Leading a Fulfilling Life | Simon Sinek

So, yeah, I mean, let's reinforce that point because I think it's an important one, that fulfillment is a right and not a privilege. And when we go out with our friends for dinner or when we used to be able to do that.

You know, you sit around and somebody says, I love my job, and everybody goes, oh, my God, you're so lucky. Like, they won something. That statement should be the norm, not the exception. We should all get to go to dinner and say, I love my job. And it's the one person who says, I don't. That's that. That we can. That we can intervene. So, yeah, I believe it is a right. And we have a responsibility ourselves to, to find a. A place where we want to work with the people that we would work with rather than just taking the biggest salary. That we have a responsibility to take care of the people around us. And we have a responsibility to speak up and ask our. Our leaders to work with us and create a place where people want to come to work, where we. Where there's a safe space for us to take care of each other and feel taken care of. So there's mutual responsibility all around. So when you say, you know, how do we do it? Well, it's. It requires constant work. It's like, how do you stay healthy? Well, I can give you a whole list of things you have to do. You have to eat right, you have to nurse, your personal relationships, you have to get enough sleep, you have to exercise, you have to meditate, you have to be mindful. You know, there's a. There's like 30 things, and you can't do all those things well all the time. It's a striving.

And when one's doing well, sometimes one thing falls off. It's a striving, and it's the same. The pursuit of fulfillment is a striving. You know, I think it's. You know, this is why I make the distinction between fulfillment and happiness. You know, to seek happiness is a lot easier because happiness is fleeting. You know, you get a new job, you're happy. You. You get a raise, you're happy, you win a new piece of business, you're happy, you're given a gift, you're happy. Somebody says something nice to you, you're happy, and that feeling goes away.

Nobody walks around with a sense of happiness for a job they got four years ago. It's gone. Where fulfillment is different. Fulfillment. You can feel fulfilled by your work, even if you're not enjoying it today. You can feel fulfilled by your Work, even if you're having a bad day or. Or one of your colleagues is grumpy, you can still be fulfilled by the work.

It's more infinite, it's more constant. And so whereas happiness is the things that lead up to it sounds more like an event. Fulfillment is a striving. It's a lifestyle. And you do all these things, like having a just cause, like building trusting teams and working to be the leader you wish you had. In other words, you see your life as a life of service to those around you, whether you're in a company, whether you're an employee, whether you're a leader, or if you're just a parent. That you see your life in service, you know, to your spouse, your partner and your kids, and indeed your community. What makes a community highly functional is that we view that every single person within that community sees their responsibility to serve the community rather than standing around demanding the community does something for them.

You know, it's a chicken and egg question. You know, you can pursue these things and you can trust your gut without ever learning it. You know, people who trust their guts, we all kind of know. We just don't have the words for it. And understanding your why gives you words. Understanding your why makes it a lot easier.

I have a little metaphor called the celery test that really captures it nicely. So we're constantly seeking advice on whatever it is, how to build a better family, be it a better parent, you know, build a better business, serve our community better, whatever it is. We're constantly seeking advice, and we read books and we read articles and we ask friends and we talk about it. And. And so the question is, which advice do you follow? It's hard. And so the analogy is, it's like you go for dinner at somebody's house and it's a dinner party or something, and everybody's got some advice about what you should do. If you want to build a great community.

You need to use M&MS. We used MMS and we had. It worked great for us. You want to build a great community. Somebody else says, rice milk, especially in these difficult times, you have to use rice milk. Kit Kats. Somebody else says, we use Kit Kats and it's been amazing. And somebody else says, no, celery. Celery is the thing you have to use. And so you go to the supermarket and the question is, which products do you buy? Right? You don't know. And so you may buy them all. So it takes time and it takes money to go through the supermarket and buy all those products. And the promise, the problem is, is you may or may not get value out of some of those. Those things you don't really know. And when you're standing in the line with all of these products in your shopping basket, nobody can see what you believe because you bought everything. If you know your why. Right, let's say. But let's say your why is to always be healthy and only do things that protect the health of your body. You get all the same advice from all the same wonderful people that all have wonderful case studies. And the question is, which advice do you follow? Which products do you buy? It's super easy. We don't have to talk about it. Everybody listening instantly knows you only buy rice milk and celery. Obviously, you spend less time at the supermarket, you spend less money at the supermarket. You're guaranteed to get value from those products. And when you're standing in line with only celery and only rice milk in your basket, everyone can see what you believe. Somebody can come up to you and say, hey, I can see that you believe in being healthy. So do I. Congratulations. You just attracted a new member of the community, somebody who will be, who fits the value set. And as you can see, you can make gut decisions about what feels right and what doesn't feel right. But by putting it into terms, when you know your why, not only do you have better clarity, more confidence when you make your decision, but you also have the opportunity to scale it a lot easier. Because by telling everybody what you believe, now they can go shopping for you and you don't even have to be there.