It has been written many times that, if you really want it, you can find your ultimate purpose. Countless blogs, articles, and lists have been written on the “quit your job and follow your bliss” idea that, although pleasant and optimistic to read, is fraught with doubt, worry, and conflicts with the reality of surviving.
Quitting your job is not the thing to do. Not right now. And the reason may not be as obvious as you think.
But first, to find that elusive “bliss”:
STEP ONE:
Finding one’s bliss entails self-examination. Self-examination requires thought. And thought requires time. If your mind is filled with the daily to-dos and the constant juggling of schedules it is hard to find the time to understand yourself and what it is you want to accomplish.
But there is no secret to this; no formula to memorize and practice. You simply need to listen to your gut.
Ask yourself this question:
“If I had my choice of jobs, I would………”
And fill in the blank with anything you want.
Then pay attention to your body AS YOU SAY the job.
How did it feel? Excitement? Consternation? Anxiety? Optimism? Anger?
To give a comparison, ask the same question but answer with a job you think you would hate, something you would never want to do in a million years.
How did that make you feel?
Now compare the feelings you had between jobs you may want to pursue and those you never would pursue. You are now listening to your gut.
Don’t doubt yourself. You are relying on your instincts and if your instincts are wrong, THEN THEY WERE NOT INSTINCTS!
Do not let your mind cast a shadow over what your body is telling you.
Ok, so you know what you want to do.
STEP TWO:
Stay in your current job.
It is stated in many author’s articles on this subject that the job you are in, the job you want to leave, is bad. Bad for you. It is holding you back, keeping you from a dreamlike existence of complete fulfillment.
This is wrong. Where you are provides you with your motivation, your raison d’etre. It is because of this current situation that you are now exploring your possibilities. Without it, you may never have realized you needed something else, something more.
The issue with having an undesirable occupation is that it can consume valuable energies. It is essential that you do not allow your current situation to be a drag on your energies but a provider for your energies; a healthy frustration or anger that propels you into your plans for true realization.
You now know what you DO NOT want to be and that is powerful information. Follow step one and you will know what you DO want to be.
An example:
I was a landscaper for 18 years and hated it. My true passion was music. So it became my mission to not only be a full-time musician but to also leave the landscaping business far behind.
This may seem like one purpose — leave landscaping to become a musician but, in fact, it is two. Two strong motivations for pursuing my dream. I don’t think that without that desire to ESCAPE from something I would have truly developed the gratitude and desire to be, or do, what I felt I should.
THINK ON THIS:
Too often we look into the future to see what we want to be, never realizing we are already that person.
You may not have the training or the experience or the credentials to do what your gut commands of you, but you are that person already, just unrealized.
The present is where the past and future merge. Your job, if used by you to your advantage, pushes you out of the past and into the future.
The job you hate is what drives you. The goals you set are what motivate you. A pushing and pulling effect; dual catalysts.
Ask yourself “I don’t want to be [blank], I want to be [blank].”
This is why your current job is important beyond paying bills. Don’t quit it because you hate it. Use it. Own it. Be angry, be frustrated, but don’t give in.
A FINE POINT:
History is rife with rags to riches, or, more appropriately, desperation to realization.
Arnold Schoenberg hated his job as a banker. This propelled him into music composition.
Hugh Jackman was a party clown.
Warren Buffett delivered newspapers.
Michael Dell was a dishwasher.
And most important:
Think of all the great bluesmen who toiled in the fields during the day and produced the greatest of music at night. The pain of their condition led them to a creation of music more profound than any seen since.
It is a matter of perspective. Sit in your cubicle, on your tractor, hell, maybe you’re an artist and want to escape to become a landscaper. No job is wrong; no occupation unworthy. It is all about what your gut tells you to do.
Your condition is yours to decide. Either pout, bitch, or moan about it or use it.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Viktor E. Frankl