And I think you will be happier for the trouble.

I am a big fan of Zen Pencils. It is a site where inspirational quotes from famous people are adapted into cartoons. Gavin Aung Than is the cartoonist who quit his job to pursue his passion, drawing cartoons.

The latest poster he made, was about my favorite cartoonist of all time, Bill Watterson - The creator of the legendary Calvin and Hobbes strip.
(Self Blog Pimp Alert: You can check out my all time fav Calvin comics here)

So the quote the was taken was,
"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement.
In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life,
a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive.
Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success.
Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake.
A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.

There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.

To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

I think this is something very important for us to remember.
In this race of life, where everyone is running, some of us trampling all over the others to get ahead, we should not lose focus of happiness. Some might argue that happiness is a good job, good money. If that is what is making us truly happy, then so be it, but I just hope we do not forget to focus on what really matters.
Confusing career with happiness is something that a lot of us do. If we are following our passions and building your careers then I am happy, but otherwise I hope we always remember that having an enviable career is one thing, being a happy person is another.
In this race of life, I hope we do not lose focus on the other, because we are chasing the one.

PS: The poster for this can be found here.

Intelligence, Energy and Integrity

Just a little something I read.  

“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has the intelligence and energy—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the integrity is up to you. You weren’t born with it, you can’t learn it in school.”

The definition of integrity is simple. It is doing what you said you will do, when you said you will do it. It is a sense of self conscious that tells you not to be hypocritical. It is not saying one thing and doing another. It is being honest to your words.  And in Buffet's words, it has to come from within, it is a choice. 

On Writing

I read this quote by Andre Dubus,

"Don't quit, It's very easy to quit during the first ten years. Nobody cares whether you write or not, and it's very hard to write when nobody cares one way or the other. You can't get fired if you don't write, and most of the time you don't get rewarded if you do. But don't quit. "

The truth is, I had put off writing for a long time, a much too long a time indeed. There has always been an urge to put pen to paper, but somehow the thought always fleeted away. Now, as time and life has progressed, I have realised that sometimes time needs to be made for the things you want to do. The things that were once effortless might require effort now. And if you really want to do something, you are going to have to want to make a choice to make time for it. It could be herd and inconvenient in the beginning, but it will be sure be worth it.