Powerful Questions to Design a Fulfilling and Impactful Career | Vishen Lakhiani

So welcome to category nine. Here we're going to talk about contribution through your career. Now, I said earlier some of the fields in contribution may not be categories that you would typically associate with contribution. However, I'm putting career in this category. Now, you may be wondering why. Well, the reason I put career as a form of contribution and giving back to the world is because in my book the Code of the Extraordinary Mind, I explain a major drool, a major culturescape idea that past generations had taken on that I think we need to discard. And that is the idea of humanity plus versus humanity minus companies. So in chapter 10 of the book I talk about how you could look at the companies in the world today and you could see that there are two types of companies. Humanity minus companies are companies that exist solely for making a buck. These are companies that might say, peddle junk food. I speak of Coke as a classic example of a humanity minus company. Now again, Coke was formed over a hundred years ago, but if you look at their contribution to planet Earth, is it really something that pushes the human race forward? I mean it's high fructose corn syrup which is highly unhealthy, filled with sugar, but it's marketed as happiness in a can. That's a classic example of a humanity minus company. Then you have companies like Google, pure humanity plus. I've been to Google X, I've seen some of the new innovations Google is coming up with. From free Internet to the world to self driving cars because that could save millions of road accident deaths every single year. Classic humanity plus companies. Humanity plus companies are also companies like Facebook that help the world stay connected. Companies like Tesla which are helping us move away from fossil fuels. And what I'm trying to get at is at a certain point you're going to be faced with a choice. Do you want to take a job in a company just to receive a paycheck or do you want to take a job in a company where you are getting a paycheck but you're also doing something to move the human race forward. Now if you move from a humanity minus company to a humanity plus company, or if you are in a humanity plus company, this is your form of contribution. A I was talking to a friend of mine who actually used to work for Coca Cola and he said, you know, a problem we had at Coke is that so many of the people we hire quit. So you know how we solve that? We just paid them 30% more than what they would get elsewhere. And I think perhaps that's a nice strategy for Some people, but I do not. Deep down inside, I do not believe that earning 30% more while peddling crap that is leading to an obesity epidemic around the world is really a part to contribution. So what I'm trying to say is if you're working for a shitty company, you might want to consider quitting. Because I can tell you this, when you look back at it, I don't think it's going to be worthwhile. I know because I once started a company that was a humanity minus company. It was basically, I won't go into the details of this company out of respect for the investors and my co founder, but the company basically was a company that got people to sign up for deals in restaurants and boutiques. It was basically a coupon type management service. And I can tell you after one year of working in this company, I felt so miserable. And so I decided to quit and dedicate myself to another business, Mindvalley, which is a humanity plus company dedicated around the idea of spreading enlightened ideas. And when I made that shift, what I found is that even though I'd given up hundreds of thousands of dollars of options and shares, I was so much happier. I felt like this huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I share this story in my book, the Code of the Extraordinary Mind. So many of you will be familiar with this story, but it's so important to really ask yourself, am I working in a company that is humanity plus? So that's one of the first rules that I wanted to get out there regarding companies and our choice of careers. The good thing about the world, what gives me so much optimism is that when I look at many entrepreneurs today, they are not starting companies that focus on fossil fuels or companies that focus on junk food. Many of the companies I see being started by entrepreneurs today are focused on organic foods, on healthy eating, on juices, on low sugar or no sugar alternatives. I have friends who are starting companies in solar power, in alternative energy, in wind energy. And that makes me so optimistic about the world we are moving into. And so I really want to urge you to encourage your kids, to encourage yourself, to seek out humanity plus companies. Don't get stuck in a rut in a humanity minus company. As I say in my book, I'm not asking you to save the world. All I'm saying is don't fuck it up for the next generation. Now that is one rule. But there's a second rule that we often fall into when it comes to our careers, and that is the great entrepreneurship myth. If you read the media. If you read Inc. Magazine and all of those articles being shared on Facebook, it sometimes seems that the only way to success is to be an entrepreneur. Now, that's not completely true. You see, even amongst entrepreneurs, you have entrepreneurs who are miserable, who are broke, who are facing stress and anxiety. They'd started their own business to find freedom, but instead all they got is a job, with now the added risk of having to ensure that their own paycheck gets paid. But then you also have entrepreneurs who are wildly successful in doing good things. But if you look at people who are employees, you'll also find people in that same range. You'll find employees who are working for incredible companies. I've met many employees who work for Google or other companies of that sort who absolutely love their jobs. They're doing meaningful stuff for the world. And I meet other employees who are miserable at where they are. So you have miserable and happy employees. You have have miserable and happy entrepreneurs. The idea isn't to pick one or the two or to buy into that whole myth that you need to be an entrepreneur. The idea is to recognize this. You need to find a way to contribute to the world in a way where you're earning a good income, that you enjoy what you do. Remember the idea of discipline and that you're contributing because while enjoying what you do will bring happiness, contribution brings fulfillment. So you don't have to blindly say, I need to quit my job and be an entrepreneur. But what you should be looking at are these three things. What can I find that will fulfill these three criteria in my career? How can I get a good income? How can I really enjoy what I'm doing? Because I can be best in the world at it, or I can truly let my creative energy flow with it. And finally, how can I contribute? And I think when you look at it from these three pillars, instead of blindly going, oh, I need to start my own business, you end up in a much safer, healthier way of creating your life. Okay, now, that said, let's actually take a look at how to set goals for your career. These are the questions you want to be asking yourself. Are you growing? Are you climbing the ladder? Is your career exciting? Or are you stuck in a rut? If you have a business, is it thriving over? Is it stagnating? What is your definition of work? What is your definition of career? Are you living life in the words of Richard Branson, where work and personal time all merge into one thing, which he calls living. If you are, congratulations. Or as Gary Vaynerchuk says, if you are waiting for the weekends, your shit is broken. Do you feel that within your career you're getting the appreciation you need, the recognition you need? If that helps you feel better for yourself? Do you feel you're getting a chance to contribute? Do you feel that the full range of your creative output you get to channel into something that makes you proud? Do you feel you have what you need to succeed in your career? Are you in the right position? Do you have the right skills? So with those questions bubbling in your head, let's now set a timer and have you start creating a vision for your career. So I'm setting my iPhone timer here to three minutes. You should have your paper and pencil ready and let's start writing down what are your visions for your career? Where would you like to be three years down the road in terms of position, salary, contribution? What would it feel like getting out of bed every day to get to work? What level of competence do you want to attain and why? How would you improve your workplace or your company? What additional features, culture elements, practices would you bring in? What contribution would you make in your field? What can you do that you can be truly best at in your field? Is your career giving you meaning? How would you use your career to contribute to the betterment of humanity? How are you at work in terms of how you communicate with your co workers, your partner, so your boss? What is your best self? How would you bring that into your career? Is it time for a switch in your career? If so, so what career would you like to get into? Where would you like to build your career? What city or country? I'll give you a few seconds to write down your own ideas and we're done. Time's up. Congratulations. You now have a list of visions and ideas for where you want to take your career as a means to contribution. So here's an additional tip if you're looking to help yourself grow in your career and professional development on mindvalleyacademy.com we recently launched a channel called Success and Professional Growth and you can sign up for mindvalley Academy for any course on mindvalley Academy and you'll get an option to join this channel. The channel is simply a customized newsletter for people who at this stage in their life want to really grow in their career. And we bring you wisdom from not just from my book, but from many of the greatest teachers out there in terms of fields such as speed, learning, productivity, being a better manager, how to improve your memory, success principles so that in your career, in your company, you can rise further, do more, contribute more, and just absolutely kick ass. So congratulations. Thank you for completing this exercise, and I'll see you in the next chapter.