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What drives you in your work?

    1. Money


    Money and work are closely intertwined. The base of most work is to put bread on the table, for satisfying our physiological and safety needs under the Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

    As we climb up the Maslow pyramid, we will start to attain the kind of lifestyle we want and use it to achieve some kind of self-fulfillment. But up to a point, the effect of money may start to exhibit a diminishing rate of return on these.

    Whereas for some, the pursuit of money may be like a game. More money = more score = sense of achievement.


    Money's also the main reason why so many are interested in personal finance and investment to achieve FIRE.


    2. Sense of Purpose / Responsibility (aka 使命感)


    This is the "mission" part. It comes about when you discover a problem that you need to solve for yourself or others.


    It may or not may be what you like to do. But you know that you just have got to do it.


    3. Passion and love


    I guess this is the strongest motivator of all. 

    What we love to do is usually what we are naturally built to excel at. Possibly stemming from an "ah hah moment" of which a person discover it and become so passionate about it. So much so that he/she can't bear to stop being involved, stop improving or get tired of it.

    (Take note that sometimes we "get inspired" by others to "fall in love" with doing something. When we get inspired to do something that we have no natural talent for, naturally at some point in time it will falter.)

    If you have love nd excel in your work, you literally need no hobby!


    Here's a venn diagram summary of Ikigai:




    We may not find out what made us tick from young. Ikigai is something worth a look back at, every now and then, as we explore different phases in our lives.


    Read more (external links): 

     The surprising truth about what motivates us


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    Comments

    1. CreateWealth888818/11/2017, 16:07

      More on money than purpose when lack of money and then doing the reversal when more on purpose than money. Has to be realistic on city living when we open our eyes in the morning. It is about money money until money is enough. :-)

      ReplyDelete
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      1. Rainbow10/12/2017, 14:03

        The happiest state is when one can gain money by pursuing their purpose/ passion. Next best is being able to find a balance between money and sense of purpose/passion.
        However, it is often difficult to define when is money enough as people are often driven by the greed for more money. Some people would say enough for 衣食住行 is considered enough, some say must have savings of $xxxxxx, some say must have FI... zzz

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