In 1990 Henna Inam graduated with an MBA and took a job with Procter & Gamble, which provided the foundation of her corporate career. Then she joined Novartis, which led to eight assignments across four divisions, three functions, and four locations over 13 years.
Inam had amazing sponsors, mentors, and experiences in her corporate career, but something was missing. After she turned 40, she experienced a mid-life crisis.
On Inam’s website bio she shares the following reflection:
My corporate career had been mostly about achievement and climbing the corporate ladder and now I wanted to find my own way to ‘make a ding in the Universe’ as Steve Jobs said. So, instead of handling my midlife crisis responsibly by engaging in retail therapy, I went off to an ashram in search of myself and my personal ‘Ding.’
Inam discovered mindfulness, which led to the realization that what makes her most happy is helping others. As a result, she left her corporate career and started her own company, Transformational Leadership, Inc.
In an interview for Wharton Magazine, Inam notes:
Being true to ourselves is about having the courage to define our own version of what it is to live a successful life. For me, it’s about making peace between that hard-charging, results-driven executive who still wants to achieve and the peace-and-love hippie who wants to hang out in an ashram and dreams of a better planet for all. As soon as we limit ourselves, we may achieve success, but not fulfillment, because we aren’t living out our important truths.
So good they can’t ignore you
Figuring out what makes us happy is sometimes harder than we think. The same with passions. What thrills us today may not thrill us tomorrow, or next year. Sometimes we need to experiment and explore.
Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University, as well as a best-selling author and popular blogger.
Newport’s book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love, argues that passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before.
In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it. And how you do it should include authenticity. Be yourself. Take advantage of your natural talents.
Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world. -Adam Grant
The cartooning cop
I spent 26 years in the law enforcement profession, despite my teenage dreams of becoming a full-time cartoonist. I enjoyed the police profession, and the chance to help people. And, I found many ways to use my writing skills and cartooning at work.
As a patrol officer, I drew funny cartoons of my colleagues and their exploits. I sketched cartoons for promotional parties and retirement events. My cartoons brought levity and laughter in an often stressful job.
I was a juvenile detective for a few years and taught at the local schools. Children delighted in the cartoons I drew for them on chalkboards. The cartoons humanized me, making me less intimidating to the kids.
As a Lieutenant and later as Chief of Police, I enjoyed writing columns for the local newspapers. I often included caricatures and cartoons in my correspondence with community leaders and citizens. They jokingly called me “The Renaissance Man.”
I believe the key to my career success in law enforcement is that I always stayed true to who I was. I didn’t try to deny or disguise my creative side.
Rather, I used artwork and writing to my advantage. In this way, I remained authentic and was happy. Best of all, coworkers and the community responded positively to who I was. Some called me “The cartooning cop.”
The happiest person he knew
Your passion doesn’t have to be what you do for a living. You can often find happiness and authenticity in your work. However, if your job forces you to be someone or something you’re not, it will be hard to find happiness.
There are plenty of narcissistic and phony people who are financially successful, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy. I met many wealthy people with unhappy lives in my police career. Despite their money, they struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, affairs, etc.
My father was a successful judge who worked with many highly educated, affluent people. Dad once told me that the happiest person he knew was his barber, Pat. Pat was a slender, short man who owned a small, vintage barbershop in town.
Dad said that Pat was the most down to earth, authentic, wise, well-adjusted man he knew. Pat loved people and conversation, and his work was the perfect forum for both.
In short, Pat was being his authentic self, and the happiness he found in his work was infectious. Others wanted to be around him.
You can read the full story about Pat the barber below.
Regrets of the dying
Bronnie Ware is a former palliative caregiver who wrote the popular memoir, “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departed.”If we are to live an authentic, happy life, it’s helpful to think about what truly matters.
The regrets of the dying may be too diverse to condense into five things, but Bronnie Ware’s years of experience give us the following five regrets.
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Ware noted that this was the most common regret. When people are healthy, they tend to take it for granted. Choices they make about their lives would probably be far different if they knew they were dying soon.
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
When they play videos at funerals, the most poignant footage is usually of vacations and time spent with families and close friends. Rarely is it video footage from work.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
People often suppress their feeling to keep the peace. They settle, rather than become the person they dreamed of becoming. The ensuing resentment often leads to illness.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. Yet we often suffer from a benevolent drift over the years, as kids and careers take precedence. Don’t wait to reconnect with old friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Happiness is a choice, but we often get stuck in old patterns. Fear of change holds us back. We pretend we’re content. And we forget how to laugh and be silly more.
There are two primary choices in life
The world seems to be much kinder to happy people. Maybe because happy people spread their sunshine to others.
We reap what we sow. Blessings and consequences. Authenticity versus phoniness. It all comes down to choices.
There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. -Denis Waitley
Henna Inam visited an ashram, left her corporate career, and started her own leadership business. Her heart and authentic self told her it was time for a change.
Cal Newport reminds us that our work doesn’t have to be our passion, but how we do our work might become a passion.
I was known as the cartooning cop because I never abandoned that creative side of myself, despite all the seriousness and stressors of police work. I held on to my authentic self.
My father’s barber, Pat, was the happiest person Dad knew. Because Pat stayed true to who he was: An outgoing, friendly man who loved people.
Author Bronnie Ware, in her book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” tells us the number one regret was, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
Have the courage to remain true to who you are. Your authentic self. Do the things that make you happy, and the world will reward you, sometimes in unexpected and wonderful ways.
Before you go
I’m John P. Weiss. I draw cartoons, paint, and write about life. To get the latest writing and artwork, signup for my Saturday Newsletter here.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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Artworks by John P. Weiss