Are you doing what you really want to do or did you just fall or wander into
job you now have. As a friend of ours once said,’ I am one of twenty two doctors in our family. The only ones in our family who are not doctors are dogs and cats’. Did you decide what you wanted to do or are you one of a growing number whose work was dictated by circumstances or their parents?The question is not what are you doing and who put you there but; are you happy? If you are not doing what you really want to do then chances are that you are unhappy and that is affecting your health and relationships as well as other parts of your life.
As John D Rockefeller III stated "The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."
The problem is that although we are aware, deep down, of what we want to do hard part is putting those thoughts into action. Actually doing it. Perhaps you are trapped in thinking process that says…; “ well I can’t really change”. How will I pay mortgage? How will I pay school fees? How will I ……..
Or perhaps your thinking says it is better devil you know than one you don’t.
Or are you thinking well I’m lucky really I have a regular job that pays sufficient salary (just about) and others are not as lucky as me?
Whatever your story. Just stop for a moment and ask yourself:
What is really driving me?
What makes me do what I do?
Sarah, a friend of ours, is 57 years of age, single, an only child with no parents alive and no children. In our language, she is end of line. A successful sales manager for an international company. But her world has just collapsed. A week before Christmas she was made redundant with little or no warning. She has given her life to industry she worked in and feels very let down, bitter and disappointed. After all, she had it all worked out. Retirement happens at 60, mortgage will be paid off, pension fund will start to pay up and then she will be able to decide what she wants to do in future.
But that hasn’t happened. She is three years short and needs work. Her initial calls to her vast network of friends and colleagues has resulted in either, sympathy, not returned or I’m sorry but…you understand…we need ur hmph younger people… On other hand there are those who kept her confidence up by inviting her for an interview only to find on arrival that either there was no job or ur hmmph we found someone younger.
So Sarah was forced to ask herself: ‘Where do I go from here?’
She doesn’t want to retire….she’s too young for that!!! The lack of response from her industry and so called friends and network has forced her to ask herself, ‘What do I really want to do?’ If I can’t continue habit and stay in industry, ‘What do I really want to do?’
