To feel happy, increase your personal discretion

The more opportunities people have to "judge things for themselves and act on their own," the easier it is for them to feel happy.

This is something I have personally realized through many years of work and life. Today, I would like to think about the relationship between personal discretion and happiness.

Motivation changes depending on "who decides" the goals

I have worked as an employee in companies for a long time. At the beginning of the term, meetings are held to set semi-annual or annual sales targets and performance goals. There are two main styles of deciding these.

One is the bottom-up method. This is a way of finding issues yourself, formulating countermeasures for them, and then setting achievable target values yourself.

The other is the top-down method. This is a way where company management unilaterally decides the target values, and it is a style where that is communicated to the employees.

Needless to say, with the bottom-up method, because your own intentions are reflected, you can work with motivation while having a sense of conviction.

Conversely, with the top-down method, there are many situations where impossible numbers are forced upon you, there is no personal discretion, and it often results in nothing but exhaustion and stress.

What is necessary to work happily is "discretion"

In a company, what is necessary for employees to work while feeling motivated and happy is "increasing personal discretion," in other words, delegation of authority. Many managers and executives should understand this. It is considered desirable for goal setting to also be a bottom-up type that incorporates opinions from the field as much as possible.

At the American company where I worked, there was a culture that placed great importance on employee satisfaction and work styles. However, there were many cases where they pretended to be bottom-up on the surface, but in reality, top-down decisions were made, and it was often nothing more than "fake personal discretion."

Of course, as long as it is a for-profit company, there are parts where it is realistically difficult to incorporate everyone's opinions. However, since the key to a "way of working that feels happy" lies in personal discretion, the fact that its realization is difficult is also a very unfortunate reality.

Second life is 100% personal discretion

I have now retired and live a life where I neither give instructions to anyone nor receive them. In other words, I am in a state of 100% personal discretion.

Even when I was a company employee, I worked in a somewhat "selfish" way, but now that has become even freer, and it is very comfortable.

I only realized after actually being in this situation that being able to decide everything for myself—how to spend my days, what to do, where to go, and who to meet—could bring such a sense of happiness.

On the other hand, people who have only done what they were told by their company seem to be confused after entering their second life. Not having anyone to give them instructions becomes a source of stress, and because they have no experience in deciding their own actions, they feel pain in the very fact of being free.

From "waiting for instructions" to "thinking for yourself"

What I want to convey to the active generation in their 30s and 40s is that "it is very important to work while thinking more about your own life."

Even if you are within an organization, try to get into the habit of thinking and deciding for yourself, even if only in a small scope. Try to increase bottom-up actions, even if just a little at a time. I feel from experience that such accumulation will eventually lead to the 'power to live on your own' and will also become the foundation for enjoying your second life.

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What is essential for people to feel happy is 'choosing for yourself and deciding for yourself'.

What makes that possible is a way of working and living that has self-discretion. I believe that each of us firmly gripping the steering wheel of our own life is an important point for happiness.

To learn to decide your own life for yourself, it is good to read books. If you read the book below, you will find at least one hint for that.

Book Title: 'The Fear of Quitting Being a Company Employee, and the Happiness After Overcoming It'

Reference Article ↓

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