I got very excited about this:
<snip>
Like myself, today's twentysomethings were raised to find our dreams and follow them. But it's a different world. And as the
jobless generation grows up, we realize the grand betrayal of the false idols of passion. This philosophy no longer works for us, or at most, feels incomplete. So what do we do? I propose a different frame of reference: Forget about finding your passion. Instead, focus on finding big problems.
Putting problems at the center of our decision-making changes everything. It's not about the self anymore. It's about what you can do and how you can be a valuable contributor. People working on the biggest problems are compensated in the biggest ways. I don't mean this in a strict financial sense, but in a deeply human sense. For one, it shifts your attention from you to others and the wider world. You stop dwelling. You become less self-absorbed. Ironically, we become happier if we
worry less about what makes us happy.
The good thing is that there are a lot of big problems to go by: climate change, sustainability, poverty, education, health care, technology, and urbanization in emerging markets. What big problem serves as your compass? If you're a young leader and you haven't articulated this yet, here are some things you can do.
<snip>
here's the full article:
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/to_find_happiness_forget_about.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+(HBR.org)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher#.TxCSIO6P4h0.google
I'm all over this idea - contributing to solving problems bigger than yourself is not just for youngsters anymore! thoughts?
