I'm in the middle of reading Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, a book on the art of networking and building lifelong relationships. Ferrazzi sums up success in one word: generosity. It's been a great read so far and very entertaining.
In particular, Ferrazzi makes a point on saying that successful people become successful by setting goals and accomplishing them. He even titles one of his chapters as "What's Your Mission?" While his advice is intuitive and doable, it is based on the assumption that people know what they want already.
As the world is advancing, quality of life has improved on a global scale. I'm especially fortunate and grateful of having the opportunity to go to Penn, learn what I've learned, meet the impressive people I've met, etc. The ironic aspect of this all is that while my choices and future opportunities have expanded, life has almost gotten harder. My parents, having grown up in China, had no choice. The fact that they were able to attend college was more than they could ever have asked for, let alone have the option of choosing a major. Meanwhile, I am pursuing a double degree partly because I have so many interests that I find it impossible to focus on any one field so early on. Through college, I have seen people (my friends) switch majors numerous times. We are all trying to answer the question of "What do we really want to do with our lives? Do we even know ourselves?" Sure, Keith Ferrazzi aspired to be a Fortune 500 CEO early on in his career, and Bill Clinton knew he wanted to go into politics. But what about the rest of us who just aren't completely sure? What do we do?
The more important question is: How do we find out? How do we discover our true inner passion? Ferrazzi suggests making a "Networking Action Plan" listing a person's strengths, what he/she likes to do, what makes he/she happy, and making inferences from there. I think I will give this a try myself.
technorati tags: never eat alone, keith ferrazzi, passion, networking action plan
Comments (2)
I was fortunate enough to sit across from keith at dinner a couple years ago. He's unlike most people in his business -- he's much better. After speaking to him I wasn't exhausted, not did I feel as if I'd been slimed.
P.S. TypeKey.com doesn't accept my login from this page.
Posted by Scott Rafer | February 2, 2007 5:43 PM
"True Passion"?
We throw the idea of Passion around often. I always think we don't spend
enough time understanding what it is (at least I don't). I spent my entire
college career searching for something I would like to spent my life on. 4
years later I am still standing in the same place I started - clueless (ok
an exaggeration but I still do not have a complete picture yet). This is
not to say passion doesn't exist. I just haven't found it yet.
The word "passion" itself is very interesting. It comes from the latin root
passio: to suffer. It's often used to describe the crucifixion of Christ.
We commonly use it to describe a strong desire to do something.
If we start to think down it's epistemology. Passion requires two elements
- Purpose and sacrifice.
"successful people become successful by setting goals and accomplishing
them." I am more than incline to agree with the statement. Goals help us
focus on our purpose. It marks the stepping stones for us to get to where
we want to go.
I think what's equally important for us to think about is the "opportunity
cost". The purpose is costing us. For something as important as
accomplishing our "purpose" for life we might be willing to give up friday
night at the bar and sunday dinner out with friends. What else are you
welling to cut though? Family? Friends? Moral Values?
Cliche. I know. We've seen it before though. Some of the smartest,
successful, and most driven people are lost in their own purpose and that
purpose cost them. I'm sure they thought of this self evident point before.
Doesn't mean they managed to escape from it.
I'm not saying it's not important to find a purpose or to have a passion. I
just think we need think about how far we are welling to go to accomplish
them as well.
Posted by David Ja | February 8, 2007 8:46 AM