kaleidoscope

Ask and you shall receive... yup, Mark shared with me an excellent article from Harvard Business review, vol 82, no2 (2004 Feb) pp 102-109, called Success That Lasts. Thanks Mark. The preface of the paper says "Single minded ambition is a great way to achieve some goals-but it that really success? New research reveals surprisingly practical ways to find professional and personal fulfillment." From here you can already see that the authors pro work-life balance. Many people assume success requires a winner-takes-all approach. They believe that success depends on putting all your energy into achieving one goal, be it a single-minded focus on your job or a commitment to being the best soccer mom in your community. But no matter how noble, one goal can't satisfy all of a person's complex needs and desires. Fortunately, success doesn't have to be seen as one-dimensional tug-of-war between achievement and happiness. **light bulb blinking**

The complexity of success involves more than a heart-pounding race to the finish line. Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson uncovered four irreducible components of enduring success; happiness (feelings of pleasure or contentment about your life); achievement (accomplishments that compare favorably against similar goals others have strived for); significance (the sense that you've make a positive impact on people you care about); and legacy (a way to establish your values or accomplishments so as to help others find future success). Next, they went on to compare an effective success strategy to a kaleidoscope with 4 chambers - happiness, achievement, significance, and legacy. In this metaphor, success is about choice, movement, pattern, and a structure that holds all the separated activities together. How colorful and well balanced is your kaleidoscope right now?