As some of you may know, my favourite poet and author is the wonderful Maya Angelou. I often return to her words and writings for inspiration and perspective, and was recently reminded of this quote:
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”
Doing what you love is so important in life and fundamental to your success. I’m lucky to have discovered what I love to do early, but it’s not that easy for everyone.
So, I thought I’d share some advice and learnings, as we start another year, on successfully finding what you love – and putting what you love first when setting goals – and how this translates to the world of business:
Start with your treasures
The pursuit of what you love doing requires self-awareness of what you bring and what you enjoy. I talked recently about the importance of understanding your greatest strengths – your treasures – the unique attributes, abilities or skills that set you apart. This is a great place to start on the road to discovering what you love because by playing to your strengths and what you enjoy, you’ll be more accomplished in achieving your goals over the long-term.
You can then quickly move on to your ‘emotional’ treasures: what makes you excited and gives you energy, who inspires you and why? For example, maintaining a sense of urgency and never putting off until tomorrow what you can do today is very important to me. I expect this from myself and look for it in those around me. Seeing tangible progress and momentum everyday becomes self-fulfilling, giving me the energy to continue striving towards my goals.
And in business, being aware of what you love and what you don’t – and ensuring you build teams made up of people who bring different skills and passions – in my experience is fundamental to driving the right goals for any organisation.
Follow the 80/20 rule
Motivation is key, especially when you are doing something you don’t particularly like. My philosophy in this regard has always followed the 80/20 rule: if I’m doing what I love 80 per cent of the time, I can deliver on the other 20 per cent. I don’t achieve this balance all the time but, by taking proactive steps, I can keep the balance in check and feel good about the fact that I’m always positively pursuing more of what I love.
For example, are the things you don’t like essential and is it essential that you do them? Cooking is something I have never been passionate about, so I made the decision years ago to eat out, order in and have some help in the kitchen from time to time. This enables me to focus my time and energy on the things I do love.
We are all faced with similar choices in our work lives. It’s so important to understand what we must take on, what we should take on and what we should give to others. Getting this right can make a big difference in the pursuit of your goals.
Bring positivity
Even if you are doing what you love 80 per cent of the time, it does not mean that you won’t meet challenges along the way or that you’ll always succeed. However, you have to believe in yourself and be positive.
For example, as someone who lost a parent at an early age, my innate reaction when a phone rings unexpectedly is to always expect bad news. But as a great friend and leadership coach once said to me: “Plan for the worse but put your whole body and soul into the best that can happen in all situations.” This is advice that I try to live by.
As leaders, I think one of our biggest responsibilities is to bring positive leadership edge and put your body and soul into everything you do, even if it doesn’t come naturally to you or you’re simply having a bad day. Positivity is contagious and empowers teams to move forward and accomplish great things.
I hope Maya’s quote inspires you as much as it does me to focus in on what you really love. As you look ahead to the next 12 months, I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on the importance of putting love first as you think about what you want to accomplish and any advice you have to share. And remember, find time to do something you love every day. In my experience, it’s the small accomplishments that help build momentum and forward progress towards our bigger goals.