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I want to look at another angle of the story of Charles Perrault’s life and late literary success. Charles is the author of Cinderella and I am inspired by Daniel Pink's take on the subject of finding passion (you can check out the full article here).
In my post on legacy I summarized Charles’s story:
Charles was born in 1628 in Paris and worked as a civil servant in King Louis' Ministry of Finance. He lost his position there at the age of 67 and devoted the rest of his life to writing children's fairy tales. According to Wikipedia he published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals in 1697 and "its publication made him suddenly widely-known beyond his own circles and marked the beginnings of a new literary genre, the fairy tale." Apart from Cinderella, his well known stories included Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots. Charles died in Paris at the age of 75, and enjoyed his fame for the last 8 years of his life.
Daniel Pink openly shares his attitude to the question of finding passion, and emphasises the role of looking at what one is already drawn to and does out of interest, for free, in spare time. It was also his personal experience in the beginning of his career, which started in politics:
“I wrote magazine articles about business and work, and formulated ideas for books. At one level, it was foolish. I lost sleep, sacrificed leisure, and probably distracted myself from my paid employment.”
Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, who is quoted by Pink, sees more people going down that path:
"I'm seeing quite an increase in the number of people turning a hobby into a business," she says. "You start innocently by making cakes or taking photos in your spare time. Friends and family admire the results and recommend you to others. Before you know it, you are your own boss and making a living from what you do."
Finding and acting on one's passion might be a very frustrating process. As an Executive Coach I can testify to that sentiment - it is a subject of many a conversation with my clients. Not for their lack of passion though, but either an inability to look in the right direction or fear of unknown, letting go of what's familiar and comfortable. Stakes might be high sometimes.
In the case of Charles Perrault, I wonder why and when he first started putting his stories on paper. Was it out of necessity at the end of his life, or was it his life-long passion, pursued quietly in his spare time. I can only guess that the latter is most probable. But if he were living today and followed Dan Pink's blog, he would probably have realized the need to look more seriously at the activities he did when no one was looking - and do so much earlier in his life.
What are the things that you do when no one is looking?
What are the things that you do when no one is looking?
This is a provocative piece! When you say that the stakes are high, I wonder if part of the problem is that we all feel that we need to be known for something now in order to be successful, but, if we're all our own brand, then it's a risk to take on something new. Others might suddenly question who we really are, and of course, if we fail, it all feels so public now.
ReplyDeleteGreat question, thanks for asking it! When no one's looking, I'm working on myself. I'm doing everything I can to know myself better and take responsibility for who I am so that I can continue to make better choices for myself going forward. As this work has evolved, I experience more magical moments than I ever dreamed possible, and have the strength to see my world more clearly every day (as scary as that can be sometimes!). This "side" work (that consumes almost 24 hours of my day) is slowly integrating with my career and thankfully so. It is exciting to live and work who I am!
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