Idealism AND Pragmatism

“The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It’s by the real that we exist. It is by the ideal that we live.

-- Victor Hugo

From my work with people, and from my observations, I’ve seen the two opposite spectrums of idealism and pragmatism. Some have high ideals, but lack of pragmatic approaches to realize their ideals; yet others sacrifice their ideals for what is practical and “real.”

Idealism without pragmatism is like a beautiful house on paper. It is nice to look at and dream of, but it does not manifest itself into physical reality. Pragmatism without idealism is like putting a house together without a design, it serves some purpose in the short run, but does not create lasting values.

As Victor Hugo put it, it is by the real that we exist, and it is by the ideal that we live. As human beings, we obviously need both: to exist and to live. To create a meaningful and fulfilling life, we need both ideals AND practicality.

The ideal: James Allen said it beautifully, “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” Many of us stopped dreaming long time ago when we were told, “It is impossible,” “Get real,” “Be practical.” Deep down, we all have our dreams and ideals, no matter how deeply they are buried inside. To create a life that brings us joy and fulfillment, we need to rediscover our dreams and ideals, believe in them, live in them, and embody them.

The real: There are real demands in life that require us to understand the intricate relationships with people, money, business and the society we live in. These demands call for a practical and realistic approach to strike a healthy balance between results AND relationships, values AND profits, short term AND long term.

Live your ideals AND be real: Often people take an “either/or” approach. If I choose one value, I have to reject or give up the other. For example, if I go for my values, I have to give up profit; if I value relationships, I have to compromise results; if I take a long-term view, I have to sacrifice short-term outcomes. If we can hold two seemingly opposing ideas at the same time and allow ourselves to dance between them, like the yin and yang symbol, we may be able to strike that delicate balance between the two. Striking a balance does not mean arriving at the golden mean being perfect, it means that we hold into our ideals and allow room for flexibility, adaptability, change, and negotiations.

Let Time Bear Dividends for You

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

-- Steve Jobs

In my last workshop on September 13, 2009, I shared with the audience the importance of finding our passion, and the key steps to turning our passion into profit. One of the elements I spoke about was the need to manage our resources efficiently and effectively, especially our time. This point seemed to resonate with many of the workshop participants. Many came up to me and told me that one of the decisions they made as a result of the workshop was to change how they currently spend their time.

I have heard so often from people that “I don’t have time” or “There is so much to do, I just can’t catch up.” The truth is that we all have the same amount of time: 24 hours x 7 days. This is the only resource that we are given equally. The only difference is where and how we spend it. In my opinion, where and how we spend our time has the greatest effect on the results in our life.

Just look around you and pick an individual. Can you tell where and how they spend their time? Often it can be quite obvious. The question is why we spend our time the way we do? How can we become the master of our own time? I think several distinctions will make a big difference.

Time is value: How we “see” time has a lot to do with how we “use” it. If we see time is something to be killed, then we will kill time. We will find things to do to fill up the space so that we don’t have to face this empty feeling inside. If we feel time is not in our control, but dictated by people or events outside of us, then we will let others determine how we spend our time. We’ll always be in a reactive mode. However, if we see that time is the most valuable resource we have, as precious as gold, we will spend our time wisely. In fact, we’ll invest our time wisely because just like other valuable assets, it will bear dividends over time.

Time is a measurement of energy: Where we spend our time reflects where we put our energy. Like water, when properly channeled, it can generate electricity that lights up a city; when not constructively channeled, it can flood millions; when not channeled at all, it may just go wasted, leaving no trace. When we channel our energy and focus on something worthwhile, it can create great things for us, and because of us. This presupposes that we know what to focus our time on, which leads to the next point.

Know thyself: I believe there are three fundamental building blocks that when properly understood and applied, will lead to our greatest potential and fulfillment in life: They are our passion, gifts and values. When we have a compelling passion, we direct our energy to express, develop and master our unique gifts. When we know what are the most important values for us in life, especially in the long run, we can make a conscious decision to choose high value activities and relationships and reduce or eliminate activities and relationships of lower value.

Schedule it: Sometimes there are multiple things we value. For example, we value both business success and quality time with our family. At times there may seem an apparent conflict between the two, given the limited time we have in any given day. If both are important values to us, we need to schedule time for both. It takes judgment, balance and efforts.

Invest your time wisely and let it bear greatest dividends for you. Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.

Find Your Passion Because You are Worth It!

“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.” -- T. Alan Armstrong

What is passion, really? Have you ever had an experience where you were ignited by someone’s passion just in his or her presence? Why do some people live with passion and some people don’t? Is passion something either you have it or you don’t? Or is it something that can be discovered and cultivated?

Recently I watched a movie Julie and Julia by Nora Ephron, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The movie portraits parallel stories of two women finding their passion and becoming who they are meant to be. 

Julie Child was wife to a US diplomat. She had a man she loved, friends, the ability to travel and explore, and wanted for nothing, materially, but she was utterly bored. She desperately wanted some meaning in her life. Yet the only thing she was really passionate about was food. She realized this almost jokingly, but it stayed with her. One day Julia decided she must FIND SOMETHING TO DO. She explored many different things—chess, hat making, etc. They bored her head off.

Then she thought, “I love food, why don’t I learn cooking!” She enrolled herself in this basic cooking class. Again, it bored her. She went to talk to the head of the school, requesting to be in a more advanced class. And there she was, cooking with professional chefs—in Paris. She was the slowest, clumsiest and most inexperienced in the class, and was looked down upon by her fellow students. But somehow, somewhere, this ignited her competitive spirit, and suddenly she became alive, really alive. She was obsessed! Chopping onions, flipping eggs, she began to practice rigorously at home. Then she got really good at it and proudly found herself ahead of everyone in her class. She was gaining confidence in her own abilities.

This led her to an important opportunity. Her friends were writing a book on French cooking. They were told by their American publisher that they needed to find a way to translate it into English for an American audience. And they came to Julia for help. Julia said YES! And she found her greatest passion and her ultimate work: “Mastering the Art French Cooking (for Americans).”

What does this story tell us about passion? What can we learn from Julia’s experience to uncover our passion and follow the path laid out for us to our greatest potential and ultimate fulfillment?

Passion and gifts are the two sides of the same coin: Each one of us has something we can do in a certain way that is better than anyone else on earth. Our unique gift is the place wherein lies our greatest accomplishment and fulfillment. Passion is an outward manifestation of this gift, seeking to be expressed, developed, and mastered. In Julia’s story, she is passionate about food. The enjoyment made her feel alive, and it was her way of connecting with the highest form of her existence. Yet she never cooked before. The love of food was giving her a clue that ultimately led to her true passion.

Passion needs to be compelling: We can have many gifts. They show up as interests we have. Some are strong enough that they turn into hobbies. We enjoy them in our spare time. But when the passion is compelling and powerful enough, it turns into our mission: who we MUST be and what we MUST do. It becomes a divine obsession: we become it, it becomes us, and we live in a zone of unmistaken aliveness and flow. This passion propels us to master our greatest gifts, make our greatest contributions, and give us the ultimate fulfillment. In Julia’s story, she discovered her ultimate passion and gifts: as a writer and chef to bring French Cooking to American kitchens.

Passion is action: We can be passionate about things and about people. For example, Julia was passionate about food. But only when we take an active role in the creative process and challenge ourselves will our passion come alive. Only when Julia began to learn cooking, teach cooking, and write about cooking, did she discover her true passion.

Passion leads to mastery: When we are truly passionate about something, we are propelled to move forward, to try and fail, to learn from our mistakes, and to overcome many obstacles on our way to mastery. If we don’t have compelling passion, we will stop somewhere along the way. We will play it safe and not play it to the very edge. We will at best become good, but not great. For our gifts to be expressed fully, we need a powerful engine fueled by compelling passion!

Passion leaves clues: If you are living in your passion, congratulations to you! You have the pre-requisite for a meaningful and fulfilling life. If you are yet to find it, I encourage you to take the time, as long as you need, to discover it and follow it. It is your life, and you are worth it! Passion leaves clues. Follow its signs, experiment and listen to your heart. They will lead you there. They always do, because it is who you are, and the universe wants you to find your passion and master your gifts. It is wonderful for everyone!

“Making a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he made the decision.”  -- The Alchemist