I had the privilege of being interviewed by Dr. Rajeev Kurapati at his site Unbound Intelligence. Dr. Kurapati is a certified MD in family medicine, specializing in empowering people to understand the complex workings of our minds by uniting the wisdom of spiritual traditions, the theories of science & the nature of biology.
See the full interview below, and check out Unbound Intelligence for thought-provoking insights on happiness, marriage, meditation, being present, and awareness.
---
I stumbled upon Josh Haymond through the glorious universal connector that is social media and was instantly enamored with his message. Josh Haymond, author of the blog, has dedicated his life to finding that perfect balance between “working to live” and “living to work.” I find it so easy to let the teeter of life lean toward work – working harder to achieve success and riches – but always come back to the conclusion that it is the less tangible facets of life – love, peace, and contentment – that truly provide lasting satisfaction. I wanted to share with you all some of the empowering wisdom that Josh has gained on his journey and encourage all of you to check out his blog! I asked Josh a few questions about how he finds peace and happiness:
1. How did you become so passionate about the “working to live” mentality? How has it changed your life?
Many in the corporate world find self-worth through career accomplishments. Though driven in my career, I recognize that work is a means to create the life I want to live. I work not for personal fulfillment but to be of service to others, which karmically equates to providing the lifestyle I have chosen to live. Viewing my career in this light has transformed the way I view my work-week. Work becomes less work and more an integration of life, a way I can kill two birds with one stone – assist others where I excel and provide for my family.
2. You talk a lot about life-work balance. In all the hustle, what keeps you “sane?”
I entered the work force five years ago, married around that same time. Despite working significant hours, I’ve kept life-work balance at the top of mind. Admittedly, earlier in my career, my balance tilted heavily to work. I recognized that was not my vision, but rather I was laying the necessary bricks to create the long-term vision in my life centered around family rather than career. Today, I strive to find even greater balance in my life, continuing to lay the bricks to build the foundation of balance. I’ve never been scared of hard work – accomplishment motivates me to accomplish more, and for me, I constantly remind myself why I am driven to accomplish. It’s less to do with becoming rich and powerful and more to do with creating the lifestyle that my wife and I visualize.
3. What is your best advice for maximizing daily productivity?
From a young age, I took pride in multi-tasking. In recent years, however, I have found that multi-tasking can be so detrimental to productivity that I consciously work to avoid the act. Everything we do deserves 100% of our attention. Otherwise we deliver a result that is not indicative of our ability. I also caution people to remain mindful of over-listing. This is not to say a to-do list doesn’t cannot be valuable, but to-do lists can also slow us down by taking the time to compile, writing down extraneous information (low-hanging fruit that is easy to check off), instilling a sense of concern with how much we “need” to do, all of which bring us further from intuitive thinking. Along the lines of intuitive thinking, I challenge the idea of perfectionism – we are our best at our most natural, and over-analyzing slows us down for little value-add.
4. Who most inspires you and why?
I am deeply inspired by progression. I strive to be a better man than I was yesterday. That’s my challenge in life, and that challenge never goes away. I never feel as though I cannot improve upon an aspect of my life. If I am successful in progressing, I feel more fulfilled in life than the day before, and that, in turn, shines through to all aspects in my life – career, hobbies, relationships and most importantly, self-love. Once I taste the sweet nectar that is progression, I am motivated to further break down self-imposed walls that I have placed around my life.
5. Tell us a little about Strive On. What message are you hoping to spread?
Strive On is a reflection of what I work through, a mirror of my life. I created Strive On last year as an outlet. At the time, I was stepping out in a number of ways and wanted a way to share my accountability with others. I wanted to share with others the idea of choice, the lack of settling, and the fulfillment I find in progression. I know how an unfulfilled life feels, and I know that buried beneath that feeling lies passion. Strive On is me challenging myself to become closer to my truths and break through the misnomers of what the “norm” suggests our lives must look like.
The web address of the blog, striveonjosh.com, can be read as a direct order, “Strive on, Josh.”
6. You talk a lot about the idea of self-love. Why is this so important?
There’s two sides of the coin – we either operate from a place of self-love or a place of self-destruction. If I love myself, it isn’t narcissism, but rather enforces the message that I am enough. Like many of us, I am my toughest critic. In those critiques, we must be mindful that we are not beating ourselves down.
Admitting we need to improve can be challenging. This admittance need not be negative – the moment the admittance becomes negative is the moment the coin flips to self-destruction. In that moment we are conditioning our minds to ignore opportunities to better ourselves.
We should welcome growth from a state of positive progression, excited in our awareness of the improvement opportunity. Only once comfortable with this growth can we truly love ourselves, and only when we truly love ourselves can we truly love others.
7. What do you think the biggest problem is in the corporate world regarding general happiness/wellness? What can we do to combat this?
Company management tends to change once directly impacted, thus the change must first come from the employee. We must challenge conventional thinking, offering suggestions on process improvement and life-work improvement. Improvement and cultivation are one in the same. Even if an our ideas are stifled, we are still sharpening our minds in a creative way. Do not settle for what you feel to be normal. Think outside of the box. Cultivate. And if you cannot cultivate where you work now, find somewhere where you can.
Comentarii