In a previous post we have reviewed the first chapter of the the book Designing your Life: Start where you are.
Today we'll have a summary of the second chapter, Building a Compass, in the Book Designing your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.
The authors say that many people have the following Dysfunctional Belief : I should know where I'm going.
As a consequence if you don't know where you are supposed to go, you'll most likely feel frustrated, angry, upset and so on.
They propose a Reframed Belief: I won't always know where I'm going - but I can always know whether I'm going in the right direction.
A key distinction here is between Destination, which is a fixed point in space and/or time, and Direction, which is more of a general heading. Direction is more like North, South, West, East pointers of a Compass.
In my opinion this chapter is first of all about Awareness and second is about Tacking charge of scripts we live our lives by and make appropriate updates or even radical changes.
At one point or another in their life have reflected, struggled with some of the eternal questions: Why am I here? What am I doing? What is Life? Wat is the purpose of Life? Why does it matter?
The Authors say that many people worry, analyze and speculate along some of these questions.
The Authors propose that we make a Lifeview and Workview. It's more of a philosophical endeavor because we are suppose to think Why and What for instead of a specific kind of work.
Workview reflection
Write it down, 30 minutes, about 250 words. Think of the critical issues related to what work is and what it means to you, your definition of what good work.
The Authors provide some example questions that you could use to define your workview:
why work? what is work for? what does work mean? how does it relate to individual/ others/ society? what defines good/ worthwhile work? what does money have to do with it? what do experience/ growth/ fulfillment have to do with it?
Lifekview reflection
Like before write it down, about 250 words. Think of the your critical defining values/ perspectives provide foundation for your understanding of life. You are figuring out what is important to you, what are your principles and values.
Some questions are given that you could use to define your Lifeview:
why are we here? what is the meaning or purpose of life? what is the relationship between individual/ others? where do family/ country/ rest of the world fit in? what is good, what is evil? is there a higher power, God, or something transcendent and if so what impact does that have on your life? what is the role of joy, sorrow, justice, injustice, love, peace and strife in life?
Keep in mind that there are no wrong answers and the only way to do this incorrectly is not to do it at all.
After you have answered the above questions have a comparative view at your Life and Work Views and look for points of Coherency / Incoherency: where do your views on work and life complement one another? where do they clash? does one drive the other? how?
Along the way as you continue to live your views about Life and Work might change due to the experiences you'll have, people you'll meet, books you'll read and so on.
So make sure that at some interval you review your Philosophy about Life and Work especially when you want to change something in your life. Stop - check your compass and orient yourself.
One of the main Ideas of this chapter is about Coherency in Life. A person has a coherent life when there is a sense of connection and Congruency between: Who you are? What you believe? What you are doing?
Be aware that there may have to be compromises along the way. The key thing is that you make such compromise decisions consciously connecting the answers to the 3 questions above.
