The Rat Race | Work Series

Purpose. A strong ‘Why’ behind an aspirational objective has higher chances of finding success than an empty drive for just moving ahead in life. Profitability for organizations and higher net worth for humans are essential. However, when that becomes the only yardstick, the drive becomes empty or soulless.

Read time: 1.30 min.

A race to getting ahead in life is like a rat’s relentless search for food, which blinds it from the possible danger of a trap. The rat remains so obsessively focused on its goal that it doesn’t realize the trap laid ahead. It continues to satisfy its desire, and when stuck and nowhere to go, the realization is often too late.

We, humans, some times act in the same irrational way racing toward goals, the final stop, most often defined by others, believing that reaching those goals will bring fulfilment. Time and time again, it has been proven that life is not a destination but a journey. And it’s easy to forget the real reason for why you do what you do.

Each of us is chasing some dreams. The chase is endless, and as long your purpose is just getting ahead for the sake of it, you will keep going endlessly, with a possible disappointing end. Having a purpose is essential and equally essential is not to have it defined by others.

For the outcome to be satisfying, the compelling ‘why’ behind the rush is essential in life. 

Value creation in every endeavour is a definite purpose, and probably the ideal means of achieving all ends. And when value creation takes precedence, profitability and net-worth become bi-products. Value creation can be applied to all aspects of our lives – professional, personal, social, entrepreneurial and even spiritual. We all are quite familiar with these concepts, yet, not surprisingly, it is so easy to get into the trap of the empty rat race, which is based on a zero-sum notion. There is enough to go around for everyone. There is genuinely no need for any meaningless race.

The following short video by Steve Cutts is an excellent reminder to keep the purpose of your endeavour in front and centre. And those with higher purpose will continue to maintain their pace while others will get exhausted running a meaningless race.

The Rat Race

Enjoy.

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Success to you!

Razak
CommonInterest