What happens with people having no aim?
by Abhishek
Right now my company has around 50 people on roll. We are doing development in various technologies like .NET, PHP, Facebook Applications etc. We do really interesting development which is good for company and developers.
Now for some reason we thought that our company needs some more structured technical growth and for that we need to scrap one of the holidays in month people enjoy. Right now first and third saturday are holiday here. For training we have to scrap first saturday so that we can get full day for training and at the end we can have monthly event (We do fun event once a month).
The moment we announced this there was outburst in the company about scraping one holiday. People were obviously not happy with the decision which was expected but there was something which was more disappointing.
I found that most of them don’t know what they want to do in life. They think that life will just go on like this coding, developing, testing etc. Nobody wanted to be the best in whatever they are doing. They wanted to enjoy the holiday they get just like any other unambitious person.
Please note that I am not criticizing my own team. We have a very strong and dedicated team who are good in whatever they are doing and I really love my team but there is always room for improvement i.e. to become the best. Lack of this quality makes any person so lifeless, at least to me. This kept me wondering what happens to people having no aim in life ? do they really do something important in life ? or they are just like people wandering around in zombie movies ? I love my team probably that is why I am more disappointed.
Please correct me if I am wrong somewhere, I am sure I am wrong somewhere but I am not able to find it.
Regards,
Abhishek
There needs to be a motivating factor to this ‘aim’ that you seem to think everyone should have.Unfortunatly most proffessions these days bring only one (supposedly) motivating factor – money. But for someone like me, who doesnt consider how much money i have in the bank to be of any importance whatsoever, as long as i can pay my bills and feed myself; where is my motivation to do better? What do i gain? Nothing. Just more numbers in my account.Being the ‘best’ in a job such as computer programming, is not an exciting thought. Ive been there, and its a tedious and mind numbing task. A lot of effort put in, for very little satisfaction at the end. I think a lot of people these days are beginning to realise that a ‘good’ job, isnt enough. The difference between a good job and a bad job, used to be defined by the size of the pay packet.Here’s the situation from my angle. Or should i say, our angle.We get up in the morning, go to work, and count the hours away until we can come home. When we get home from our mind numbing job, we watch mind numbing TV, go on facebook to see what the rest of our bored friends have done today, do tedious household chores, make food, go to sleep. Repeat.Money doesnt fix this. It makes it more comfortable. With more money, i can have a bigger TV, faster internet, a comfier bed, better food. But those things dont fulfill me. More money means i have an expensive, boring life, rather than a boring life. So back to the original point – whats my aim? To change my life. To change the world. Change everything about the shallow society we live in today.But i dont think ill get there by being the best programmer on your team.No offence, but those people who you say are “lifeless”, probably understand a lot more about life, and whats important in it than you do.
Everyone has different interpretations of “aim” and “life”. Regardless of whichever interpretation and philosophy you adopt, I reckoned that it is passion and perseverance that will allow you to enjoy your life to the fullest.Nevertheless, I wouldn’t say that people who called you “lifeless” understands more about life and what is important than you do. Such people always end up wasting their life away simply because they give up too easily and refuse to change their lives by doing something they like. I know a number of people around me like that. Some keep job hopped (if not, asked to leave), some take post-graduate specialisation exams, flunked them and gave up completely. Most of the time, the only thing that motivates them is “money”. Their goal is to make more and more money. Why do they need so much money? To buy branded goods, keep up to date with new gadgets, partying etc. etc. However, when their employer increased their workload by even a tiny bit, they complained to the point as though an apocalypse is coming. These people are probably considered to have a life more than people like us (by societal standards at least) because they leave the office sharp at 5 p.m., do not work overtime, party from Friday night to Monday morning, surf net during working hours, gossipping about others during tea breaks etc. At the end of the day, they complained that they are underpaid and overworked. Oh well…..
I seem to be like what Jack said i don’t know what i want to do in life and have no drive, a job where i could see i could do more fell through as it was a contract and due to todays financial times, I am also a bit like Raine said as i seem to be giving up although had some personal stuff happened to me which killed my drive and my disability (epilepsy), it makes me hop jobs as i don’t know what to accomplish in life, i used to like web but you get kids doing that now so its not working like it used to.When it did work I used to buy all the gadgets thinking life would continue like that but it has changed. I am a hard worker and work over the time regardless of being asked or not, in my sector we stay until the work is done.
Aim in life? I think for most/all – it is just to become happy. They might not know how.
How do they continue to live without knowing their aim? – I guess … its just evolution of that person. Some people know what they want, many dont. But eventually every body will.
Off the topic
You say that you dont find the enthusiasm / zest for awesomeness in your team BECAUSE they dont have aim in life. And you take that point and justify why they wont come on Saturday. That is your CUNNING JUSTIFICATION.
If you were truly professional, you would ensure people work 5 days ONLY, and even give friday as an OFF for the 4days of hard work.
If you want to train them, then you should do take a day from those 4 days and train them – in other words – use “your time” you pay for and not “their” time.
Giving a monthly bash does not sound fun to me. Fun is not about having a party at the end of month. So dont expect your “fun” is the actual “fun”
I agree with you Rahul. This is a bit older post and my thinking has definitely evolved since then. Just FYI we have 5 days a week now and we don’t call people extra days for training. Actually it has done wonders and we have stronger and much happier team members now. I believe they are having much more fun than before.