How Will You Measure Your Life (by an HBS guru)

Recently a good friend in Singapore forwarded a very interesting article written by Clayton M. Christensen who is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

In his thought provoking article, Professor Christensen draws on his experiences in senior management and applies management models to one's personal life, and suggests some seemingly unconventional and useful approaches to life - I say seemingly unconventional as the principles sound like they go against the grain, but when one sits down to think about them, they make perfect sense!

He looked at the following questions:

1. How can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? (it's a real question!)

I thought this particular paragraph addressing the second question was very poignant and challenging:

When people who have a high need for achievement—and that includes all Harvard Business School graduates—have an extra half hour of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. And our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward. You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale, teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, “I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relationship with your spouse, and on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t seem as if things are deteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.

I'm suddenly struck by how we can often be shortsighted and, though not intentionally, neglect paying attention to that which has a long lasting impact on our lives.

Does anything from the article echo with you? Do you think it's possible, in our hectic lives, to not under-invest in what's more enduring and longer term?