and postpone this moment as long as possible. But now it's too late.Unfortunately, that was all the advice I really had. When I was sitting where you are, I was one of the lucky few who had a cushy job waiting for me. I'd drawn political cartoons for the Collegian for four years, and the Cincinnati Post had hired me as an editorial cartoonist. All my friends were either dreading the infamous first year of law school, or despondent about their chances of convincing anyone that a history degree had any real application outside of academia.

Boy, was I smug.

As it turned out, my editor instantly regretted his decision to hire me. By the end of the summer, I'd been given notice; by the beginning of winter, I was in an unemployment line; and by the end of my first year away from Kenyon, I was broke and living with my parents again. You can imagine how upset my dad was when he learned that Kenyon doesn't give refunds.Watching my career explode on the lauchpad caused some soul searching. I eventually admitted that I didn't have what it takes to be a good political cartoonist, that is, an interest in politics, and I returned to my firs love, comic strips.

For years I got nothing but rejection letters, and I was forced to accept a real job.
A REAL job is a job you hate. I designed car ads and grocery ads in the windowless basement of a convenience store, and I hated every single minute of the 4-1/2 million minutes I worked there. My fellow prisoners at work were basically concerned about how to punch the time clock at the perfect second where they would earn another 20 cents without doing any work for it.It was incredible: after every break, the entire staff would stand around in the garage where the time clock was, and wait for that last click. And after my used car needed the head gasket replaced twice, I waited in the garage too.

It's funny how at Kenyon, you take for granted that the people around you think about more than the last episode of Dynasty. I guess that's what it means to be in an ivory tower.

Anyway, after a few months at this job, I was starved for some life of the mind that, during my lunch break, I used to read those poli sci books that I'd somehow never quite finished when I was here. Some of those books were actually kind of interesting. It was a rude shock to see just how empty and robotic life can be when you don't care about what you're doing, and the only reason you're there is to pay the bills.Thoreau said,
"the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

That's one of those dumb cocktail quotations that will strike fear in your heart as you get older. Actually, I was leading a life of loud desperation.

When it seemed I would be writing about "Midnite Madness Sale-abrations" for the rest of my life, a friend used to console me that cream always rises to the top. I used to think, so do people who throw themselves into the sea.

I tell you all this because it's worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is obviously where I was going all along. It's a good idea to try to enjoy the scenery on the detours, because you'll probably take a few.

I still haven't drawn the strip as long as it took me to get the job. To endure five years of rejection to get a job requires either a faith in oneself that borders on delusion, or a love of the work. I loved the work.Drawing comic strips for five years without pay drove home the point that the fun of cartooning wasn't in the money; it was in the work. This turned out to be an important realization when my break finally came.

Like many people, I found that what I was chasing wasn't what I caught. I've wanted to be a cartoonist since I was old enough to read cartoons, and I never really thought about cartoons as being a business. It never occurred to me that a comic strip I created would be at the mercy of a bloodsucking corporate parasite called a syndicate, and that I'd be faced with countless ethical decisions masquerading as simple business decisions.To make a business decision, you don't need much philosophy; all you need is greed, and maybe a little knowledge of how the game works.

As my comic strip became popular, the pressure to capitalize on that popularity increased to the point where I was spending almost as much time screaming at executives as drawing. Cartoon merchandising is a $12 billion dollar a year industry and the syndicate understandably wanted a piece of that pie. But the more I though about what they wanted to do with my creation, the more inconsistent it seemed with the reasons I draw cartoons.Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you're really buying into someone else's system of values, rules and rewards.The so-called "opportunity" I faced would have meant giving up my individual voice for that of a money-grubbing corporation. It would have meant my purpose in writing was to sell things, not say things. My pride in craft would be sacrificed to the efficiency of mass production and the work of assistants. Authorship would become committee decision. Creativity would become work for pay. Art would turn into commerce. In short, money was supposed to supply all the meaning I'd need.

What the syndicate wanted to do, in other words, was turn my comic strip into everything calculated, empty and robotic that I hated about my old job. They would turn my characters into television hucksters and T-shirt sloganeers and deprive me of characters that actually expressed my own thoughts. On those terms, I found the offer easy to refuse. Unfortunately, the syndicate also found my refusal easy to refuse, and we've been fighting for over three years now. Such is American business, I guess, where the desire for obscene profit mutes any discussion of conscience.

You will find your own ethical dilemmas in all parts of your lives, both personal and professional. We all have different desires and needs, but if we don't discover what we want from ourselves and what we stand for, we will live passively and unfulfilled. Sooner or later, we are all asked to compromise ourselves and the things we care about. We define ourselves by our actions. With each decision, we tell ourselves and the world who we are. Think about what you want out of this life, and recognize that there are many kinds of success.Many of you will be going on to law school, business school, medical school, or other graduate work, and you can expect the kind of starting salary that, with luck, will allow you to pay off your own tuition debts within your own lifetime.

But having an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another.

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.

To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.Reading those turgid philosophers here in these remote stone buildings may not get you a job, but if those books have forced you to ask yourself questions about what makes life truthful, purposeful, meaningful, and redeeming, you have the Swiss Army Knife of mental tools, and it's going to come in handy all the time.
I think you'll find that Kenyon touched a deep part of you. These have been formative years. Chances are, at least of your roommates has taught you everything ugly about human nature you ever wanted to know.With luck, you've also had a class that transmitted a spark of insight or interest you'd never had before. Cultivate that interest, and you may find a deeper meaning in your life that feeds your soul and spirit. Your preparation for the real world is not in the answers you've learned, but in the questions you've learned how to ask yourself.
Graduating from Kenyon, I suspect you'll find yourselves quite well prepared indeed.

I wish you all fulfillment and happiness.
Congratulations on your achievement.
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Passionate about Passion

Curt has penned a passionate post about the importance of encouraging one’s inborn passion. I agree completely with him. We all ought to be passionate about something or the other! I hate to think that there are people who don’t have a passion for anything whatsoever. That would be like pouring water (life) into a mug (person) without a base. Empty. Always.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs @ Stanford

Motivation - Money or Passion?

Q. Money, position and power have limited scope in sustaining a high level of motivation. Then from where should the source of motivation stem from?

Ans. It must stem from a conviction or ideal that is deeply and strongly embedded in our heart. This makes it easy for the individual to dedicate any results and sense of being the doer at the alter of one's ideal or conviction. The institution's interest must be the uppermost objective, overriding the individual's ego. Then, the ideal will bring glory to the institution, society or nation. It is this attitude which has caused great achievements in the fields of science, history, art, literature,engineering and others. Great persons effortlessly spent lifetimes in serving their chosen ideal, and as a result, served society at large by their dedicated work and inspired actions. Ideals and convictions are powerful motivational sources when aligned with an organisation's values.

- R.K. Srinivasa Murthy
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I think the world would be a great place to live in if organizations stopped chasing money and instead focused on making the world a better place to live in...if they started focusing on their passion...I've a lot more to say on this topic. I shall come back....