Or… Is your current work Great? (Check the questionnaire)
Are you doing what you should be doing? Does it make sense that all of us should be working on Great things? How can we find out?
The Atlas of Worldly Wisdom is – in a sense – a guide that aims to help the learner find and pursue their own “Great Work”.
In management, as should be the case in life, we frequently think about the most that can be achieved given the limited resources available to us (Optimization).
So the question is : What is our great work? How can we find it?
The documentary : “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” is entertaining (if you don’t get angry easily), and contains an amazing exploration of the behavior of markets, consumers, and leaders. There are many hilarious moments too!
This documentary illustrates the dangers of excess, “hopium”, and building great castles on foundations of ‘fluff’. The top WeWork lessons explored in this article include excess, fuzziness, consumer (and investor) behavior, and spectacles.
I came across this video (youtube’s cunning recommendation algorithm), and I was quite surprised how insightful and deep it was. It had many lessons on creativity, and the ‘self-permission’ it requires. Frequently, it takes courage to be creative, and this is nicely captured by the talk.
Here are some thoughts / lessons / reflections :
The value of difference and irregularity: In a world where more and more things (and people) are similar, irregularity and unpredictability are valuable.
It is quite hard for us to judge how good what we do is. I think that a better strategy would be to do great effort and keep thinking about growth and contribution.
The world is an extremely unreliable critic: This has been tested many times. Think about it – if something is really original and new, then it – by definition – won’t be familiar, and most people dislike the unfamiliar (because it forces them to think).
Making sense out of life is crucial , but only at key moments –> Why not always ? Well maybe because this activity of ‘making sense’ is not a guaranteed and linear process. You can’t be sure that you’ll make sense of it.
Art helps with that: Art is not luxury – it is nourishment for the soul and the growth beyond the confines of the limited and bounded current reality.
‘Human Creativity is nature manifest in us’
‘Know yourself’ – what do you love ? if you get close to what you love , who you are is revealed to you… and it expands !
My experience is not as unique as I’ve thought ..
‘There is no Path till you walk it’
Be willing to Play the fool
Read the book you want to read (I will probably talk about this later here)
Listen to new music (challenge yourself to do it, even though it might not feel very comfortable at first).
