Why does X work so hard year in, year out – without money as an incentive?
I call them passionaires. I have been interested in this phenomenon for many years. One of them even lived to be 100. Despite his intense lifestyle, he was rarely ill…
I have recently noticed that the bestselling author Jim Collins has also taken an interest in these passionaires. He became a bestselling author with his book Good to Great. The aim of the book was to identify successful companies in the USA. The criterion was that they had to have been the best in their industry for at least 15 years – in other words, no coincidence. The book was based on five years of research.
The new book, What to Make of a Life, is based on 10 years of research (!) and several years of writing. What Jim and his team have been interested in is what happens when someone encounters a major obstacle. Jim calls it a cliff. How has X dealt with the cliff? Sometimes there has been a lot of ‘fog’, so it hasn’t been easy to find one’s bearings…
These people have had a strong inner drive (called the fire), so they have had the necessary motivation to get past the cliff. He calls that drive their encodings. They also help to keep one on a focused course. If you stray from your course, things don’t go well. Then you usually feel bad.
A good strategy, discovered during the research, was that the individuals used simplicity stepping. This means taking the next step towards the goal. Then you evaluate. What are the options now? Choose one and take another step, and so on. But what you must be very careful about is taking steps that are irreversible. For example, when Philip Graham died. He ran the Washington Post. His wife, Katharine Graham, then had several choices. A natural choice would have been to sell, but that would have been irreversible. She didn’t do that. Instead, she took it step by step and gradually grew into the role of business leader. One of the best in the US, according to Jim Collins. He also likes her memoirs, which he considers to be among the best written by a business leader.
I found a great deal of resonance when I read the book recently. It was a top priority to read, as I have learnt a great deal of useful information from reading Good to Great and other books by Jim. What, of course, pleased me particularly was that I had long been on the same track as Jim. I have, after all, developed the HumanGuide personality test. The underlying theory consists of eight factors, so get a more nuanced test result.
One day I had an idea – What happens when you use all your dominant factors (strengths) for a particular activity? Surely then you must be maximally motivated. Well, that is crucial, but other factors must also align, such as the values of the culture in which you operate. And other important conditions. BUT it is clear that when all your strengths are being used, you definitely have a good sense of your fire. I call this fire your jackpot activity. The researcher Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, who published the book Flow, describes something similar with the concept of flow.
Now I have been really inspired to see that someone is doing what I did many years ago – defining their jackpot activity. It has worked well for me, so hopefully for others too. I have been running my own consultancy firm – Humankonsult AB – since 1981. I have chosen not to become a traditional pensioner, because when I look around at those my age, I am sometimes truly horrified. They don’t seem to be having much fun. Some are ill and others have died. There may, of course, be many reasons for this, but I think those who have a strong interest are definitely more alive. They lead a free life, where they can give free rein to their strengths (driving forces) and do something they find meaningful.
But what, then, are one’s encodings, if we return to them? Well, here you can gain a great deal of insight by taking the HumanGuide test. Identifying which factors (driving forces) are your strengths. Then you formulate your jackpot activity as precisely as possible. It is important to formulate that activity in more general terms. Not too specifically, as that can be very limiting. For example, it is better to define your activity as ‘growing vegetables’ rather than ‘growing asparagus’. But of course, it can be sensible to focus on one or a few vegetables in order to become skilled at growing precisely those. However, make sure that your wording is just the right amount of specific and that it suits you personally.
If I take myself as an example, I have these strengths out of the eight possible ones according to the HumanGuide test
- Imagination
- Quality
- Structure
- Power
in that order.
The test is based on a theory comprising eight core dimensions (see humanguide.com for further details), which makes the results more nuanced and useful. It identifies some key characteristics for each
- Sensibility, i.e. caring, empathetic and service-oriented
- Power, i.e. results-oriented, quick and dynamic
- Quality, i.e. responsible, determined and long-term perspective
- Exposure, i.e. colourful, spontaneous and lively
- Structure, i.e. orderly, organised and disciplined
- Imagination, i.e. open-minded, creative and curious
- Stability, i.e. security-oriented, traditional and economical
- Contacts, i.e. people-oriented, easy-going and sociable
Based on the results of that test, I have devised this jackpot activity:
Solving complex problems (Imagination, Quality and Structure, as well as Power) with a positive social purpose (Quality). I do this all the time, which means I am highly motivated and enjoy my life. Had I not had precisely those driving forces, I would definitely not have been able to develop the HumanGuide concept – since 1986!
Why not formulate your own jackpot activity? Note, however, that the examples in Jim Collins’ book were not aimed at being admired. Being mentioned in prestigious contexts. Becoming rich. They simply wanted to work on something that gave them great satisfaction. Some, however, went on to win the Nobel Prize and the like…
You can take the test here: humanguide.nu
Once you’ve done that, you can also calculate your passion index – for example, how well your personality suits a particular job. You can do this using the web app: your.humanguide.se
Good luck!
Rolf
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