“Live with your whole being all the days of your life. Your reward will be true happiness”
- Rebecca Thomas Shane
One of the best questions you can ask yourself if you are looking for a new direction in your life is “what would I do if I would get enough money each month without doing anything?”
What are the things in your life you love to do – things that make you feel good and make you forget time?
Every one of us has a lot of things we like to do without getting paid for doing them, so if you are not sure what to do with your life and you are bored with your present job, you can’t spend your time better than making a list of those things.
For me the list looks something like this:
- I would spend every Winter somewhere where it’s warm
- I would help other people to find meaning in their lives
- I would take photographs, draw, and paint
- I would play different sports and exercise almost every day
After you have made the list of those things (it can be much longer than mine), you can start to think about all the possibilities in life to earn a living by doing those things. Usually your mind is quite limited and does not let you fully see all the possibilities in your life, but don’t let it limit you this time.
List all the jobs and business ideas that come to your mind that have something to do with the things you would do even for free.
In my case those could be something like:
- Travel guide
- Author
- Artist
- Photographer
- Teacher
- Running my own gym
- Starting an online business
This list should be much longer than the first one, because you shouldn’t be too picky at this point – just list as many possible ways to earn living doing something similar to your passions as possible without thinking too much.
Is someone else making your life decisions for you?
I used to let quite odd things to affect my decisions in life in the past, such as how much money I could earn in a particular job or how respected the job would be. I think most people do that either consciously or unconsciously, but that’s the best way to not find the job, career or business that you would be truly passionate about.
If you hate waking up every morning knowing that you have to go to work that you don’t really like, what’s the use of getting a little bit more money to spend on something you don’t really need?
You can also ask your friends what you are good at – they usually have a little bit different perspective from yours and they can help you to realize some obvious things about your strengths.
After you have a clear vision of your strengths and passions in life, the most difficult part of finding a new direction in your life is done. It’s never easy, but you can jump into the unknown when you know that you always have your passions guiding you, no matter what your situation is.
Today is a perfect day for making the change
If you don’t like your job and your daily life, you can begin changing your life already today. Don’t quit your day job right away, but start doing those things you love to do, just a little bit every day. Sing, draw, help other people – whatever it is you love to do.
You can also start to look at new job opportunities and think about business ideas where you could use your strengths and follow your passions, and make a living at the same time.
Sometimes you must do something really unconventional with your life to be happy and quit doing what your neighbors or friends do.
This is your life, and you only live once. Live your own life, not someone else’s.
Follow your passions and you will not regret anything when you are old, and forget about money as long as you have enough of it to give you shelter and food.
Happiness, success, and even money come to those who overcome their fears and have enough courage to spend their days doing the things they love the most. How could you become really good at something otherwise?
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Hi Petteri,
Great advice! Have ran my own gym (it was fun!) as well as starting another business, the only way I could make it work initially was by following this tip of yours, “Don’t quit your day job right away, but start doing those things you love to do, just a little bit every day.”
It was a lot of work at first, but the personal rewards later on were immeasurable. I could see you doing any (and all) of the jobs you listed. I wish you the best as you make your way. Isn’t life fun?
Lori´s last [type] ..The Woman with the Panther Tattoo
Definitely food for thought, I am lucky – if I was completely financially secure, I would continue to do what I am doing now – although I would delegate a lot of the admin side of things to someone else.
I would also see a lot more people at no charge, or possibly set up a charity…..mind you there is no reason I couldn’t do that now……hmmmmmmm, thinking cap is on!!
Best wishes,
Kate
Kate´s last [type] ..Seven Ways to Improve Self Confidence
Great question to ask ourselves Petteri. I think if money were no object, I would be training everyday, and go to school for excercise physiology. I would love to be an elite level coach.
Hmm, I just love to hear about different ways that people do business and make a living. If you want to tell more about the businesses you’ve had in your life, I’m all ears, Lori.
People often don’t realize that you don’t have to change your whole life at once – it’s much easier to start doing the right things just a little bit every day and then transform the life in small steps. Like you wrote, the rewards are unbelievable when you do something you love to do, even though it would appear that it takes a lot of work. Actually it doesn’t even feel like working when you follow your passion and do something that gives value to other people – it’s fun almost all the time.
Earlier I didn’t get how some people can sacrifice their whole lives to their personal businesses, but the more I have learned about my own passions the more I understand how fun and addicting it can be to build something that comes straight from your heart and is something that other people can appreciate, too.
And yes, life really is fun, especially during a road trip.
Sounds that you are definitely on the right track then, and that is really awesome because I think that most people can never get to that state in their lives. People often seem to think that many great things in life are possible only if you get enough money – such as traveling – but it’s all about making choices. Seems like there’s nothing really holding you back, Kate. I’m looking forward to seeing you set up the charity.
That sounds great, I used to love exercising in gym, too, before blogging and building websites (and at the moment road tripping in the former Yugoslavia) began to steal 110% of my precious time. Oh well, it’s really just an excuse – nothing that right kind of time management could not solve.
By the way, is there something that prevents you from becoming an elite level coach now? That would be really cool.