In this article I will talk about a startling trend I have seen in the people whom I see, interact with, read about, and love. There seems to be a sense of aimlessness, a feeling of being lost despite our increasing doses of education, opportunities and choices. Students leave college after a decade and a half of schooling without a goal, without an idea for their future that they feel will give them true satisfaction. We study subjects that we are advised to pursue instead of topics that appeal to us, being told that our preference is not something that will bring security, which in turn will bring us happiness. Is this truly how we have begun to base our futures? Wealth creation is growing exponentially, with no signs of stopping. As this pool of wealth increases we pursue it with even more fervor, our passion has turned from happiness to bank accounts, to cars and their engines, to houses and their square meters, to our clothes and the famous people who designed them. I do not aim to sound like a new-age hippy with my words against materialism, but our greed has simply grown out of control.

And to what end has this wealth accumulation brought us? More money is created and yet our progress towards aiding the suffering around the world has stagnated. As the world becomes more connected through travel and communication, we have turned inward and our compassion for others has grown stale. These are harsh words, but the evidence is nothing but supportive of these statements. In my opinion, this reality has been born out of our lack of passion, our decision to abandon what makes us happy for what makes us rich.

So where is the connection? We are trained to shy away from things that we enjoy and from being creative. We all want the same jobs, the same corner office and same title that demonstrates without question our status and power. It is this very training that has killed our compassion, because we are taught not to feel it for ourselves, much less for others. Sir Ken Robinson speaks of this, citing the different forms of intelligence and how they present themselves, and how our approach to education not only overlooks this but in effect destroys our ability to be creative and innovative.

Now I will approach this issue from an economic point of view, since I feel that most of the discussion regarding this topic is taken from a social point of view.

First, when you educate young people in a small set of curriculum, many students will be left out due to the medium in which these topics and taught and the subjects themselves. In order for a country to be competitive, it is necessary to have an educated youth in a variety of subjects, and we must educate them on as many mediums as possible in order to maximize the absorption of information.

Second, creativity is as important or even more important than the memorization of known facts. Whether it is in a business setting, policy making, or shoe making we need to have workers who are able to approach a problem in a variety of ways. Sometimes the answer to an obstacle has not been discovered yet (the reason we have noble prizes) and there is a need for someone to think of a way around it. Problem solving relies on creative thinking, therefore we should our youth risk, make mistakes and learn from where they went wrong. It does not take a genius to realize that in any occupation, these skills are not only necessary but can make an company, organization or government far more successful.

Third, we need to stop sending students into the field of business management. I will use business management as an example, but there are a variety of other fields that serve the same purpose. While the emphasis is completely legitimate, sending our youth down this road despite their passions and talents is irresponsible. If a student loves to make pottery, than let them make pottery. If they love music, gardening, teaching, or any other field, then let them do so. The world we live in needs people of all talents, passions, and ambitions. Let us take the best case scenario. If we all studied, practiced and pursed the passions we have, then what we would see happen is an increase in the quality of goods and services as well as an increase in enthusiasm for work across the board. Why? Well think about it, people who are talented and passionate about what they do, they produce a better product than someone who lacks both of those factors. As for enthusiasm, this is what we truly lack. Paul Arden described success as 75% energy, and anyone in the professional world would agree.

So, I guess at the end of the day we must ask ourselves: Why do we get up in the morning? Is it to make the paycheck everyone idolizes? Is it to drive that $100,000 car to work? At least from where I stand, it seems like these things will only make us more of a zombie than we already are. Maybe I am wrong, and these things are important and make us happier, more satisfied beings. Maybe I am wrong, and we should ignore everything outside of ourselves and ignore our own passions. But maybe, just maybe we are going about things all wrong. Maybe our lives are worth more than this and our world would be a better place if we shifted away from this idea. As Morrie Schwartz would say, if the culture is selling something that doesn’t work, then don’t buy it. We’ll all be better off for it.