Career success has different meaning for different people and may change with stage of life, but more people today are looking for jobs where they can put their heart and soul in their work, express their unique talents and abilities, creatively engage for making a meaningful difference and achieve greater joy in work. Such a success is not a one day lucky break and comes with continuous development of capabilities and working on your goals. If you are finding a work you love, you have to first decide what you are looking for and then keep looking until you find and also decide when you have found it. A pragmatic approach to this can be that begin doing the work you love as soon as you find or alternatively create a joy in your current doing by putting your best performance and keep looking for enriching your roles and the work.
Albert Edition loved to be Physics Professor, but could not get this job of his choice and took up a job as Patent Clerk but instead of giving up his dream he wrote two significant papers of his remarkable career as patent clerk. After its publication many universities expressed their delight and willingness to employ him. People in their career journey have their own story of challenges, obstacles and achievements but one thing is sure that those who succeeded either worked for their passion or created a joy in what they were doing in their career journey. While it may take years and variety of roles till you find the job you love, the important question is how to make the journey joyful and meaningful till that time.
At the start of my career, I got an advice from a great achiever that money is an important aspect of growth, but if you are looking for a long term career success and a joy in work then instead of CTC or its comparison your focus should be on finding your uniqueness, developing capabilities, taking challenges and delivering results. This wisdom helped me enjoy my every day of working and thankfully I became Chief Executive/ CXO in World Class Organizations and while I never negotiated my salary, fortunately my CTC also rose 4000 times growing to multi crores of rupees during my working career. I am sharing an incident that shaped my career journey as it has an important aspect on creating a joy in your work.
After my MBA from MD University-Rohtak, I faced a typical question from many interviewers ‘why I had not done MBA from IIM Ahmedabad’. My reality was that neither my father who was a farmer had heard of Ahmedabad, nor was I aware of IIMs that time when I decided for an MBA after seeing the advertisement of this university by a chance. Despite very nominal fees for being a state university, I took a study loan in MBA to help my family meet some financial urgency. I often carried library books like Phillip Kotlar on Marketing or Kieth Davis on Organization Behavior in my fields to read while doing odd peasantry works. I was not fluent in English as my schooling was from Hindi medium with Haryanvi dialect and it took 6 months of hectic search to get my first job which was in a small firm at Mayapuri Delhi. The company through newspaper was looking for BSc with 3 years sales experience while I had no experience but as a true optimist, I went for trying as I was BSc (Hons) and MBA. I went for this walking interview and the Owner liked my simplicity, sincerity and a hunger to do something. While my designation was Trainee Marketing Officer, I was assigned the delivery of bundles of anodized name plates to TV and Fan manufactures. The great marketing concepts, read in Kotlar book were hardly of any use and strength of carrying 20 kg load was more important. My parents who never had schooling blessed me with wisdom ‘take the opportunity as blessing, be part of solution, do your best and respect the faith of your employer’.
One day while carrying the dispatch load in DTC bus, the conductor identified me for being my old schoolmate and after seeing me sweating while carrying that load he commented sarcastically ‘why you had not gone for Govt job instead of wasting money and time in higher education’. My concern beyond his comments was the fear that I will again be a laughing stock by my villagers for not following their free advice about my career. Anticipating this humiliation, I surely was worried and feeling very low. From Daula Kuon, I saw a student entering the bus who was carrying a Chemistry book authored by PL Soni. It suddenly triggered me of the encouragement I often received from this renowned author PL Soni when I was studying at Hansraj College for my Chemistry Hons. Mr. PL Soni used to boost my morale knowing my difficulties in daily commuting from a distant village and the change of medium from Hindi to English. When I reached Taxla TV factory at Okhla for delivery of goods in the store, the accountant suggested that I can collect payment cheque from the owner. I entered the cabin of Sardar Raja Singh, the promoter of Taxla TV, who was signing a cheque in very slow handwriting and just enquired about my background. On hearing it, he narrated his inspiring story that he could not get any formal education and started selling vegetables and that he had learnt signing cheques only recently. Listening to his story inspired me and I was more determined to bounce back by proving that my decision was right. His pearl of wisdom was
‘Either do the things you love to do and find whether it is right or wrong or alternatively decide what is right for you presently and start loving it as your future will be built from present’
He said if listening to opinions of others makes you stoppable, do not bother about them and just ignore it. I still remember his words that success comes when you overcome your worst fear (‘Dar Ke Aage Jeet he’). His wisdom gave me a new zeal, as I found great meaning and joy in this simple act of dispatch and payment collection. Going to Daryaganj, Naraina or Anand Parvat for carrying dispatch material or collecting payments was no more a boring or shameful work for me, but a pleasant challenge as I realized that I was getting an opportunity to interact and learn from different kinds of people. I started understanding that chasing for payments or visiting repeatedly for a follow ups reminder had its own relevance to any company. While leaving this job for better assignment, Mr. JC Khanna the owner praised me for my sincerity, enthusiasm and helping the company in timely collection of payment and blessed me.
Later on in my career when I became CXO in Blue Chip Organizations, I realized how this art of positive interactions and influencing through follow ups learnt that time has come very handy in my career at different stages and success in various others endeavors.
Many people do not find a right work and may soon develop a sense that their lives are not their own as they have few choices and little power over their destinies which adversely starts impacting their performance. My advice to those starting their professional career is that instead of waiting for that ideal job, it may be worth considering the available opportunities by weighing what learning it will offer and then simply relate it with your long term career aspirations. I find many professionals just grudging about the job and getting bogged down by Salary or CTC comparison and they neglect the important aspect of aspect creating a joy. I am not suggesting that you should neglect money or CTC, but surely if you focus on opportunities that help you in learning new skill by challenging you, then your development will be faster. Some people commit another mistake in looking for comfortable jobs that hardly challenge their capabilities and this trap in the long term may lead to hollowness, insecurity, career derailment, stress and frustrations unless corrected timely with a holistic approach towards career. Few other professionals develop frustration when they find that what they read in their textbooks is of no use and soon conclude that job is not worth. I suggest that do not worry about it, as it may look so initially but over a time your knowledge may come handy in your growth. My MBA has surely helped me in becoming what I am today and has been very useful.
Rather than bothering from where you start, what matters ultimately is the difference you make by your contributions and a professional with right mindset can find such opportunities in abundance. He keeps excelling in his present deeds by relating it with his long term aspirations knowing that ‘Future is always built from Present’. Achievers convert problems into opportunities by becoming Part of Solution and improving situations. When you realize that small obstacles on the road also need to be covered for the long term journey or realization of Big Dreams, you will start finding joy in your work.