A retired man moves near a junior high school. He spends the first few weeks of retirement in peace and quiet. However, when a new school year begins, three young boys beat on every trash can they encounter every day on their way home from school.
Finally, the man decides to take action and walks out to meet the boys. He says, "You kids are a lot of fun. I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids continue to do a bang-up job on the trashcans.
After a few days, the man tells the kids, "This recession's really putting a big dent in my income. From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans." The noisemakers are displeased, but they accept his offer.
A few days later, the retiree approaches them again. "Look," he says, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to pay more than 25 cents. Will that be OK?" "A freakin' quarter?" the drum leader exclaims. "If you think we're going to waste our time beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts. We quit."
This was a joke that I got some days back on a RSS feed, but I did not laugh after reading this but it got me thinking instead...
The moment we take away fun from what we do and start doing things for returns, the entire perception changes... now the effort is usually defined by the returns we are getting out of it and not by how much we enjoy doing it !!!
When I put myself into this position, I see myself doing most of the things because I enjoy doing them and not because I want some returns to come from them... having said that I really like the returns too in forms of money or attention or praise, but the bottom line is that how much I enjoy doing it, does not change !
I hope to continue living this way !
Finally, the man decides to take action and walks out to meet the boys. He says, "You kids are a lot of fun. I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids continue to do a bang-up job on the trashcans.
After a few days, the man tells the kids, "This recession's really putting a big dent in my income. From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans." The noisemakers are displeased, but they accept his offer.
A few days later, the retiree approaches them again. "Look," he says, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to pay more than 25 cents. Will that be OK?" "A freakin' quarter?" the drum leader exclaims. "If you think we're going to waste our time beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts. We quit."
This was a joke that I got some days back on a RSS feed, but I did not laugh after reading this but it got me thinking instead...
The moment we take away fun from what we do and start doing things for returns, the entire perception changes... now the effort is usually defined by the returns we are getting out of it and not by how much we enjoy doing it !!!
When I put myself into this position, I see myself doing most of the things because I enjoy doing them and not because I want some returns to come from them... having said that I really like the returns too in forms of money or attention or praise, but the bottom line is that how much I enjoy doing it, does not change !
I hope to continue living this way !
Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Back to the rule and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow
Smashmouth - All Star (One of my favorite tracks EVER)
Back to the rule and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow
Smashmouth - All Star (One of my favorite tracks EVER)
:) Totally agree.. I feel if you do what you love and are having fun, the rewards are more than the hefty pay check at the end of the month. Feeling of contentment is worth much more than people usually think it is.
ReplyDeleteberry berry true
ReplyDeleteEk dum sahi, Omzi.
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely important for me to enjoy my work, anything and everything that I do. Also, my interest in my work or anything I do stops when my learning from it stops...I stop enjoying it. If I don't enjoy doing something, I find it very difficult to carry on with it.
I really like praise, success, money in return but I don't think I can get any of these if I stop enjoying what I do...whether it is work or a hobby!
Absolutely. If one puts expectations into the equation, suddenly everything changes...
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes it is difficult to exclude expectations...
I think that is one reason for me to be unemployed at the height of crunch.
ReplyDeleteGood food for thought..
ReplyDeleteI also wonder sometimes..If You Work for a Living, Why Do You Kill Yourself Working???
@ Iya
ReplyDeleteyea, rewards.... i think i live for those... :)
@ Kashmira
shukriya !
@ Swati
yea...
sahi farmaya aapne mohtarma
@ Jas
it sure is difficult, and on a second thought there are times when expectations make you perform optimally too... depends on how they are being used !
@ Abhi
bhai tu mera hero hai !!! i envy you at times for being able to live life so free heartedly at times !!!
@ Vaishali
yea... :) why do you kill yourself working !
great thought stirrer..! expectation of returns affects the spontanity of the action...and compulsion for doing something removes the fun element out of it. so do what u truly love to do ~ being unaffected by the returns...
ReplyDeleteloved the post..am going to stay with this thought...
Hope we all do :) Life would be a much happier experience I guess :)
ReplyDeleteI have seen a lot of struggling artists in the music industry and the film industry who start of saying that music and acting is their passion and enjoy it as a career and they cannot think of anything else they would like to do especially a boring 9 to 5 job..yet sadly enough after years of struggle when they can't make a decent living they start questioning their own decisions. When they their friends making a six figure income in a(boring)IT field they beging to doubt their passion about art.When it comes down to paying bills and putting food on the table what would you say is more important? Ofcourse a balance between the two would be wonderful but how many of us are blessed with that?
ReplyDeleteVinita
Vinnie...
ReplyDeleteI am not unaware of the struggle either, and competition is as tough in the so called 9 to 5 jobs or the boring IT Field... though I would like to question the usage of these terms... I no longer know of jobs which are 9 to 5... seriously...
Honestly I am unable to put one thing over another right now, but doing something and not enjoying it, does not really make sense to me ! I am not aware of and vouch for anyone else, but I don't do it !
Om, Didn't mean to contradict you here but it was just another view point of looking at the same scenario. In US we are told over and over again that take up a career which you will really enjoy, which you have passion for, where you can have fun and then you won't feel as though you are working..VS India where the trend is more towards choose a field which has more job market and then you can live happily ever after.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read your post this brought to surface the same dilema which I keep thinking about all the time. I don't know which is right but as I said balance would be great.
All three posts of yours were excellent and came straight from the heart. Want to comment on all of them. They were serious and yet fun to read and something we could all relate to. Very meaningful.
(Two typos in my earlier comment..of=off and SEE their friends make a six figure income.
ANd as you said actually no job is now 9 to 5.
Vinita
@ Vinnie..
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and feel a bit of helplessness too at the state... In the US, things are different ! you are not really judged by what you do and there are opportunities to keep the bills taken care of...
I know of people here who would work at Gas Stations, Restaurants or do something or the other, and they get paid decent amounts... so there are ways to earn which do not need a key skill to be exploited... which I am not sure is the case with India...
I am in agreement with this dilemma but like someone said... "Pyaar se Pet nahin bharta" , we gotta find our paths to financial security with opportunities to keep our passions alive...
With so much networking opportunities, don't you think the situation would have improved in the last few years?