Why Bother with Ho‘ohana, and “Worthwhile Work” at all?

The basic definition of Ho‘ohana is this:

Ho‘ohana is the value of worthwhile work. Work can, and should be a time when you are working to bring meaning, fulfillment and fun to the life you lead.

ALOHA ~ ~ ~ Have you newly arrived here at Managing with Aloha Coaching? Each month, we adopt a Hawaiian value to study together in a universal way, thus the tagline you see up top: Value Your Month, Value Your Life. I publish a new essay here every Tuesday. This month we are learning about Ho‘ohana, the value of worthwhile work. Begin here: Day One Essay. Welcome! ~ Rosa Say

Think of Ho‘ohana as both noun and verb. Each case sounds like this;

Verb —“When I Ho‘ohana, I work with intention, and with a purpose in mind.”

Noun —“My Ho‘ohana is my personal expression of work. My Ho‘ohana is a statement of how I articulate my intentions.”

“What if I am perfectly fine with having a 9-5 J.O.B. and that’s it?
What if I don’t want my job to be work that is meant to ‘bring meaning, fulfillment, and fun’ to the life I lead?”

I think that is quite valid. Ho‘ohana is not always passionate, and it is not always directed toward high levels of professional achievement. Ho‘ohana is more about getting personal satisfaction in your life. Every day.

I used to connect passion with Ho‘ohana very consistently (and with profession, all in one fell swoop), and wow, when it happens it’s absolutely fantastic. However I no longer start with asking you to wear your passions on your sleeve (or with gut-wrenching professional decisions); I know that can be too hard because it may be too unrealistic that way. At this very moment, we are intersecting your life-in-progress with new learning.

In coaching (and managing) so many different people over the years, people who call themselves “just your normal working stiff” in their “and I’m A-okay with that” tone of voice and very sincere, genuinely truthful point of view, I have learned that Ho‘ohana serves them magnificently without the emotional delving into passion. Learning about Ho‘ohana helps them appreciate their lives more fully, even when they already feel pretty satisfied. Dots get connected. Things begin to make sense.

Often, passionate intention becomes a goal, a shift they think about taking much more than they had before, and often, their newly articulated intention gets attached to a cause they feel deeply about. When you work within your Ho‘ohana roadmap, passions can more easily get revealed, because again, more dots get connected, more things begin to make sense. You reveal the why behind the things you are ecstatic about, and the why behind the things you rant about too. After all, even rants are things we care about, or they wouldn’t bother us.

Even if you feel that passion is highly overrated, and you are now thinking, “Hey, I don’t need that high-achiever stress in my life,”  Ho‘ohana can still be a value that serves you in that gradual process of dot-connection on your own terms and own timetable. In learning more about it, you will find that Ho‘ohana is very useful to you, and we probably agree that usefulness is highly desirable.

Remember: Ho‘ohana is a PERSONAL value

Values are useful in that they drive our behavior somewhat automatically. We behave in ways that are expressions of what we believe.

Like all values, Ho‘ohana is a value you choose to believe in —or you decide not to choose it. What I do as your coach, is help you learn enough about Ho‘ohana to make the best-informed decision.

To start, I think it helps if we break down that triage of words in my Managing with Aloha phrasing of “meaning, fulfillment, and fun” that is within the definition of Ho‘ohana.

I believe that everyone wants fun in their lives. We need it, for fun is directly tied to our health, our spirit and our energies. I believe that everyone wants some degree of fulfillment in their lives, for if not, we wouldn’t bother getting out of bed every day; we wouldn’t look for things to experience, and life would turn out to be quite boring. For instance, think about fulfillment in terms of having satisfying relationships with other people, whether you work on your relationships within motivations for romance, for family, for camaraderie, or for friendship.

The kicker is that word ‘meaning,’ isn’t it

Yeah, the notion of making everything (or something) meaningful can get to me too.

Sometimes we are ready to pursue it (passion has kicked in), and sometimes we aren’t. Those times we aren’t ready to pursue meaning are those in which we already have our hands (and hearts) full with the trials and tribulations of day-to-day living. That’s normal, and that’s why my approach with Ho‘ohana has always been that we work on the personal first, and then allow the professional to fall in place where (and when) it makes the most sense.

That’s what we’ll be doing this month; making it personal for you. My objective is to coach you through the process of writing a personal Ho‘ohana statement of intention, as a highly useful statement which will serve you well.

This will also be a repeatable process. Your Ho‘ohana is likely to change over time, (mine certainly has! There has been change since Managing with Aloha was published!) and you can use what we will learn about Ho‘ohana over and over again.

From Tuesday to Tuesday

Decide on your personal schedule of Ho‘ohana-devoted study time this month, remembering to check in with me here every Tuesday for a new essay (Review my 5 suggestions in yesterday’s Day One Essay.)

In between, let’s talk story! What are you wondering about in regard to Ho‘ohana? The more I hear from you, the more I will incorporate it into the month’s line up of Ho‘ohana-connected topics I have lined up for you.

Last month our value study on self-leadership was all the richer, directly impacted by your feedback, so hana hou, let’s continue to pursue lōkahi, the collaboration which makes us so much better as the Ho‘ohana Community.

We Ho‘ohana together, Kākou.

~Rosa

Postscript:
If you are just now joining us, Aloha and welcome!
This is Essay #2 for Ho‘ohana; be sure to read Ho‘ohana: Redefine the word “work” and make it yours.

NEXT TUESDAY, SEPT. 9: Our Ho‘ohana Language of Intention
WORK is one of the most commonplace words in use. That means it comes with an awful amount of baggage. There are far too many negative connotations being spoken in connection with the word “work,” and in the design of your Ho‘ohana you need them to be positive and energizing instead.

Comments

[Stacy Brice]

Aloha to you, dear Rosa :)

Why bother? Because for me, any other option is untenable.

To me, life is for living. Spending time on anything that isn't worthwhile (including work) is to, at best, victimize myself, and at worst, to contribute to my own slow, painful death.

Not happening. :)
S

[Rosa Say]

Amen Stacy! You are such a great role model for those you have chosen to Ho‘ohana (verb :) with; your AssistU community of virtual assistants.

I must say thank you for the wonderful post you did pointing them here. For everyone reading: "Why bother with worthwhile work?"
http://www.virtualmoxie.com/2008/09/why-bother-with.html

In doing so, you have stepped forward with initiative and leadership (Alaka‘i), the Stacy Brice *doing* of what we talked about in my Day One Essay (the 5 suggestions for teaming up on the Ho‘ohana journey) and in a virtual way, the mission of your own Ho‘ohana as noun :)

This need not be difficult: It is all about starting conversations that are themselves worthwhile too, and having a sense of urgency with them, assigning importance to the ones that mesh with your values.

I also love what you said there about contentment. MWAC readers may recall that I call it Ma‘alahi: A snippet...

"Ma‘alahi means contentment within simplicity and ease. The word ‘contentment’ always brings two of the Managing with Aloha values immediately to mind for me. One is the value of nānā i ke kumu, to look to one’s source of well being. The other is pono, the value of rightness and balance."

Sunday Mālama: A Ma'alahi Persuasion for Calm
http://www.sayleadershipcoaching.com/mwacoaching/2007/08/sunday-mlama--1.html

Mahalo nui Stacy for your inclusive blending of our Ho‘ohana Community with that of your AssistU stars!

[Angela Maiers]

Rosa-
Your blog continues to both challenge and inspire me. I am "paying it forward" with a blogging award I just received. Keep the posts coming!
http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/09/thank-you-thank.html

[Rosa Say]

Mahalo nui Angela, I am honored to receive your generosity, and believe me, you challenge and inspire me as well - there are few with your energy!
Rosa