It's true.
I had a very difficult childhood, and when I was about 14 I seriously considered suicide. Fortunately, I loved to read Popular Electronics, and I found an article on how to build a crystal radio set. I went to the local TV repair shop, that was run by a fellow who learned his trade in the navy. He helped me build the receiver and it was uphill from there. I was consumed by electronics, especially radio communication, and by age 16 I passed the code and written exam for my novice licence. That was 62 years ago.
I became an electrical engineer when I graduated high school. My parents were middle class and had no money for college, so I worked summers and added to my meager wages with student loans. I designed communications equipment for 15 years, and during that time became disenchanted with the profession, so I went back to school part time and earned MS and Ph.D. degrees in psychology. Since 1981, I've taught seminars on leadership, teams, and project management in 30 countries. I also wrote 12 books on these subjects under my full name, James P Lewis.
Now I'm telling you this because along the way, I read a book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, entitled Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl survived several concentration camps and emerged with a deep insight to the importance of meaning in life. According to Frankl, if an individual didn't die of disease or starvation, or get executed, many took their own lives because of the terrible hardships. Those who survived had something that they wanted to do once freed that kept them going. Frankl founded a school of therapy called logo therapy based on this premise.
I have confirmed this importance both in my own childhood experience and in observing the lives of many of the 60,000 individuals I've taught or counseled in my 39 year career as a psychologist.
As a related subject, I am convinced that much of the violence and substance abuse in our society/world today is a consequence of many people having no meaning in their lives. This is supported by the fact that each month there are 550,000 searches on Google for the word MEANING. There are also large numbers of searches for topics like depression (450,000), anxiety (450,000), suicidal (74,000), and so on.
And because I'm interested in organizational behavior, it distresses me that only 33 percent of workers are engaged in their jobs, primarily because the jobs hold no meaning for them. This is a topic that I intend to address in subsequent blogs. If you are one of the 67 percent who find your work virtually meaningless, perhaps I can help you find a way out of that dark spot. Please subscribe to my blog so you will receive these posts. You can always cancel at any time. All the best. Dr. Jim
No comments:
Post a Comment