Posts Tagged ‘choosing a career’

While waiting to get a massage yesterday at Guppi no Shitasu (a great shiatsu place here in Miyakojima), I was scanning through the various books in office book shelf. There were quite a few that interested me, but one caught my attention above all the others. A book titled やりたい事をやれ, It basically translates into “Do The Things You Want To Do”. I only read through the table of contents, but the point of the book was clear. Do the things you really want to do and you won’t have any regrets.

Like a lot of books, I wish I could have read this one much earlier in my life. It is so easy to get wrapped up in what we are expected to do that we forget what we really want to do. Life is short and precious. If you doubt this, ask anyone who is getting into there 40s or 50s or above. My grandfather used to tell me that his face changed so quick he didn’t recognize himself in the mirror any longer. The point being that we need to live in the moment and enjoy life as much as possible.

There is no formula or perfect road to life. I used to constantly worry about making mistakes, but one wrong turn doesn’t mean you can’t end up on the original path you had intended. In fact, sometimes the short detours will actually move you ahead further than would have gotten by staying on the normal path.

I rarely worry about the mistakes I have made. Some of them have actually turned out to be really great experiences. However, I do think from time to time about the things I didn’t do or the chances I didn’t take. Like the old saying goes, I don’t regret the mistakes I made, but only the things I didn’t do. So what dreams aren’t you following in your life?

As a child I always seemed to know. It may have changed from time to time, I was a fireman, ninja, scientist, or famous sports player, but I always knew who I was and what I wanted to be. The sky was the limit and the future was wide open. As I got older society began to mold me and I started caring more about what others were thinking than what I really wanted to do. Pretty soon I found myself thinking more about what I could do to make money than what made me happy. And of course this new lifestyle had to fit within the “normal” lifestyle of society.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself at a job you don’t really like, living in a small suburb when you would rather be in the country, or shopping for things you don’t even really want to buy? Did life turn out different than you thought it would? Do you ever find yourself looking at your life thinking, what am I doing? I few years ago I found myself exactly in this position, and I think at time or another most people do. I was doing work that I had never really planned to do and was giving up all the things I loved to do to focus on it. The good news is that it wasn’t that difficult to get back on track.

It did however, require me to act in a way that was not considered normal by society. I quit my job, packed my things and moved to a tropical island to start my own company. Most people in my life didn’t support my decision. They just couldn’t how I could give up a stable job and a normal life and get rid of most of my stuff. For me the answer was easy. It was what made me happy.

Finding Yourself Again

Are you doing what really makes you happy? This is a question that you should be asking yourself everyday. Not all tasks will be fun, but they should all lead towards whatever makes you happy. So what makes you happy? Think back to your childhood. What were your dreams, hobbies, and passions? Thinking back to when you were young allows you to see what made you happy before all of the other influences came into your life. What caused you to deviate from the dreams you had as a child? As Jonathan Mead of Zen Habits writes in his article, The Sherlock Holmes Guide to Recovering Your Stolen Identity, “you need to follow the clues back to the source”. Did you stop doing something because it wasn’t cool? When I was in middle school I absolutely loved reptiles. I would spent most of my childhood days searching for them and reading about them. I gave this up in high school because I was afraid of being a nerd or dork. I now look back and think what if..

Take Small Steps

Once you have found your passion again, it an be difficult to change your life. It is a scary thing to quit your job, relocate, or change your style of life. But it can be much simpler if you do it small steps at a time. First make sure you are in good financial standing. start increasing your savings and reducing your bills. If you know you can live without working for a couple years, then it takes a way a lot of stress. Start researching your new dreams and making contacts who work in that field. The more people you know in that field the more chances you will have to enter. If you will be moving then slowly start getting rid of your possessions. This will set in your mind that you are really making this change in your life.

The Unknown is Scary

Luckily the unknown is only unknown when you haven’t done it. if you are afraid to do something, the best way to get over it is to do it. You will find that it is almost never as bad or difficult as you thought it would be. The more you subject yourself to uncertainty the more adept you become and the easier it is to deal with. I actually find that my life is more enjoyable when I have a certain level of uncertainty. It also makes it easier to adjust when things outside of my control don’t go as planned.

Where to Start

I find that writing everything down is the best way for me. Putting things on paper makes it very clear and easy to comprehend. I often find myself coming to a realization I had no idea of until I put it down on paper. I would write down the following items.

1. All the things you loved to do as a child
2. All the things you wanted to do as a career
3. What makes you happy now ( be honest with yourself)
4. What makes you miserable in your life
5. Choose a goal and create a plan of how you can get there from your current position

You only have one life, live it to the fullest do what really makes you happy.

Related posts

• The Sherlock Holmes Guide to Recovering Your Stolen Identity
• Oneness
• Choosing Your Career vs Doing What You Love, and Advice From Warren Buffet
• 5 Books That Can Change Your Life

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