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Lessons From Clayton Christensen’s ‘How Will You Measure Your Life?’

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Harvard Business School Professor Clayton M. Christensen, whose groundbreaking 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma introduced the concept of disruptive innovation, and whose 2012 book and Harvard Business Review article titled “How Will You Measure Your Life?” inspired his students and readers to apply the theories of business to their personal lives, and to pursue purpose and meaning in their work passed away on Saturday. He has inspired entrepreneurs and readers around the world to pursue purpose and meaning, and to ask the difficult questions to find better answers and strategies in their careers and their personal lives. There are so many things Dr. Christensen taught, but below are a few particularly poignant lessons he imparts for those in pursuit of a meaningful life:

Do Not Over Invest In Work, And Under Invest In Relationships

Modern work culture often champions and celebrates burn out, obsession about work, and that people should derive their self-esteem and self-worth from their job. Christensen disputes that culture, arguing that ultimately our greatest sources of joy in life will be our family and close friends, and in order for those relationships to enrich our lives, we need to devote time to them.

“The relationships you have with family and close friends are going to be the most important sources of happiness in your life. But you have to be careful. When it seems like everything at home is going well, you will be lulled into believing that you can put your investments in these relationships on the back burner. That would be an enormous mistake. By the time serious problems arise in those relationships, it often is too late to repair them.”

Failure Is Progress

In many lines of work having early success is widely publicized and celebrated, and it often creates a myth that early success means consistent and permanent success, when in reality the path to success is often indirect and rife with failure. Christensen writes that failure is the path to success, “Getting something wrong doesn’t mean you failed. Instead, you have just learned what does not work. You now know to try something else.”

Always Stick To Your Principles

Dr. Christensen uses several examples to illustrate the importance of holding your principles, not just sometimes, but all the time. “It’s easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.” He elaborates,

“A voice in our head says, ‘Look, I know that as a general rule, most people shouldn’t do this. But in this particular extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s okay.’ And the voice in our head seems to be right; the price of doing something wrong ‘just this once’ usually appears alluringly low. It suckers you in, and you don’t see where that path is ultimately headed or the full cost that the choice entails. Recent years have offered plenty of examples of people who were extremely well-respected by their colleagues and peers falling from grace because they made this mistake.”

Consider How You’re Allocating Resources

Christensen encourages building and implementing strategies in your career and your personal life to achieve your goals, and the underlying tenet of that success is the allocation of resources. He identifies resources as time and money, how you spend those things is what will determine the outcome. He explains,

“How you allocate your resources is where the rubber meets the road. Real strategy—in companies and in our lives—is created through hundreds of every day decisions about where we spend our resources. As you’re living your life from day to day, how do you make sure you’re heading in the right direction? Watch where your resources flow. If they’re not supporting the strategy you’ve decided upon, then you’re not implementing that strategy at all.”

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