Kaam Paisa Izzat

What does one work for? I think there are primarily three things –

Kaam – literally, work. But this term signifies much more than simply work. It stands for physically satisfying and intellectually stimulating work. Kaam means work that you would love to do every day. Thought of doing this energizes you; it makes you get out of bed every morning; it drives you to persist to complete the task at hand before taking that break.

Paisa – Money, Earnings – This is what you get to take away to home. It’s your salary, profits, 401K contributions, insurance benefits.. Even the office supplies that you flick for using in your kids’ school project.

Izzat – Honour, Prestige – Do not confuse this with the top most section of Maslow’s hierarchy. There are people who have attained self-actualisation but may not feel honoured in the society. Izzat pertains to social acceptance and the feeling of being loved and cared for.

This trinity of KPI (not Key Performance Indicator :)) is at the root of all economic activity. And finding your balance among these three factors is what makes you unique in this world. You can’t have all three. Consider yourself lucky if you have two of these cornered and are doing even moderately good on the third one. Consider all of your assignments in life. You would find that even the most fruitful of them gave you only two of these three.

So the next time you are looking for a change of jobs / role / assignments – evaluate that on these three parameters. What is the most important factor for you? What is least? Why? and how long can you sustain lack of that factor before you would need to look for another job? Asking these questions to yourself would help you.