This is an interesting question. Until someone actually experiences a career that they love, it is really quite hard to explain to them why they need one.
I think everyone gets a little turned off at the whole ‘find your purpose’ or ‘follow your passions’ scene which has been done to death.
I don’t blame you if you’re the same. I think I’m a bit like that too. But isn’t that like saying “I’m bored of trying to be happy, I’m just going to stay grumpy.”?
Are you happy with your career? Have you ever felt excited about what you do to earn a living? When you’re not at work, do you bring with you any resentment from your working life?
Your work and life are inseparable. One affects the other.
The whole work/life balance thing; what actually is that? Are we saying that you have to offset the time spent doing a crap job by having enough free time or family time to make up for it? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. What the hell?? Why can’t work be fun?
What would make work fun?
That might be a better question.
“Find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for it.”
Katharine Whitehorn
What would work need to look like for it to be fun for you?
For me, it would be spending my whole day making other people’s lives better. Well, you could be a bin man and get that result. Some bin men love their job, but I doubt all of them do. What’s the difference between them?
For those that love their job, it lies in the way they think about their job, the way they go about their job, the way they make it fun.
Sometimes a career change is just a change in the way you view your career rather than a change in what you actually do. That’s why we wrote a definition of career change as we see it.
How can you have the same career, but it’s suddenly become a career you love?
Are you familiar with the proverb; “The grass is always greener on the other side.”? It’s about our tendency to see things that we don’t have in a more positive light than the things we do have.
If you can fully understand what makes you happy, what is important to you, what holds your attention. If you can also identify the things that hold you back, that prevent you from enjoying the present moment. Then you can start to see whether the grass is actually greener on the other side, or whether it’s just an illusion. Both are possible, sometimes you need a complete change, sometimes you don’t.
Do you really understand yourself? Do you know why you do things you don’t want to and don’t do things you do? Do you know your values?
Do you know what your future will look like, or could look like?
You are the only person that has an influence on your future, whether that is by doing something or not doing something. Whether you take action or remain passive.
If you can take back control by fully understanding yourself, then you can make an informed decision about what your career should look like so that you can end up falling in love with it.
‘Making an informed decision about your career’ sounds quite far away from ‘finding your purpose’ or ‘following your passion’, doesn’t it? But they are pretty much the same thing.
Finding a career you love is not voodoo. It’s just what you deserve. You deserve to love your career.
Why do you need a career you love?
Because in the process of finding it, you discover more about yourself.
The more you know about yourself, the easier it is to live a more fulfilling life. You can live by the values that you’ve always held, you can make sure you do the things that really light your fire, you can overcome any obstacles that stand in your way of happiness.
You can stop wondering and start enjoying.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Mae West