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Career Tips - Issue # 7 (Dec. 2004) FREE bimonthly newsletter dedicated to your career development. It will take about 10 minutes to digest this newsletter. This investment will pay off if you act on what you're going to read. Butterfly effect and your career "I was casually looking at the newspaper and happened to see an ad for a job. I just applied and got the job." "I called up my friend and told him that I was looking for a job. He gave me contact information of a friend of his. I called this guy and got the break I was looking for." "I was working quietly when a friend of mine, whom I had not met for months, called to inform that his company had an opening that matched my profile. I applied and got the job." These are not hypothetical cases. Perhaps, you have experienced something similar or some of those around you are there due to such happenings. Should such "career-turning events" be brushed aside as random events? No, because such events take place with amazing consistency and frequency. So how do you explain this phenomenon: Simple, ordinary actions (like reading newspaper, calling friends or even receiving a phone call) leading to profound changes in one's career and life (e.g., getting new job, change of place of work, etc.)? The closest explanation comes from "Butterfly Effect." Butterfly Effect is associated with Edward Norton Lorenz, a research meteorologist at MIT. According to him, the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. Unbelievable? Butterfly Effect is not a piece of fiction. It is based on the Theory of Chaos (whose origin goes back to 1960s when Lorenz discovered chaos while doing some experiments). Butterfly Effect implies that very simple or small changes in systems and events can cause very complex behaviours or events. In fact, this phenomenon is one of the reasons why it is difficult to predict weather patterns with certainty even with supercomputers. Before we go into chaos and lose track, consider this: Founders of Sony, Akio Morita and Ibuka, came together to form Sony only after Morita read a story on Ibuka in a local newspaper and decided to contact him. Similarly, Bill Gates and Paul Allen decided to leave Harvard and found Microsoft only after seeing the photo of Altair 8800 computer on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. Again, two simple actions -- browsing a newspaper and looking at a magazine -- triggering off great changes! >>CAREER TIP: Believe that small actions can lead to big changes in your career. Never hesitate to do some of the most mundane things in life like looking at newspapers and magazines, getting in touch with friends, saying hello, extending help, meeting people, etc. You never know where such actions may lead you and your career to, thanks to Butterfly Effect! To enjoy your work, flow! Should work be an enjoyable activity? The answer is obvious but so is the reality. Most people either get bored or stressed by the work they do. Enjoyment is rare. There is a good reason for that. According to Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of education and psychology at the University of Chicago, the state of enjoyment, what he calls "flow," occurs only under certain conditions. Based on 25 years of research, he has concluded that people are most likely to experience "flow," when the following three conditions are met: 1. Person's skill level is perfectly balanced with the challenge level of the task at hand. So, if you take on something too simple or too difficult, you will miss the state of flow (enjoyment). Instead, you will experience boredom (too simple) or stress (too difficult). 2. The task should involve clear goals. Without goals, there is no focus. And without focus, you don't get absorbed in what you do. 3. There should be a mechanism to know whether we are winning or losing. For example, a surgeon knows at every stage of the surgery how he is doing. He says that almost any activity can produce flow if these elements are present. According to him, true enjoyment at work happens when we get completely lost in it (i.e, go into "flow" state). He says people who experience flow become almost addictive because they want to repeat the experience. That explains why some of the world's richest and most accomplished entrepreneurs, singers, dancers, athletes and actors don't retire easily. They might have all the money and fame but they can't afford to miss the experience of flow (enjoyment of doing what they do). >>CAREER TIP: Involve as much as possible in activities that match the following criteria: 1. You feel challenged. That's possible only when the complexity of the activities closely match with your capabilities. So avoid the pitfall of trying to do simple stuff, leaving complex work for others. That's a recipe for boredom. 2. Clearly-defined responsibility and goals are involved. So avoid the temptation to pass time at work without having clear goals in front of you. 3. There is constant feedback on how you are doing. Yes, avoid work which simply goes on and on without you ever knowing whether you are winning or losing. If you carefully tailor your work based on the above criteria, you'll soon find yourself enjoying your work like never before. Note: For more on this subject, read "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" (Harper & Row, 1990) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Will be back in 2005. Wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Atul Mathur FORWARD IT: Would you like to share what you've just read with any of your friends? Click below to send a link to your friends. To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, send a blank e-mail to:subscribe Career Tips ***Copyright 2004 Atul Mathur*** |
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