A Simple Decision To Put Your Career On Track
There are only two options.
Feeling like you need to figure out your true calling?
Finding it hard to concentrate at work? Wondering what is next for you?
Finding a meaningful career is one of life’s biggest pursuit. Not just any job but one where you feel content, fulfilled, and excited. Where every Monday is as exciting as every Friday. A life filled with purpose and passion.
For some of us that comes naturally. I have a friend who always wanted to be a teacher since she was in sixth grade, she eventually trained to be a teacher and loves every day as a teacher in her school. Pretty straight forward and simple for her. Unfortunately, it is not so simple for most of us — myself included.
I know someone else who trained as a biologist but eventually ended up becoming a wedding planner. A complete 180!
So how do we figure out where to begin if we are in a career where we feel there is something missing?
You could be making a lot of money, getting promotions but still feel a void. On the contrary, you could be working a minimum wage job stacking shelves whilst pursuing a side hustle to become an actor. There is no magic formula. Every path is unique.
But what it all boils down to is one fundamental decision. Either,
- You work for yourself — i.e. entrepreneur, actor, freelancer, small business owner, etc.
2. You work for someone else — i.e. corporate employee, minimum wage jobs, government employee, construction worker, etc.
Sounds pretty simple? Well, let me explain further.
All jobs fall into one category or the other. And the difference is fundamental to where you want to go in life.
For the first category, which I will call the entrepreneurs, you are someone who:
- Loves autonomy
- Wants full control of your destiny
- Takes risks
- Willing to work all hours
- Okay with sacrificing the short term for the longer term
- Is a visionary/dreamer
- Does not fit in a box
- Wants to make an impact
The second category, which I will call the employees, you are someone who:
- Likes certainty
- Wants someone else to worry about keeping the lights on
- Enjoys a salary (or needs a basic salary)
- Likes structure and progression
- Doesn’t need a brand or name around yourself (there are exceptions)
- Is logical
- Has expertise in a given niche
- Enjoys a 9–5 and shutting down after hours
Often those who fit in category 1 know it from when they were young even if they went down the path of category 2 first. I grew up saying things like “I want to start a beverage company or an airline..I want to have my own empire…etc.” I always had wide eyes and a big heart for a huge vision.
But as someone who was also very good in school, I followed the structured path, gained a few degrees, and easily aligned to a corporate job. But I never managed to find my place. I was constantly unhappy and lost. There was a major disconnect for me and it was time to wake up. It was then that I went down the path of starting my own companies — the way I had always dreamed.
Whilst it may not always be clean-cut when deciding on a career after school, these are the fundamental two choices you have to pick from for yourself in the long term. It may involve taking up a job to make ends meet whilst you build your dream business, or it may involve shutting down a business to opt for a more stable life.
But you have to decide deep within what you really want and find a way to manifest that path. If you don't, you will constantly be in disaccord with yourself and not find true meaning in your career.
The decision to be employed or self-employed is based on what you value most in life.
One thing you have to realize is that you cannot have both. As I pursued the entrepreneurial path and I saw my friends buy their own homes, have children and do the 9–5, I often felt I was behind as I took parts of my savings and spent them on ads for my business. I didn’t feel like I fit in. I wanted to also feel that same progression in life. The reality is that I had to sacrifice how I felt in the short term for the future that I dreamt of. I couldn't have my cake and eat it too.
Neither path is right or wrong. But one path is made for you. And you have to follow that voice. Don’t live a life to impress someone else, remember you have to live your life for you. That is the only way you will find a career that sticks and fulfills you day-in-day-out.
Once you decide your path stick to it. It may mean doing a blend in the near term to get you to where you want to go longer-term but don’t waiver. Spend time around people who are just like you. If you are an entrepreneur, don’t take advice from your corporate friends. They have not walked in your shoes.
Once you know your true journey and how it aligns with your values, take the steps to get to where you need to go. If you want to be a growth marketer at a startup, learn SEO, growth tactics, social media marketing, etc. If you want to be an entrepreneur, find your vision, and take each day as a step towards your goals. Often you may need the experience from a job to go build it in the form of your own company. That is okay. But understand how exactly what you do is getting you to where you want to go to.
Don’t be like a friend of mine who does not want to let go of a lucrative corporate job but really has a passion to be a professional chef, because then you’ll always feel stuck. And being stuck is often just a choice because the track is yours to take. Nothing except you is stopping you.
