Key Messages
Clayton M. Christensen’S Guide To Achieving Work/Life Balance And Finding Happiness
Christensen is a business innovator, who has put in years of work to understand what it takes to succeed and lead a balanced life.
His knowledge comes from both his corporate experience and his personal insights as a family man and cancer survivor.
In the book “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, he helps readers learn how to grow not just as professionals, but also as individuals.
Christensen explains why motivation, not money, provides job satisfaction, why it’s OK that your children make mistakes and even fail, and how IKEA achieved success through focusing on one simple job.
Filled with illuminating tales from his experiences in the industry, this book will give you the perspective necessary for long-term workplace success and personal development.
With insight gained from the total of his life experiences, it will show you how to live with balance, integrity, and purpose!
Two Strategies To Achieve Balance Between Hygiene And Motivation Factors For Job Satisfaction
When it comes to job satisfaction, motivation can be far more powerful than money.
It’s a common assumption that earning a little more will make us happier at work, or praise from colleagues can give us a sense of fulfillment.
However, these tangible aspects are not always the key to real contentment and professional success does not guarantee happiness in your personal life.
This is why the concept of incentives in the workplace put forth by economists Michael Jensen and William Meckling is only partially realistic.
Although it makes sense that higher pay leads to better performance, studies have actually shown that the most hardworking people are employed in NGOs, organizations that do incredible impactful work but pay little.
What it all comes down to is how much an individual’s needs and interests align with their job- this forms the basis for Frederick Herzberg’s Hygiene-Motivation theory, which states that job satisfaction can only be achieved when both hygiene and motivation factors are present.Hygiene factors include issues such as working conditions, company policies, job security while motivation factors encompass recognition, responsibility and growth opportunities.
Thus if a job lacks adequate management or promotional opportunities even if it offers stimulating intellectual tasks, it won’t necessarily bring contentment or satisfaction.
In conclusion, motivation trumps money when it comes to achieving true job satisfaction; we need both hygiene factors such as good working conditions and motivating factors like growth potential to truly thrive professionally.
A Successful Career Strategy Combines Both Deliberate And Emergent Strategies
When it comes to having a successful career, having the right strategy is key.
In order to do this, you need to be able to anticipate and recognize opportunities that are available and make use of them.
However, when it comes to creating a good career strategy, you don’t only need to consider opportunities that you can plan for- you also need to be ready for unanticipated opportunities.
This idea is best illustrated in Honda’s experiences in the 1960s.
The company had come up with a deliberate strategy in which they would start selling large motorbikes similar those produced by Harley Davidson in the United States.
Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t successful and almost killed the company due to low product quality.
It wasn’t until their employees accidentally stirred public curiosity while riding around on Honda’s smaller Super Cub motorbikes that they were able to find an emergent strategy that saved their business venture in the US.
From this example, it’s clear that a good career strategy combines using opportunities we anticipate as well as those we don’t.
Both deliberate strategies and emergent strategies must be considered if you want create an effective approach that will take advantage of all possible opportunities so you can reach your goals faster and better than ever before.
Balance Your Resources Carefully To Get The Most Out Of Life
We often think of resources in terms of stocks and businesses, but there is another area to consider: our personal lives.
Relationships, health and pursuits of happiness require resources too – time, energy, skills and money.
Just like a successful business needs effective resource management, managing the resources in your life is key to living a successful and meaningful existence.
It’s easy to focus most of your energy on one aspiration or goal; however it’s important to ensure that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but instead allocate time across your priorities.
For high achievers looking to climb the career ladder -you must always be mindful of long-term goals instead of immediate rewards.
An extra bonus or promotion should not be pursued blindly without considering more lasting impacts on yourself and around you.
Taking care of our family or personal health might not seem as exciting for the moment, but this kind of direct investment will pay out far greater dividends in the long run and bring more satisfaction to us over time.
We must strive to properly manage our temporal resources if we’re going to make progress towards achieving our individual goals – both personal and professional.
Just like an effective business owner would wisely invest their capital into different areas, so too should we with our lives if we want an enjoyable outcome!
Investing In Family Life Now Ensures Support When You Need It Most
When it comes to achieving true happiness, the relationships that you share with your family and friends are the most important sources.
It can be easy to prioritize working and money-making in life, as they appear to bring immediate gratification – but this will ultimately prevent your loved ones from flourishing.
What relationships need most is consistent attention and care, despite how tempting it may be to focus on tasks with an immediate payoff like a job.
Those closest to you rarely ask for your time, yet it is important for them just the same.
Neglecting family at an early stage can lead to problems down the line.
Research has revealed that the first year of development is critical for a child’s intelligence, so investing time into nurturing such connection in its infancy is essential.
Likewise, showing love and support towards your family now only ensures that when needed, these are reciprocated later on when you’re likely to need them more than ever before.
Focusing on these connections and giving them continuous dedication not only leads to greater happiness but also prevents feeling lost or alone in times of trouble.
Understanding And Fulfilling The Needs Of Others Is The Key To Maintaining Successful Relationships
When it comes to our loved ones, we often have a hard time knowing what’s really important to them or how we can make them happy.
Many people approach relationships in the same way they do businesses, which is not always successful.
To truly show care and affection for our loved ones, we must strive to understand their needs and then fulfil them through our actions.
This can be done by developing both intuition and empathy.
Intuition helps to recognize potential needs and prompt us towards appropriate action.
Empathy takes it one step further, enabling us to truly connect with the emotions of others – which can be incredibly powerful for building healthy relationships.
For example, imagine that your partner has had a difficult day and there’s a mess in the kitchen when you come home from work.
You may intuitively think that your partner will appreciate help tidying up – but it turns out that all she wanted was an attentive ear!
In this situation, your initial response was missing the mark – but don’t get discouraged because this experience will only help you to better understand your partner’s needs in the future.
If we think of our relationships as jobs, then the key question is – what job does my family/friend/partner require me to do most? The Swedish home furnishings company IKEA provides us with a great example here – customers need quick and affordable solutions for furnishing their homes and IKEA’s ‘job’ is make sure that this need is met effectively so customers remain loyal.
Similarly, if you identify your loved ones’ needs correctly by using intuition and empathy, they are more likely to remain loyal too!
Raising Children Well: Cultivating A Family Culture Of Values And Support
Raising kids the right way means not only educating them, but also providing them with the skills and tools to learn on their own.
Letting children face everyday challenges and solve problems independently will help them develop their own values, and build a healthy amount of self-esteem.
Don’t be afraid to let your kids make mistakes along the way out of fear; instead, be there to support them if they do.
Creating a positive family culture is also important for raising responsible young adults.
Establishing family values such as kindness or generosity is key here: take every opportunity you can to emphasize these values, whether in conversations with your children, or by praising good behavior when you see it.
The results will be worth it!
When parenting, focus more on celebrating the good things than trying to control behavior all the time.
Emphasizing and highlighting good behavior every day provides a great foundation on which your kids can grapple with more difficult choices when they get older.
Allow your family’s core values to become firmly established so that no matter what life throws at your children down the road, those core beliefs are still intact!
Living Your Life With Integrity: Avoiding Marginal Thinking To Make Decisions With Consequences
We all face decisions every day that can make or break our lives.
When it comes to making choices, it’s important to remember that compromising your integrity can create a slippery slope chain of events with serious consequences.
The example of Blockbuster highlights the devastating effects of marginal thinking: they failed to recognize the rising threat posed by Netflix and as a result they lost out on a massive opportunity.
This should serve as a cautionary reminder about how easy it is for seemingly minor decisions in life can have far-reaching implications.
Nick Leeson presents another case study: he started out engaging in bad behavior “just this once”, but eventually ended up forging documents and conning auditors—all because of his willingness to make one ill-considered decision at the beginning.
In the end, it led to an astronomical loss of $1.3 billion, jail time for Leeson, and bankruptcy for Barings bank!
So if nothing else, just remember this: compromising your integrity will never be worth it in the long run.
Don’t do it!
Wrap Up
The book “How Will You Measure Your Life?” provides a powerful story and important lessons about how to live a balanced life.
It teaches us that the way we measure success and happiness should not just be in terms of money and power.
We need to also consider our relationships with our family, friends, colleagues, and the time we give to ourselves for our own growth.
The author encourages us to be brave and strong in our decision-making, letting kids solve their own problems when possible.
He also advocates taking time for hobbies, interests, and your own well-being; this is the true path to finding happiness and balance in life.
In conclusion, this book provides an enlightening look into the importance of achieving a work/life balance for long-term success.
