Finding what you love to do is not easy. Lets admit this much. Often the answer gets confused with our hobbies or our interests. At other times, it gets buried under sheer inertia. Sometimes, the enormity of choices out there causes inaction.
Now, there is a minority who just knows what it loves. As early as school or Uni, these people know where their hearts lie. They are blessed. I envy them.
For the rest of us, its hard work.
We get into our 1st job without really knowing what we are getting into. Often, our choice is driven by Prestige or (mis)Perception. And before we know, we are stuck in the daily rut - hate going to work every morning, spend the day cribbing about our boss and return home jaded. However, the paycheck at the end of 30 days makes all this worth it - its the carrot that keeps us going.
For a lot of us, this is life. We do this routine for 20-30 years and the money we make keeps the questions in our head at bay. Again, these people are blessed. I envy them.
But there are some rebels, some mavericks who continue to be haunted by the pursuit of what they really love to do. This minority has 3 choices -
One, Leave the drudgery, take the plunge and start doing what you think you'd love to do. After all, there's nothing like actually doing it. But this is risky. What if you're wrong? What if 2 months into your new attempt, you realise that's not it? And how will you sustain your lifestyle while you're learning this?
Two, Make the best use of your evenings, weekends and breaks. Even better, take a sabbatical. Net, keep trying your hand at activities you gravitate towards. Always, try to ask yourself if you'd love to do this for an extended period of time. After, a while, you'll detect a pattern.
And you can find out what you love to do while keeping your day job and earning the money needed for your lifestyle. But this is a long, patient and draining process. You have to keep your resolve against Newton's 1st law - inertia.
Three, take one of those tests that help profile you. These give you a broad domain to operate in - a kind of filter to sort through all the choices. www.tickle.com has some and www.strengthsfinder.com can also help.
Any other that you've come across???
3 comments:
Sumo, in my case I guess I took the dreaded plunge and started working on my own. In the beginning, the lifestyle was not sustained as I went through some downs and deeper downs. But then as years passed by it got better.
I guess reading this post makes me feel better as atleast others go through similar questions. While the pay check may not yet be worth it, the satisfaction definitely is. Over of period the body of work starts to add up recently we reached a 100th customer milestone and such events bring it home for me.
Truth be told, even while I am doing what I really wanted to do, I still get these bouts of "what else should I try out there" and you find yourself very helpless all over again. I guess this feeling is here to stay until you just don't have the strength to think afresh anymore...I hope not for our sake.
Cheers!
I go for option2 if i understood it right. I need to keep working to earn a living, and live on what i earn. Living in the sense that I earn to live and not live to earn. does that sound more confusing? anyhow, I'm trying something new soon. tell you about it when everything's been ironed out.
in the same boat as you senti! also agree with what paroon has written - especially "what else is out there"
i guess the driving force behind this seemingly unstable behavior is the principle of "living once hence living it to the fullest" - thats what the optimist would say. the materialist would say "i want it all". you can take your pick. i choose the optimist ;-)
but beyond that i am trying something that would give me inner satisfaction - will post more when i have more to say!
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