Living the Purpose
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Living the Purpose


I have always been a sucker for knowledge. I think one of my best (and probably also the most annoying) quality is my curiosity. I have never quite understood why or how I get it, but it seems like since I was little, I have always been amazed by the magic of questioning things.

To be frank, as an introvert – which I proudly say that I am – I don’t ask too many questions out loud. I’d rather try to figure things out by digging them up in the junk, reading, doing small research. Asking questions has always been my last resort. It is not like I am not capable of communicating – which I think I am quite good at in certain ways –  but rather because I don’t enjoy doing small talks, or pretending to like (or dislike) something that I don’t. Well, anyway…. My point is, though I am an introvert, I don’t let my trait gets in my way of knowing how the world works.

In October 2020, I had the chance to learn something new. Well, it’s not 100% new, because I have encountered the knowledge some years ago. And as I said earlier, because of my curiosity, even back then I tried to figure out what this knowledge was all about. So, I learned about it, I did many readings, and I even asked people, just because I wanted to know more. Heck, I even taught a few classes about it. But I didn’t think that I had the perfect “umph!” to it. I thought I needed something more.

So I signed up for a formal training program about that particular subject. I got into the class, and it was fantastic. I learned many-many things that I didn’t know before or something that I knew but I just didn’t quite understand it yet, until the program. It was a wonderful three-week session filled with knowledge, experience, and network.

Some people asked me questions like: “Why the heck did you sign up anyway? Didn’t you already know this stuff?” or “why bother paying a quite amount of money, if you can just google it?”, or “do you actually need this kind of knowledge in your line of work? Why not something else?”

Those are what some people asked me when I register for the program. Thank goodness I didn’t tell them that this was my third attempt at signing up. I literally waited three years to take this course. My previous two attempts were unsuccessful because I was too busy with other kinds of stuff. If I told them, probably they would laugh at me harder. I also didn’t mention that I took three days of personal leave every Friday just to attend the class. Oh and… I also skipped the part about the classes were also held on Saturdays. Three Saturdays, to be exact. And the last one was on a long weekend holiday.

So yeah, to sum… somewhat irrelevant with a current job? Checked. Time-consuming? Checked. Not exactly novel knowledge that you couldn’t google? Checked. Single-handedly destroyed weekends and holidays? Checked. Expensive? Arguably checked. But is it worth it? Hell yeah. Would you take it again? Actually yes, I am positive that I will take the advanced program in the future.

Um…Question. What the F?

Baca juga Menjadi Sadar Mengenai Pikiran Alam Bawah Sadar

Pleasure Principle, huh?

Why do people do stuff? Because people have motives. The two reasons why people doing things without motives are because they are having neurological related problems or because they are drugged. Both result in the incapability of conducting reason. So, the motive is the key.

In life, people have many different motives to do any of the stuff they’re doing. Some people do things because of money, some others do it for power, or for love, or family, et cetera. There is various kind of motives flying around in someone’s life. At the end of the day, people would argue that there are two main motives for human action. Those two motives are to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. The ancient dudes called this concept a pleasure principle.

It is a logical concept actually. For some valid reasons, the pleasure principle argument is true. The main idea is that at the end of the day, the only reason behind every human action is him/herself. Why do you work your ass off? Because you want to earn money to buy food; why do you cheat on your spouse? Because you feel powerful when you do it, and power makes you feel good; why do you kill? To defend yourself from being killed. The reasons are mainly to preserve yourself. It is a remarkably selfish concept if you look at it. But then again, it is actually true.

Or is it not?

The Third Motive.

You can google it up, it comes with many names. Daniel Pink, the author of Drive: The surprising truth of what motivates us, is one of them. To be honest, his approach is more of a holistic kind, he argued that we are in the era of Motivation 3.0. The first two eras were Biological, where humans are driven by their biological and survival needs, and Extrinsic, wherein this era, people are motivated by reward and punishment. I don’t want to get into the details, because this is just an article I posted on this platform, and probably this can give you the motive to look up the book and read it.

Anyway…. There is a third motive. Pink calls it the Motivation 3.0 era, where people are driven by their intrinsic desire to create, learn, and improve the world. So, in short, it relates to the person’s purpose in life. Yeap. Human has the desire to do things because they believe those things will answer their inner purpose. The purpose is what fuels people to do what they are doing. That purpose may not answer the question of “what’s in it for me?” like most human motives, but eventually, it will answer a rather higher-level question of “why are you doing it?”. Purpose serves as a catalyst for human. While the pleasure principle is more “instinctive”, the purpose is a different kind of thing. Animals have instincts, which mainly is to preserve the life of their own kind. And guess what, we do too. But purpose gives us more than just a survival thing.

Purpose can explain why a person would sacrifice for others, why doctors and nurses are willing to throw their lives in the line to treat people, or why teachers are patiently (and compassionately) willing to teach brats like me while getting paid horrendously low along the way. Purpose can explain why there are people from the same hood, with (somewhat) same characters, but ended up doing different actions. It explains a lot.

When I signed up for the course, it wasn’t about maintaining the existence of my species. It wasn’t even about the pride of having passed it and later can show it to everyone else. It’s about the purpose.

In my first few years of career, I was lucky enough to have many mentors and coaches to help me figure out what I am capable of, and what I can become. In hindsight, I am blessed of all the highs and lows, with many-many people stood beside me, to help me up, or to knock me down. The challenges, multiple tasks, dealing with difficult people, having someone stabbing you in the back, threaten you, you know…. things you see in daily life. Either way, it made the person I am now.

Now, after all the years have gone by, I am intrigued to see many young people in their early career stages, having the same experience as I did back then. I know the frustration of seeking new jobs, believe me, I have been there, more than twice. I know how hard to land a job that resonates with yourself. I have experienced bad bosses, bad colleagues, bad teams. I have engaged with difficult projects, difficult targets, difficult counterparts. I have been misunderstood, misinterpreted, misdirected. So yeah…. I think I know a thing or two.

This was the reason why I took the class. I think I could help people in their careers, especially young people. How to enter the first step, how to accelerate, how to grow. Not only with their jobs, but with their potential, with their lives. I know there are lots of other people helping also, which is fantastic. But I don’t think one more is too many. Because knowing how the world operates now, there can’t be a shortage number of people helping. All of us can help, many help with their own ways. Some in my opinion is dead wrong, but many others actually have the hearts to help.

I signed up for a Professional Coaching Certification Program in October 2020. I learned many-many things, not just about how to be a professional coach, but also about how to be a better communicator, a better help, a better person. A person that can contribute something to the society to the young people.

This is my motive, my purpose, and that purpose has led me to the way I am standing now. I am a coach, and I am all jacked up for whatever happens in front of me.

Now that you know my purpose, my question to you is:  What is yours?

Raih hidup sehat, bahagia dan seimbang dengan bantuan Wellness Coach kami.

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Jeffrey Pratama, CPC

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