1. FINDING YOUR PURPOSE IS OVERRATED
“Find your purpose” is one of the stupid pieces of advice anyone can give. Just picture this:
At different points in life, you thought your purpose was to be a doctor, a pilot, a singer, a pianist, a director, an entrepreneur and so much more.
But in reality, there is no one single purpose in life. Nobody is born to do “one single thing”. Purposes are created, explored, and built and not hard-wired to your DNA.
When you do something good, something that interests you and drives you, it becomes your purpose. And, do you know what? After 5 years, your desires, wants, and needs change.
So, don’t stress about finding your purpose or finding your passion!
Purpose is your approach to the journey of life – It’s your ability to change, adapt, learn and grow through the process.
Your purpose, as a being, is to go through the beautiful process of life over and over and over again.
2. FIND WHAT YOU’RE UNIQUELY BEST AT
Introspect & uncover your motivations – This is where you’re able to really get to know yourself and find what you are uniquely best at.
This may be a hard thing to think about in a short stint of time, but think about this:
Would you rather end up in a career that you hate or be doing something that you’re good at for the rest of your life?
Don’t limit yourself to a narrow set of job titles, dig a bit deeper and explore new and emerging roles that match your skills.
- Allow your curiosity to direct options. It will help you to explore possibilities beyond what you would’ve imagined.
- Write your dream job position description and explore opportunities that will give you the chance to thrive and shine.
- Take time to analyze your unique and positive qualities. This will help you identify the job/industry that’ll be both fulfilling and rewarding for you. Think about the skills and traits you’ve been most complimented on, the times you’ve stood out in school or workplace, and the situations in which you’ve been seen as a leader.
- Commit to discovering what energizes and drives you. Understanding what lights up your interests and what doesn’t will help to align with a successful career path that highlights your potential.
3. BUILD YOUR CAREER SKILLS
Career Skills are skills other than the technical skills you need to perform a job.
It is the sum of your knowledge, talents, and experience.
It determines your success in decision making, influencing others, and getting the job done effectively.
1. Your communication skill is your ability to:
- Choose your words
- Be heard
- Write well
- Speak with your actions
- Ask questions
- Listen, engage and adapt
2. Your operating style is your ability to:
- Be seen
- Meet successfully
- Work in teams
- Negotiate
- Resolve conflict
- Leadership
3. Your career development skills include:
- Planning your career
- Self-awareness
- Networking
- Recognise opportunities when they arise
- Realize when change is ahead to be prepared
- Earning what you’re worth!
We know this is an overwhelming number of skills to be successful in your career.
But like the old saying goes “There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time”;
The best way to develop your career skills is one idea, one area at a time.
Gather ideas, analyze how they can work for you, and try them out. And when they work, integrate them into what you do!
4. FOCUS ON SOLVING PROBLEMS
True fulfilment from work comes from knowing what you do is useful to other people.
Every career can feel mundane and repetitive. But even those tasks bring fulfilment if you know that they’re needed and appreciated.
Find a work that you’re best at and is meaningful to you – A work that impacts the world in some way.
What change would you want to see in your community, or the world?
Do you want to cure a disease? Invent a new technology that saves energy? Or write a novel that inspires people?
For example, a person with a career in engineering finds it useful, fulfilling, and liberating. Knowing he will never be unemployed – precisely because what he thinks what he does is valuable and always in demand.
On the other hand, Elon Musk created SpaceX and Tesla, two companies ambitious about the big problems of space exploration and transportation.
Now, the real question is – How much effort are you willing to put?
The bigger the problem you want to solve, the more commitment you’ll need to make.
Finding a work that impacts the world sounds different to different people, identify what suits you best and work on solving that.
Ask yourself this question, “How can I use my voice, skills, or expertise to help other people?”
5. THE PARADOX OF AMBITION
First of all, what is Ambition?
- a strong desire to do or achieve something
- desire and determination to achieve success
Achieve something? Achieve success? In what?
So here’s the paradox: Ambition is the strong desire to be successful at something in the future. It makes you picture a tomorrow that is imaginative and is all about the result.
It brings about a vertical approach to life which forces you to live in the future, thereby, neglecting the present.
It is a forward-thinking approach that is obsessed with climbing the ladder and becoming what you’ve imagined.
Instead, try adopting the horizontal approach. It means to master the one thing that you’re doing today and grow horizontally. When you maximize the approach, you’ll eventually move to the next levels, guaranteeing a successful future.
To put it simply, instead of focusing your effort on how to reach your ambition, focus on how to best acquire the current skill level and maximize it.
Remember that success will be guaranteed as a result of mastering your abilities.
So again, what is Ambition? It’s nothing but an inspiration.
It’s great to have dreams and a vision of your future self, but don’t let it be a hurdle to your growth process. Enrich your talents every day, enjoy them, and excel at them day by day without obsessing about the future.
Micheal Jordan said “I play to win, whether during practice or a real game”
~ Today is practice day, game day is yet to come. Make today count.
Tomorrow will shape itself ~