How Will You Measure Your Life?

I recently shared with my readers the secret mission of Safal Niveshak, which has not much to do with the field of stock market investing.

Then, I also shared the best advice I ever got, which again was relevant not just for my investing pursuits but also for my life.

Today, I’m sharing with you an amazing article I read recently on the subject of “life”.

This article was recently written by Clayton M. Christensen, a renowned Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School.

Christensen is also known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises, as he articulated in his masterpiece book The Innovator’s Dilemma.

The article was titled “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, which tried to answer three key questions you must have in your life:

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?

As Christensen writes, “…though the last question sounds lighthearted, it’s not. Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes scholar class spent time in jail.”

Look around and you will find enough cases of “normal and respectable” people who did not answer this third question, and are now spending life in jail. Rajat Gupta, Ramalinga Raju, Bernard Madoff, and Jeff Skilling (Enron) and just a few of them.

The reason I would like you to read this article is not just to get answers to these three questions on life, but also because some of these answers will help you in directing your investing life.

Christensen’s point about avoiding the “marginal costs” mistake is one enlightening lesson that I have taken from this article, as this is one of the key reasons for a lot of investment mistakes I have made in my lifetime.

Then, the points on “remembering the importance of humility” and “choosing the right yardstick” are gems in themselves that can add a lot of meaning to your life and investment behavior.

I have read and re-read this article several times over the past few days, and I’m sure you will also do the same…for each reading will bring forth some big lesson that might mean a lot to you.

Click here to read or download the entire article.

Here’s the link to the original article.

Let me know the biggest lesson you got from it (in the Comments section below).