3 tips for understanding the fulfilling and Faustian roads
There are three routes people can take in their professional lives. These are: 1) The fulfilling road; 2) The Faustian road; 3) The fulfilling road - plus finding funding. There are, of course, pluses and minuses to following each road. Let’s explore these possible routes.
* The fulfilling road.
Some people simply focus on doing work they find fulfilling. They pursue their passion - be it music, dancing, painting, teaching, inventing, designing, architecture, computing, selling, psychology, cooking, nurturing or whatever. They do what they enjoy and are not too concerned about money - providing they have enough to live on – rather than listen to advisers who urge them to: “Study something that will give you a guaranteed career.” People who go their own way often learn ‘meta-skills’. They ‘learn how to learn’ - rather than to simply remember and reproduce text books. Many peak performers took the fulfilling route early in their working lives and later learned how to get paid for following their passion.
Take a look at your own life. Can you think of a time when you could have taken – or actually did take – the fulfilling road? What would be the pluses and minuses of following this route? Try completing the following sentences.
The time when I could have taken – or actually did take – the fulfilling road was:
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
* The Faustian road.
Some people sell their soul for money and status - hoping that one day they will be free to do what they really want. They accept messages such as: “Climb the ladder and get a good position that will provide security … Take a job that has prospects – it may be boring, but you can do what you enjoy on the weekends … The work may be mind-numbing – but the job has a good pension.” If a person sells their soul, however, they may find it hard to reclaim their life and enjoy the anticipated rainbows. Some in the ‘lucky generation’ of high-tech employees gained enough money to get the choices they wished - but some got stuck in corporate no-man’s land.
Take a look at your own life. Can you think of a time when you could have taken – or actually did take – the Faustian road? What would have been the pluses and minuses of this route? Try completing the following sentences.
The time when I could have taken – or actually did take – the Faustian road was:
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
* The fulfilling road – plus finding funding.
Some people learn how to do fulfilling work and get funding. Being both soul-wise and street-wise, they find potential sponsors - people who will pay them for doing what they do best. They then use their talents to help those sponsors to succeed. Such people learn to balance their soul-work and salary work, their mission and mortgage. Some do it by going freelance. Other create their perfect role in a company. They use their ‘nous’ to craft a role that is a ‘win-win’ for both themselves and the employer. One person said:
“Two years ago I reached a crossroads. Promotion beckoned - but it meant more internal meetings, flying twice a week and spending more time away from the family. Previously I had been driven by achieving ‘badges’, expanding my ‘empire’ and becoming a Board member. Deep down, however, I wanted to return to what I do best - which is selling. So I said ‘No,’ to the promotion and returned to spending time with customers. The life-work balance is still a hard circle to square - but I am now much happier in both my personal and professional life.”
Let’s imagine that you want to travel this road. How could you make it happen? The answer may not come straight away and sometimes people need a ‘halfway house’ – a staging post on the transition. But many more people are now choosing to balance their finances and fulfillment. Try completing the following sentences.
The specific things I could do to pursue the fulfilling road – plus finding funding - are:
*
*
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
Some people simply focus on doing work they find fulfilling. They pursue their passion - be it music, dancing, painting, teaching, inventing, designing, architecture, computing, selling, psychology, cooking, nurturing or whatever. They do what they enjoy and are not too concerned about money - providing they have enough to live on – rather than listen to advisers who urge them to: “Study something that will give you a guaranteed career.” People who go their own way often learn ‘meta-skills’. They ‘learn how to learn’ - rather than to simply remember and reproduce text books. Many peak performers took the fulfilling route early in their working lives and later learned how to get paid for following their passion.
Take a look at your own life. Can you think of a time when you could have taken – or actually did take – the fulfilling road? What would be the pluses and minuses of following this route? Try completing the following sentences.
The time when I could have taken – or actually did take – the fulfilling road was:
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
* The Faustian road.
Some people sell their soul for money and status - hoping that one day they will be free to do what they really want. They accept messages such as: “Climb the ladder and get a good position that will provide security … Take a job that has prospects – it may be boring, but you can do what you enjoy on the weekends … The work may be mind-numbing – but the job has a good pension.” If a person sells their soul, however, they may find it hard to reclaim their life and enjoy the anticipated rainbows. Some in the ‘lucky generation’ of high-tech employees gained enough money to get the choices they wished - but some got stuck in corporate no-man’s land.
Take a look at your own life. Can you think of a time when you could have taken – or actually did take – the Faustian road? What would have been the pluses and minuses of this route? Try completing the following sentences.
The time when I could have taken – or actually did take – the Faustian road was:
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
* The fulfilling road – plus finding funding.
Some people learn how to do fulfilling work and get funding. Being both soul-wise and street-wise, they find potential sponsors - people who will pay them for doing what they do best. They then use their talents to help those sponsors to succeed. Such people learn to balance their soul-work and salary work, their mission and mortgage. Some do it by going freelance. Other create their perfect role in a company. They use their ‘nous’ to craft a role that is a ‘win-win’ for both themselves and the employer. One person said:
“Two years ago I reached a crossroads. Promotion beckoned - but it meant more internal meetings, flying twice a week and spending more time away from the family. Previously I had been driven by achieving ‘badges’, expanding my ‘empire’ and becoming a Board member. Deep down, however, I wanted to return to what I do best - which is selling. So I said ‘No,’ to the promotion and returned to spending time with customers. The life-work balance is still a hard circle to square - but I am now much happier in both my personal and professional life.”
Let’s imagine that you want to travel this road. How could you make it happen? The answer may not come straight away and sometimes people need a ‘halfway house’ – a staging post on the transition. But many more people are now choosing to balance their finances and fulfillment. Try completing the following sentences.
The specific things I could do to pursue the fulfilling road – plus finding funding - are:
*
*
*
The pluses of following this route are:
*
The minuses of following this route are:
*
You can find many more ideas on this theme in The Strengths Way, which can be found at:
posted by Mike Pegg at
20:59
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