It takes some time to figure out what you really want to do with your life. Or at least figure out something that you’re passionate enough about to put your whole heart into. You have to try and fail at a few or a lot of things before you finally fall into the rhythm of your heart’s desire. It’s a fun and frustrating ride. You just can’t get so caught up in worrying about success and whether or not you’ll obtain it, that you’re no longer paying attention to what’s going on right now because your thoughts are solely on tomorrow. It’s ok to think ahead to tomorrow and have a five- or ten-year plan, but today is pretty important. Now, it’s not going to be easy working on your craft and building toward your ultimate goal—meaning, everyday isn’t going to be a picnic even though you’re doing your heart’s work—but if there isn’t ANY joy in the work that you’re doing, then you’re probably on a flawed path. At least a flawed path for you.
I kind of hate a lot of these books, speakers, promotions, commercials, events, fill-in-the-blanks, that promise massive success (which is usually tied to a strictly monetary definition) by just following a few basic steps. Just because someone else made a butt-ton of money selling life insurance, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have the same or even a slightly similar go as they had. Most people that experience massive success, both in the monetary sense and the purpose sense, have done so by doing something too simple to fill the pages of a 200-page goals book. They simply did what they were good at. It’s really simple. I guess there’s two hard parts but once you get past them, you’re on your way, man.
The first difficult thing is figuring out what it is that you love doing because a lot of people from the age of being able to work until death do what they need to get by and buy a new SUV and never pay attention to what that voice in their chest is saying. So, that can be tricky. And sometimes you think it’s one thing but as you walk toward that thing, it turns into a different thing—that’s just part of the whole process of doing meaningful work; sometimes it grows, alters, or changes entirely. But, you’d have never gotten that far if you didn’t work on the wrong thing. Which really isn’t wrong if it gets you to the right thing. So, there’s the first tricky thing—figure out what you’re passionate and excited about.
Next, you probably guessed something like a Nike commercial and said to yourself, “Just Do It.” That’s good advice but what’s underneath it is a little more complex. Not so complex to fill a 200-page book on goals, but a little more than three words. Here’s the second hard part that keeps people living lives that suck. You have to get into the habit of doing things when you don’t FEEL LIKE DOING IT. That’s it. Literally. That’s it. If you can get yourself to do work when you don’t want to do work, lift when you don’t want to lift, eat salad when you want pizza, read when you’d rather sleep, go to the event and connect when you’d rather be at home disconnected… THEN, you’ll be taking your heart’s work to the next level. That’s called a professional. Showing up when you want to do anything but.
Well, that’s all I have today. Love you, guys!
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