TED Community » Eugene Huffman

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Synthesis, creativity, ideas, music, poetry, art, writing.

Talk to me about

What motivates people... people who have high skills and people who are new to mundane tasks.

People don't know that I'm good at

Writing, producing and arranging music, writing.

Comments

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• +1

  A comment on Conversation: How do you "measure" the GREATNESS of your life and career? What to you is evidence of a life well lived... your heart, other's opinions...?

  Mar 25 2012: Thank you for this insightful conversation. I see career passion as a subset of a greater passion about our lives. I am passionate about balance and harmony -- keeping the forces aligned between family, career, music, community, wonder, and mystery. My career allows me to explore human potential and I decide how far to take that career. My early working life was full of uncertainty and learning (failure). The hardest, and most important, lesson was to not view myself as a victim. Once I made that choice, I took full responsibility for my decisions and my actions. I took great risks -- and things worked out! People choose to see good luck (landing the job I have now) and bad luck (going through cancer treatment at the same time as my wife), but I don't see it that way. Life is life -- yin and yan. I not only have a great career, I have a great life.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: How do you "measure" the GREATNESS of your life and career? What to you is evidence of a life well lived... your heart, other's opinions...?

  Mar 25 2012: Thank you, Bhawna, for your thoughts on greatness and beauty. The path that lead to my career included knowing much about myself. I failed in jobs where I had the choice to do whatever I liked each day. A sunny day would find me down by the river with my shoes off and my feet dangling in the water. I learned that I work best within some sort of structure, a framework of responsibilities so I don't squander my time and energy. Within that framework, however, I need to have the freedom to explore. In my job now, I can work from the office or from home. My day may be 9-5, or 10-10, but I am accountable for completing projects and tasks. I try things and learn from success and failure. It is a GREAT career.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Larry Smith: Why you will fail to have a great career

  Mar 25 2012: To begin with, this talk was a great conversation-starter (see below). I did not get his definition of a "great" career, but I do believe in following your passion.I did not know what I wanted to do with my life in my 20s -- I thought I would make my living playing music. Then, I spoke to a musician in the (US) National Symphony who told me it was "just a job." After touring in some bands, I saw it as a pretty crappy career (I still love to play as an avocation).After many stops and starts, I discovered that my passion was to train people -- not technical training, but training about how to work with others. I decided to not take another sales job (I always got them for some reason), and I was out of work for a year!!! I had a wife and 2 children, with another child on the way. It was a HUGE risk and I finally landed a job as an administrative person in a training department. I took a $10,000 a year pay cut (another risk to my family). It was the best decision I ever made. Now, 17 years later, I am well-respected in my field and I am truly engaged by my work. I no longer "train", but I facilitate great discussions with people who have something to add (Training 2.0). I would call it a GREAT career. Was I afraid? Yes. But, it did not stop me from taking the risk.

• A comment on Conversation: What is your response to what is happening in Japan right now?

  Mar 18 2011: It is hard to be objective about what is really happening in Japan. The US TV news exploits it for advertising dollars and loves to incite tension. I believe the Japanese government is handling it the best way they can, balancing peoples' rights to be informed with the need to prevent panic. I admire the way Japanese people focus on what is important -- finding/mourning loved ones and pitching together to make things better. They will see their way out of this. I can't imagine how the US population would approach such a situation, but I think anger would be one of the emotions I'd see.

• A reply on Conversation: Do you think it's even possible to be 100% happy and fulfilled?If yes, what's your way to do it? If no, why is it so deeply essential to us?

  Mar 18 2011: Yin and yan.

• A reply on Conversation: Do you think it's even possible to be 100% happy and fulfilled?If yes, what's your way to do it? If no, why is it so deeply essential to us?

  Mar 18 2011: I am more a Taoist than a Buddhist, but I sometimes agree with Buddha that life is full of sadness.

• A comment on Conversation: Do you think it's even possible to be 100% happy and fulfilled?If yes, what's your way to do it? If no, why is it so deeply essential to us?

  Mar 18 2011: I think happiness refers to an overarching feeling of well-being. It is hard to say whether one is happy or not -- but one can be satisfied at a particular moment or about a particular thing. Mazlow's Heirarchy has a built-in dissatisfaction that keeps us striving for the next level. Once we start satisfying our basic needs for safety and shelter, we strive to reach higher levels towards self-actualization. Happiness, the way many of us define it, may be a detriment to growth. Attaining a state of 100% happiness is not the goal -- striving for the next level is.
  
  Read the comment below... Peter said the same thing in fewer words.