Goal Planning Workshop, April 2011

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Creating one’s “Life Map”

An introspective exercise for determining one’s purpose and goals

April 2011

The objectives of this interactive, short workshop are:

1. To move closer towards describing oneself – traits, tendencies, and so on

2. To attempt to answer, “What do I want to do with my life?”
3. To examine probable short-term choices (including choice of
specialisation and career) that are in harmony with long-term purpose

Contents:

1. Making your Life-Map – a short essay

2. Questionnaire I – Preferred activities
3. Questionnaire II – “What is my “swadharma”?”
4. Questionnaire III – Preferences of work and organization
5. Questionnaire IV – A little introspection…
6. Everyday Inspiration – some quotations of worth

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Making Your Life-Map

Ashish knows he is a good financial analyst but his heart isn’t in the numbers; his
passion is music. Ayesha, his former batch-mate at b-school, is battling another
kind of dilemma – she would love to start a small business but hesitates on
account of financial responsibilities. “I don’t make a great employee, but I could
be a terrific entrepreneur,” she frequently mutters to herself.

Ask a young professional, “What are your goals?” and the answers range from
the predictable (“Money, social status, satisfaction in my personal life”) to the
off-beat (“teaching underprivileged children”, “starting a library”). On being
asked about the obstacles they are likely to face, most mention peer-group
competition, time-poverty, and conflicts between the demands of personal and
professional life.

What often goes unobserved is that one’s chosen goals may not be in synch with
one’s true nature, innate skills and acquired learning. This, then becomes one of
the biggest “hurdles” in the way of productive and joyous living. Bright
youngsters train themselves to subjugate their true passion and zeal, in favour
of vocations that provide monetary security or peer-group acceptance. After a
while, the disconnect between “This is who I am” and “This is what I do” causes
monotony, frustration, high stress perception and early burnout.

What do I prioritise – type of work or material goals?

Careful thinking shows that the logical approach towards choosing goals must
begin with one’s conscious choice of work. When one applies oneself to such work
with diligence, one is invariably able to give “value” to the organization. Money,
fame and respect automatically arrive, as consequences of this giving of value,
and are thus the spontaneous “by-products” of this process of applying one’s
skills and learning at the workplace. The problem arises when goals are
approached from the opposite direction, that is, first fixing on the “by-
products” such as a bank balance and a large house, without paying enough
attention to the route one could best adopt to acquire these.

“What is my true calling?”

This question sometimes remains unasked for two common reasons: first,
because the young manager is habituated to conditioned choices, and second,
because it is sobering to realize that one may have invested time, emotions and
energy in acquiring qualifications that do not match one’s true inclinations.
Following are some of the methods for discovering one’s true calling:
• Ask yourself “What activities am I good at and which of these do I
thoroughly enjoy?” Past experience will invariably indicate the traits,

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inclinations and skill areas, which then form the basis for choosing
appropriate qualifications, jobs and activities.
For example, someone who has a logical bent of mind, loves analysing
issues, and enjoys a game of chess, may be in synch with a job that
requires strategic thinking and rationality. If such a person is reclusive, a
choice of vocation that is high on ideas or numbers, and low on interaction
with people, may be appropriate. On the other hand, if he was an avid
participant in debates in college, and enjoys matching his wits with those
of others, then career choices that combine analytical thinking with
people-interface may form a better choice.
• Find out which activities engage your mind so completely that the passage
of time, and other extraneous factors, are virtually forgotten. These are
the areas in which you can give the best of yourself, in an almost tireless
manner. New-age teacher Deepak Chopra, describes this as “the principle
of least effort” in his book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”.
• Vedanta uses the term “swadharma”, meaning, one’s true nature, to
describe what should form the basis for choice of work. While innate
inclinations and tendencies can be definitely spotted from a very early
age, societal conditioning may lead to doubts or second-guessing, when
these traits are not line with conventional study or work choices. It is
said that one of the most effective methods for pin-pointing one’s
“swadharma” is to list out one’s most cherished goals and dreams,
irrespective of how impractical they may seem, for, these are invariably
in harmony with one’s intrinsic nature.

The long and the short of it:

Armed with a fair idea on one’s innate traits and skill-set, one can then
determine a fairly long-term picture of how one wants one’s life to shape up.
Then one can work backwards, filling in the years and months with short-term
milestones. That way, even if circumstances threaten to derail one’s progress,
one can patiently correct one’s course after a while.

Do your goals cover these 4 quadrants?

In order to do justice to one’s potential, one’s chosen goals must ideally cover
the following 4 quadrants of life:
• “The self” quadrant: Nurture the body-mind-spirit triad, enhance your
skills and value-orientations, and master the “enemies” of personal
growth, such as faulty habits and innate disvalues.
• The work quadrant: Milestones are frequently quantifiable, such as
growth of responsibilities and power, and financial wealth. Also includes
qualitative issues like work satisfaction and peer-group approval.

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• The family and friends quadrant: Goals based on shared pursuits,

togetherness, and dependability in times of crises. These goals are
usually qualitative, with a high focus on emotional enrichment.
• The world quadrant: Involves goals that go beyond the boundaries of
everyday thinking. This quadrant encourages the individual to work with a
broader perspective, thus contributing to the industry, the nation and
the world. For example, a seemingly simple initiative for a new workplace
policy, if meticulously crafted, can have the potential for becoming an
industry-benchmark.

Mismatches aplenty:
“What if my hard-earned qualifications don’t match with what I truly want to
do?” is a commonly asked question. The response would include the following:
• Accept the fact that your potential for achievement is best reached
when your goals are in harmony with your talents and skills. And that we
sometimes need to make tough choices based on extraneous factors. Be
optimistic about merging duty with delight.
• If possible, set aside a few hours every week to devote to your area of
passion. Shore up on technical knowledge in that field, never mind if
others say “It’s just a hobby”.
• Network with like-minded people to gain as well as share knowledge in
your field of interest.
• Study opportunities for giving “space” simultaneously to your chosen
vocation as well as your dream vocation. If financial and other
considerations permit, use a short sabbatical to find out if your dream
vocation can become your lasting choice of work.

In which category do you fall?

In his book, “A Practical Guide to Holistic Health” Swami Rama describes three
categories of people, based on the approach towards mapping out goals. The
“Time oriented” are those who fill the passing days, months, years and decades
with a repetitive succession of tasks, based on what the rest of the world seems
to be doing. The “Goal oriented” are relatively more proactive; they fix short-
term goals and work towards attaining them. However, such people may realise
after decades of work, that their lives have not shaped up they way they may
have wanted. The “Purpose oriented” are those who are able to intuitively or
intellectually determine a broad, overall purpose for their lives and accordingly
choose milestones that are harmonious with the longer “journey” of living. Thus,
the milestones you choose must be derived from the destination you dream of.

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Questionnaire I – Preferred Activities

1. If money were not an objective (meaning, in some way, my immediate

material needs were taken care of), what would I want to do for the rest
of my life?

2. For me, an ideally spent day includes the following…

3. My goals (personal + professional) for the next 5 years are:

4. In school and college, I was good at…(subjects and extra-curricular

activities)

4. In school and college, some of the subjects and extra-curricular

activities that I disliked / feared / avoided were…

5. I have specialised in ___________, because…

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Questionnaire II – “What is my Swadharma?”

1. Which are the activities that fit the following 4 quadrants? Name at
least 3 activities, for each quadrant.

Strength areas

Productive activities
one enjoys

2. If I knew that life would end after a year, what goals would I want to aim
for and reach?
a.
b.
c.

3. For what acts, achievements and traits will I want to be remembered, by

my family, friends, workplace colleagues and the world?

4. What role does daily discipline play in my life? What are my “time
management” concerns and how do I tackle them?

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Questionnaire III - Preferences of Work and Organization

1. Please tick the preferred choice, in every pair of choices:

a. Working with ideas, less interaction with people

b. Working with ideas and people

c. Working with numbers, less interaction with people

d. Working with numbers and people

e. Working in a steady, fairly predictable environment

f. Working in a changing and challenging environment

g. Working with teams and like-minded –people

h. Working as a loner, or with very few people

i. Working with mostly quantifiable targets of performance

j. Working with mostly qualitative parameters of performance

2. Choose between the following pairs (tick the relevant parameter):

No. Parameter 1 Contrasting Parameter 2

1. High responsibility, small company Low responsibility, large company

2. High salary, low job worth Low salary, high job worth

3. Self-initiative driven environment Guided decisions environment

4. “Do it at any cost” job culture “Do it right” job culture

5. Individualism rewarding culture Group progress rewarding culture

6. Dynamism rewarding culture Integrity rewarding culture

7. Informal, western-culture Formal, Indian-culture oriented

oriented environment environment

8. Secure, steady pay and perks with Performance linked pay and perks,
gradual upward progression ESOPs and potential for
accelerated progress

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Questionnaire IV – A Little Introspection:

Myself:

1. What is my personal list of values, important to me? Is there an order of

priority?

2. Where do I see myself 10 and 20 years from now, as far as my growth as

an individual is concerned?

3. What are my traits and skills that fuel my progress? What are my traits
that hinder progress?

4. If my name were to be a brand, what three things would it stand for?

5. How best can I use my creativity to enhance my strengths and minimize

the not-so-helpful traits?

Myself and others:

6. After 5 years and 10 years, what do I want my visiting card to look like?
What do I want my work colleagues to say about me?

7. What does achievement mean for me? Tangible goals only or intangible
progress too? What the world recognizes and acknowledges or what my
inner convictions appreciate?

8. Do I decide my productivity or motivation based on the efforts put in by

others and rewards received by others?

9. In what ways can I complement the skills that my colleagues and others
around me have, to foster group progress?

Long-term:

10. What, according to me, is the purpose of human life? What is the
purpose of my life?

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Thoughts and Responses

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Everyday inspirations

Not what we have, but what we use, not what we see, but what we choose, these
are the things that mar or bless the sum of human happiness.
Joseph Fort Newton (1880-1950), Clergyman

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your
hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them
as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.
Carl Schurz, general and politician (1829-1906)

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of
hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo,
Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr., writer

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your
eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just
before you.
-Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet
(1850-1894)

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid
by necessity and the brute by instinct.
-Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator and writer (106-43 BCE)

A man who works with his hands is a labourer; a man who works with his hands
and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his
brain and his heart is an artist.
-Louis Nizer, lawyer (1902-1994)

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, / There is rapture in the lonely

shore, / There is society where none intrudes, / By the deep sea, and music
in its roar: / I love not man the less, but nature more.
-Lord Byron, poet, (1788-1824)

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To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes

perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul,
sincerity, earnestness and kindness.
-Confucius, philosopher and teacher, (c. 551-478 BCE)

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the

Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy
friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am
involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; It tolls for thee.
-John Donne, poet (1573-1631)

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your
tasks.
-Phillips Brooks, bishop and orator (1835-1893)

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher.
I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad
points of the other and correct them in myself.
-Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.
-Confucius (c. 551-479? BC)

A true measure of your worth includes all the benefits others have gained
from your successes.
-Cullen Hightower, salesman and writer (1923- )

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to

found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates,
a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.
-Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds -
all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.
-Edward Everett Hale, clergyman and author (1822-1909)

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Life is mostly froth and bubble, / Two things stand like stone, / Kindness
in another's trouble, / Courage in your own.
-Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet (1833-1870)

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and
refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy,
not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart;
to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions,
hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common--this is my symphony.
-William Henry Channing, clergyman, reformer (1810-1884)

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Gitanjali, 1912.

”Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn
out.” - Art Linkletter

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