I have met a lot of different types of people from all different types of industries over the course of my career and life. One thing that seems to be a common thread, for the most part we all agree that justice is important.
Where I see some disagreement is how to actually get justice or to see it in action. I have talked to a lot of different project managers who feel like getting justice involves them having to swing elbows and fight their way to the top no matter what the cost is to them or their families.
I used to think this way too, that in order to be heard I had to be loud and get into the middle of everything to make a name for myself. Well, I have learned over the years that this is not necessarily getting justice. I believe that at times it is necessary to have moments of a climax of belief but it doesn’t have to be that way all of the time.
Here is what I have learned about getting justice in the project work that we do (also applicable to life incidentally):
Justice is developed when we all adhere to our core values and are able to allow everyone to thrive not just ourselves. It is giving the mic to someone who isn’t being heard through the noise, it is standing up for what we know is right, it is standing up for ourselves when we feel like we are being taken advantage of but also standing up for others to be able to do the same.
This is all fine and good, but it does require one specific thing in order to be possible. Knowing what it is you stand for. So let me ask you, What do you stand for? Why do you stand for it (whatever it is)? What does standing for something mean to you? How do others know that you stand for it?
I think there is one way to be able to truly get to the core of this. Learning to live authentically. Most of us would probably say that we live authentically. Often what I have learned from those I speak to: working long hours to meet ridiculous demands, not being happy with the conditions of the workplace, having to be available at all hours of the day and night…and the list goes on doesn’t sound like that is true to me.
So let me ask you, if you resonated with any or all of those things, is that how you want to be showing up and living? Because if the answer is no, then you are not your authentic self. Authenticity is something that we think we all have, but often it is really missing if we are being honest with ourselves.
Building internal harmony between our work and personal lives requires intention and finding harmony with ourselves and our work is not as straight forward as you might think. It is about fitting your work into your life rather than trying to fit your life into your work.
Some people prefer to live their lives such that they live to work. For me, I think about it this way…I work so that I am able to truly live. And so my work absolutely needs to be an extension and expression of who I am, otherwise there really isn’t a path to find inner harmony.
So you might be wondering, what is the path forward look like? Getting in tune with our authentic selves first, discovering our ikigai is the first step in moving toward being able to get the justice we want in the projects we lead and the work & life that we are leading.
We spend at least 25% of our waking lives working and life is too short to be doing work that doesn’t allow our true selves to be present.
When you are able to understand who you are at your core, you are much more able to accept the world around you for what it is and look to be able to really effectuate change.
If you would like to learn how you can discover your ikigai and start living more authentically to have justice for yourself and others, send me a PM.
#ikigai #authenticself #justice #continuousimprovement
Steve Beauchamp 