I Figured Out What To Do With My Life (And You Can Too).
This is an adaptation of the preface of Aimless: The Only Advice You’ll Ever Need to Decide What To Do With Your Life.
“I made a resolve then that I would amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know .”
— Colonel Sanders
I just saved that quote as my desktop background. It was the type of quote that hit me hard in the chest. It perfectly encapsulated everything I wanted for myself at the time, and it ended with such a powerful statement: “I know”.
I had just dropped out of paramedic school and, once again, was trying to determine what to do with my life. I was so eager to give my whole self to something, to dive in and not look back. Something about that quote beckoned me forward into this other version of myself. A version where I was confident about what I wanted from life. A version where “I knew.”
I wanted to be that certain about my direction in life. And I resonated with the reckless ambition in the quote.
I was at a point in my life where I was determined to earn a living in a meaningful way, find a fulfilling career, and make an impact on the world.
Yet, my reality couldn’t have been further from that goal. For the first time ever I had no job, no classes, no money, and 30 000 dollars worth of debt. I had been a student all my life — first in high school, then university, then college.
It was just before my 23rd birthday, and it was the first time in my life where I decided I was done with being a student (in the traditional sense of classrooms and report cards).
I had mastered the game of school and I was hungry for the next thing. Sill, I had no idea what the next thing was. There was so much I had been deferring until I was finished school, and now that I finally had the time and energy to pursue them, I felt overwhelmed with options.
Simultaneously, there was no obvious best next direction calling out to me. Each option seemed good, except for the fact that I would be leaving all the rest of the options behind when I picked one.
What followed were a series of leaps of faith centered around finding fulfilling work. My life became a rapidly progressing series of failures on a quest to find a career path that both paid well and also made me feel like Colonel Sanders when he said that quote: determined, inspired, hopeful.
I was privileged enough to be financially supported by my parents during that time, living at home while they wondered what I was up to. And for their financial support, I am grateful.
However, don’t be fooled. No matter what your socio-economic background, family life, or financial position, you have options to make moves towards things that feel good and away from things that don’t.
You Are Not Here to Suffer
You are not here on this planet to suffer, so if you are suffering right now know that there is a way out. And that way begins with a choice. A choice to honour the calling in your heart, or to continue staying miserable. No matter who you are, or what your situation, you always have that choice.
You might not know exactly how you’re going to get what you want — but you always can find an inkling, a thought, a sneaking suspicion that if you move that way it might be the right thing to do. So go do it. You’ll figure out how along the way.
In my case, part of the “how” that showed up was relying on my parents for financial support for a while. But even if you don’t have the support of your parents — or any other relationships — a “how” always shows up to guide you along your path. Not knowing how is simply not a reason for not doing what you want.
If you need more inspiration, plenty of people in worse circumstances than you have discovered and followed their calling. And when they did, their own lives, the lives of everyone around them, and the very planet itself was uplifted for it. So don’t use your circumstances or not knowing how as the reason not to follow your calling. You’re fooling yourself and robbing yourself of the chance to become a fully developed human being.
Most importantly, don’t ever give up on finding your dream. Everyone can be Picasso level good at something. There are Mozart, Marie Curie, or Leonardo Da Vinci levels of greatness inside you, and it's never too late to tap into it.
The trick to bringing it out isn’t to bang your head against the wall, to hustle at all costs, or to outwork everyone else.
The trick to bringing it out is to chase your happiness. Chase your flow. Chase that feeling of being immersed in something, being possessed by something, disappearing in something. Chase the feeling of being alive, and don’t compromise it for anything. That is what brings out your true genius.
Your Feelings Are Your Guidance System
The problem is that the whole world tries to tell you that your feelings don’t matter. They tell you that how you feel is less important than how productive you are, how you feel is less important than how much money you make, or how many friends you have. They tell you how you feel is always the first thing you should be prepared to sacrifice. That’s how they’ve trained you — in school, at home, and in the workplace. But that training is what’s stopping you from becoming the true genius that you are.
So don’t give up. You are already a genius, but it might be hard to know it at first. It can be the hardest thing you’ve ever done to act on a decision you made just because you felt like it. The whole world wants to hear your rational justification for your choices. The whole world wants you to justify yourself and validate why you think your feelings matter. They want you to compromise your genius so you can be like everyone else. They feel threatened by people who prioritize their feelings.
So I’m here to tell you:
Even when no one supports you, do it anyways.
When you have a feeling inside but everyone thinks you’re crazy, and no one will give you permission, do it anyways. Keep doing it, don’t ever stop and you’ll discover who you really are.
Get Advice From People Who Get It
After years of wondering and actively struggling, I can finally say that I know what my life purpose and career aspirations look like.
Once you know with absolute certainty what you want, then you can begin the process of making it happen. Unfortunately, that crucial first step is where so many people falter. They never gain that rock-solid clarity about what they want to accomplish.
And part of the problem is that there is a lot of useless advice out there.
In fact, if you google search “how to figure out what career to pursue” you’ll likely find nothing but personality tests and cliché advice like “follow your passion” (or, its more fashionable cousin “don’t follow your passion”).
Throughout my journey I have spoken to guidance councilors, taken numerous courses, read books, and wrote aptitude tests. At best, these resources gave incomplete or unactionable advice. At worst, they were counterproductive. Most were useless.
But what they all had in common was the sentiment that before you can find career success, you must decide on your path. “Decide”, as if it is a choice that you make by thinking things through. “Decide”, as if it is a path that you forcefully embark on and will yourself towards.
Now, if all you want to do is make money, and you don’t really care about investing those hours of work into something meaningful, then sure — go ahead and decide. Do your calculations, take your aptitude tests and go for whichever option seems the least soul-sucking and most lucrative.
Finding A Purpose-filled Career is A Process
But my suspicion is that you’re looking for something more. You don’t just want to slave away at some job to make someone else rich. You see how many problems there are in the world and you want to be part of the solution.
You’re looking for work that makes you come alive, that gives you the opportunity to grow, to contribute. You want to do something that’s meaningful to you, so that when you’re on your death bed you can look back at your life’s work and say “I did good. I tried my best. I’m pleased with what I was able to accomplish and what I’ve done in the world.”
If this is what you’re looking for, then the type of career your after is not really something you can decide. Instead, it’s something you discover about yourself.
What you’re after — like I was — is to discover your purpose in life. You know you only have one shot at this life and you want to make it count. You know the work you do in the world is a big part of that.
If this is what you want, but you have no idea what you should do in the real world with this desire, this book is for you.
You’re going to discover that, for you, pursuing a career is about heeding a call that can only be felt on the inside. For you, pursuing a career is nothing more than doing what you were born to do.
If you feel no obvious calling inside at this moment, finding a career path, then, is a process of discovery…
Get in touch to learn more or pre-order your copy of the book now.
