YJA Convention 2010 07 New Brunswick NJ Ninth

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

Page 72

Career, Ambition, Obsession? By Ami Doshi (Toronto, ON) The principle of Aparigraha - has There is nothing wrong about having pride in your great importance in the today's work. However, there is a fine line between being world. We are increasing our require- proud and being obsessed. Management encourages ments and desires to the maximum, employees to enjoy the company of their co-workers
but yet no one is happy. Why? even after work. The apparent reason is studies Our desires are ever-growing and form a never-end- show employees who tend to enjoy the company of ing cycle. "The more you get, the more you want, and their co-workers after work have higher productivity the more your desires increase with every gain." This rate than those who do not. has been even more evident for me with a recent series of events I experienced after graduating from Slowly, I noticed him working longer hours, and hangcollege.
ing out more with his co-workers. He was drifting
away from his friends and this had a negative impact When I was in college, my goal was to get good on his personal relationships. He was no longer doing grades so I could find myself an awesome internship things that once interested him or just enjoying simple with the eventual goal of landing a great full-time job. things in life. His desire and ambition to become sucWhen it was about time for me to graduate, my next cessful became his obsession. Currently, he is doing big wish was just to find 'a job' in the tough economic great from a career climate.
perspective, and has
received many awards Most of us found our first job within months of gradu- while moving up the ation, however, a friend of mine took a lot longer. He, corporate ladder, but at thus, became lot more involved with the search pro- what cost? cess. Eventually, when he did find a job, he felt that all of his wishes and desires at that time had been ac- We tend to think non-possessiveness is related to complished. As I mentioned, desires are ever-growing material things. But it could be related to almost anyand form a never-ending cycle. The next step for him thing we are involved with. It is important that we ask was to move up the corporate ladder.
ourselves are we overly ambitious/possessive about
something? Does it also have a deeper meaning in The job my friend had was very demanding and re- our life. There is nothing wrong in being ambitious quired him to work long hours, which is the nature of and goal oriented, but it is equally important to enjoy
the simple parts of life. This may means we may have some jobs. Furthermore,
to push aside the promotion or award to consider the there was encourage
bigger picture of our lives. ment from the company to have that company
50 years from now, pride' almost to the point
It will not matter what kind of car you drove, where he was obsessed
What kind of house you lived in, with his work. Employees
How much you had in your bank account, are trained to think that
Nor what your clothes looked like; the company and the role,
e role, But the world may be a little better because represents who you are
You were important in the life of a child and they will be in future. -Anonymous That begs the question: is that really the only thing that represents us?
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VYJA CONVENTION 2010 I New Brunswick