I recently came across a very interesting talk by Prof. Prasad Kaipa of ISB on the topic “Finding Your True North”, where he talks about the role of Emotional Intelligence in the pursuit of one’s aspirations. I found it to be quite insightful and thought provoking.
Each one of us embarks on a career path with some underlying motivation: making money, security or the pursuit of social recognition. Most of us continue along the path, never once stepping back to ask a few vital question:
- “Am I really enjoying what I am doing?”
- “Do I feel like I’m pursuing a genuine passion or that I have been dragged into a pursuit that really doesn’t inspire or excite me?”
- “What kind of happiness or joy do I bring to people around me?”
- “What if I am in a role and meeting everybody’s needs but I’m miserable performing that role (I don’t like the company, the approach, I lack the capability etc.), am I really doing justice to myself and others by continuing to be in this role?”
First of all let us begin by exploring what the speaker really means by “True North”. Each one of us has a personal compass within us which points us in the right direction, toward the path that we deeply desire to follow in our lives. This could be the path along which our true passion lies and along which we really yearn to go. More often than not, caught in the quagmire of responsibilities and expectations that life thrusts upon us, we end up short changing ourselves of our true aspirations and dreams.
Finding our true north in my opinion is not about making an effort to do something unusual or different. It is about being in a state of effortlessness where we allow providence to guide us through the path towards our right destination. Finding our true north simply means following our instincts, and along the way, nurturing personal traits like courage, authenticity, truthfulness and caring. It is about letting our uniqueness to come alive (unique passion, energy and magic), bringing it into every conversation and every action and that will make all the difference.
This talk gave me many valuable insights for life:
Enjoy the journey, not just the destination: So many times we get so obsessed with the end goals that we lose sight of the process to get there. How many times have we ended up feeling tired and burnt out after strenuous day’s work and just wanted to get the job done with. Staying focused on the process allows us to not only unleash our true potential but also gives us the opportunity to recognize what we truly enjoy doing and what genuinely inspires us.
Enlarge your field of vision: Look beyond the obvious. So often we limit ourselves to actions and results that may not be true indicators of our potential. We need to constantly keep asking ourselves, “Am I allowing myself to manifest my true potential with every little thing I do?” true north may not always be obvious but by giving our 100% to every situation, we will eventually unearth it.
Listen to the personal GPS: Each one of us has a personal GPS: Guilt, Pride, and Shame. We should never disconnect ourselves from it as it is an auto regulation mechanism that prevents us from veering off course in our pursuit of true north.
Focus on reflection and continual improvement: Work through the cycle of Awareness, Attention, Action and Reflection. Every action needs to be performed with awareness and attention. And if the result of the action is not what we envisaged make course corrections through reflection.
Let your True North evolve: Our personality blossoms with time i.e. part of us does not change but our understanding of our self evolves with time. Our goals may change and evolve but as long as we are true to ourselves we will eventually realize our true north.
In the process, don’t screw up relationships: Success at the cost of relationship is not worth having. It seems like the first thing that comes part of the package of a successful career is strained relationships. Pursuit of true north cannot be enriching or meaningful if the price one needs to pay is relationships!
