How to find your life’s work so you don’t have to work “for someone else”!
Childhood, adolescence, and youth fly by in the happy contemplation of sunny days, travel, and first love. There is family, work, friends. But suddenly you discover that something very important is missing. There is no work in life that is loved and brings fulfillment and satisfaction to the day.
Finding your true calling by choosing the right job to your liking is real happiness that everyone would like to find. It’s not too late to engage in self-realization at any age.
However, no one except ourselves can answer the question of how to achieve this.
In order not to have to work a single day, your favorite activity should become a business for you and benefit other people.
Sometimes it seems that we don’t like anything at all and it’s impossible to find a suitable hobby for ourselves, but, probably, you are simply asking yourself the wrong questions about this.
How to find your business in life?
How can you find true acceptance in life? The recipe is simple - make sure that your hobby begins to generate cash income. The main danger is a false choice of future occupation, when satisfaction is replaced by prestige and money:
- Choice
. Before choosing a perfectly prepared dish from the five presented, you need to try each of them. You need to do the same when choosing a new business, and among several, find one. - Psychology
. A new activity should not cause discomfort in a person, and vigor and powerful energy in the body can be felt even at the end of the work week. - Character traits
. Some people strive for teamwork and communication, others prefer a free schedule and individuality.
In search of your recognition, you can get yourself into more than one bump. But after this, a person receives an inexhaustible source of enthusiasm and becomes a real master of his life.
Mindfulness is the easiest way to find your business
Are you ready for an honest conversation about why you care about the issue of recognition? What's wrong in your life now?
Psychologists believe that we start searching for ourselves when we feel dissatisfied with life. We don’t allow ourselves to do something or we do routine work, we are under pressure from other people.
How to find a job you like?
Subconsciously, feeling the desire to free yourself from unnecessary actions pushes you to change and steps into a new life. Everything is simpler than it seems. Your task is to understand the reasons for the search and take a new path. (Take the time to answer all questions in writing.)
- What do you like to do on vacation or during the holidays? Think back and make a list of your favorite activities. Which ones made you happier and why? What was important for you in these classes - write down on paper, put it aside for a week, and then summarize and add conclusions.
- What do you pay attention to, what successes of other people inspire you?
- What are you really interested in? A calling is born from passion. This is the feeling when you are glad from the bottom of your heart that you can do your job for days, create and achieve new heights in your skill. Not every hobby should bring money; creativity often gives an increase in the potential of one’s strength.
- What would you like to change in the world? Can you influence and make a significant contribution in an area that interests you to make people's lives better? You can go the opposite way and ask yourself: What am I not ready to put up with, what infuriates me in public life?
- If there were no restrictions on money, time and... what would you do then? It is possible that you lack greater visibility in your search for your dream business. Become a director, write scripts, be the best restaurateur in your city. Give free rein to your fantasies and see where they lead you.
- Modeling successful people is a proven technique. Allows you to look at the actions and results of another person from a bird's eye view. In the affairs of a particular person, it is easier to see what steps led to his results. Now you know what you need to go through to catch the blue bird.
- Keep searching and looking around. Opportunities come to those who are open to them. Remember - while we are alive, it is never too late to start living the way you want!
However, remember that finding your business does not mean idleness. Rather, finding something you like is a change in the type of activity that both pleases and motivates you to do fruitful work.
How to find your favorite thing, where to start
People who follow their calling have the following characteristics:
- They devote all their free time to what they love, even if this means combining several things at the same time. People who love to knit never get tired of knitting needles and threads. They can knit and listen to the series at the same time.
- Complete immersion in the process. An enthusiastic person is not disturbed by the conversations of colleagues or the noise of children. He is completely focused on work.
- Constant search for new knowledge. Bakers who love their profession are constantly developing new recipes and attending advanced training courses.
- Show only positive emotions. An inspired person practically does not feel physical or mental fatigue. The results of your work give you strength for new achievements.
- To understand whether you are doing what you love, answer the question “Does work bring pleasure and income?” If the answer is no, then it’s time to look for something you like.
How to understand what you would like to do in life - the psychology of success
Many people are simply afraid to be successful because they are afraid to stand out. For example, if a person has spent his whole life watching his parents “plow” at a factory for 14 hours every day, then he simply does not understand how he can work differently. He simply had no other example before his eyes. But if none of your relatives have ever achieved success, this does not mean that you should receive the “seal of a loser.” And the first step towards your goal is recognizing your inner fear.
“Reverse visualization” helps a lot in understanding the true goal. The essence of the technique is that you need to imagine and describe in bright colors what your “hellish” work would look like. For example: “I sit in the office from 9:00 to 21:00. My director is the mediocre and arrogant son of one of the founders. I spend all day preparing reports that no one needs.” Now we need to turn the picture upside down and describe in detail a truly interesting job. It happens that a person is interested in several different types of activities at once and it is very difficult to choose one of them. The secret is that you don't need to do this. On the contrary, they need to be gradually united. For example, you enjoy landscaping and teaching. Perhaps you need to study the design profession in detail in order to then teach people yourself.
Last and most important. The work must have meaning for you personally.
Choose an activity you like or turn a hobby into a job you love
Turning a hobby into a business requires a responsible approach. If you are interested in making beadwork and intend to make a living from it, then you should take a responsible approach to planning your future activities. There should be no discount for “your favorite thing” and “just a hobby”.
First of all, you should determine the target audience and formulate an appropriate pricing policy. Large wooden boxes are expensive, but small pots can be bought by anyone who wants to decorate their home. Fashion changes quickly, and with it the needs of the population. You need to regularly monitor all events in your field of activity in order to change your audience or product range in time. For example, ordinary beaded compositions are no longer as interesting as decorative bottles and candles decorated with beads. To keep abreast of these trends, you should at least attend handmade exhibitions.
The most difficult stage is selling the product. For this purpose, you can use the Internet site. On your own website you can show the product in person, talk with the buyer and receive an order. Provided that it is correctly and clearly formatted. Handmade specialists not only post photographs of finished products, but also create master classes on how to make them.
5 simple tips to find yourself in business
Let's say you find a good idea. Before you begin to implement it, you need to determine the target audience. The more clearly the niche is chosen, the better for the business.
Step 1.
Make a wish list. Who would you like to sell products to? Be as specific as possible. Clearly define the geography and type of customers. Retailing clothing is a field of activity, but selling maternity clothing is a niche.
Step 2.
Imagine the client's worldview. The best way to determine customer needs is to talk to them.
Step 3.
Combine information. At this stage, the business idea must be combined with the needs of the customers. A good niche is characterized by the following qualities:
- It matches your long-term plans for yourself.
- Customers are interested in your products.
- The idea is unique in its kind and allows you to make profit from different sources.
Step 4.
You need to evaluate the described niche and check whether it meets one of your main criteria. For example, implementing an idea will require frequent business trips for which you are not prepared. In this case, it is better to abandon the idea and start developing another idea.
Step 5.
Once all the elements of the project have been thought out in detail, all that remains is to implement it.
A. Ray’s book “Purpose. Find your life's work and realize your dreams"
According to statistics, seven out of ten people do not like the chosen activity, and one in five even hate it. And this despite the fact that a person spends most of his life at work. So why suffer so much?
Alexander Ray's book provides recommendations for finding your purpose. Most of the material is devoted to how to force yourself to act in order to find meaning in life and maintain this state until the end. According to the author, a person comes into this world with his own abilities and weaknesses, and after living for a certain period of time, he must die with a different character. Having previously completed a couple of dozen projects.
If you are thinking about how to find your life’s work, then this book is just for you. You can download it from this link:
Favorite thing every day
People are born with the abilities and opportunities to realize themselves through a business they love, which will bring them satisfaction and profit at the same time.
True, you should not be mistaken and expect that you will need to work very little for this, and life will consist of pleasures. Fruitful self-employment sometimes takes up all the free 12 hours in a day.
I want to share one of the quick ways to cheer up and understand your range of interests. This technique can be called: “Your favorite thing every day.” You simply start every day a little doing whatever you love. As much as you can find time. Yes, it's that simple. Your mind will tune in to find your favorite activities. And believe me, as you move forward in your spiritual hobbies and move from one to another, you have no chance of passing by your destination. You will be taken to “your business.”
Useful tips
How to find something you like if you don’t know what you want? It is necessary to unload the consciousness. Interesting ideas come to a fresh mind, answers to important questions appear. It is also useful to be outdoors more often. Walking or walking in the park helps. The influx of oxygen activates mental activity and allows you to direct thoughts in the necessary direction. This is an opportunity to see how much interesting there is in life that is not noticed in everyday life.
It is important to be able to listen to your condition. If you feel “burnout” or deteriorating health, then you should think about changes. If you continue to engage in this activity, it can lead to serious problems, even leading to the hospital.
How to find something you like? You need to be prepared to take risks. This may mean leaving your job, learning the right skills, and starting new habits - all of this is difficult. But because of your dream, your favorite thing, this is still achieved.
It helps to communicate with people with similar interests. This can be either personal acquaintances or the exchange of information on the Internet. Like-minded people share their development, achievements, and talk about topics of interest.
How to find something you like and is profitable? Stimulating reminders that hang around the house are effective. They are placed on the refrigerator, used as screensavers on the computer and notes on the phone. Memos can motivate you to find something you love.
You should imagine that such an activity already exists. What will be the behavior, feelings, attitude towards other people? It is useful to imagine such pictures in your consciousness, since this is how desired situations are attracted into life and thoughts are stimulated to search for the desired activity.
It is necessary to make a list of your favorite books, films, songs. Do they have common characteristics? What traits of you are there in them? Often books, films, songs stimulate the performance of any activity.
If desired, everyone will find something to their liking. A first-grader or an older person can do this by trial. If you have doubts, but want to test the activity, then you should take it up. It will be immediately clear whether it is interesting or comfortable. The sooner a useful activity is found, the more interesting life will be, but it should be borne in mind that at any age you can gain new experience and start doing your favorite activity.
Recommended books
Once you want to build your life according to your own rules, the chain of events is built in the most necessary way.
Famous writer Barbara Sher
has published several masterpieces on the topic of self-development and search for purpose. How to find something you like is the main theme of her books. “I refuse to choose” - I read it from cover to cover.
At one time I really liked the training book “ The Artist’s Way”
”, containing 12 chapters.
Author: Julia Cameron
. It can bring you out of an unsuccessful period of life and restore your creative path through the practical tasks described in this book.
I can advise with a clear conscience, because I completed all the tasks during 3 months of reading during breaks at a hired job, which I soon left without regrets.
I will reveal only one of the strong tasks - this is a creative date with yourself once a week. I still practice it now - I love being in a bookstore with a reading room, drinking cocoa and enjoying new bestsellers on self-development and business literature, or walking around the city at night with a camera.
How to enjoy life and enjoy work?
How? The answer is simple: do not be a slave and a hostage of the situation, but determine your own activities.
It’s one thing if you love your job, your colleagues and support the common cause. It’s completely different if your interests clash with your work process.
And if the employer provides all the conditions for work, then it is up to you to choose whether this activity is suitable for you in terms of personal growth and interest or not. It makes no sense to blame hired work for all sins. It is much more important to focus on your own benefits and interests.
My last job strengthened my communication skills and finding the best deals on the market. I worked in a construction company in the procurement department.
Despite my personal growth, I understood that by working for an organization, I could not significantly influence the growth of my income in the future. Career growth in our organization implies that you simply must bring even more profit to the organization and give 95% of your effort. I used this time and money to my advantage to study in the areas of Internet entrepreneurship.
Doing what you love, your Internet projects and their promotion, brings much more satisfaction in life. If you give it your all, you understand that it will pay off many times over.
I wish everyone to find something they like and enjoy life and work. Enjoy results and personal growth, benefit people.
How to understand what your soul is about?
Often people believe that they lack talent and passion. But absolutely every thinking individual has his own range of abilities and a certain potential.
You just need to listen carefully to yourself and those around you , to feel the inner response to various things that you have to do at the behest of your heart and circumstances.
- Try something new . It is impossible to reach your potential if you play out the same familiar scenario every day. After all, the realization that you like music or dancing is unlikely to occur to you while routinely watching a TV series after work. And if such an idea does appear, most likely it will remain a vague assumption in the general stream of thoughts. You need to constantly try something unusual and get out of your comfort zone. Running, drawing, swimming, chess, foreign languages and other leisure activities can be practiced as an experiment. And you don’t have to completely immerse yourself in a new activity if it doesn’t bring you joy. After all, it’s never too late to change the vector of development.
- Listen to praise. Other people's praise is often embarrassing and is perceived as ridicule or an attempt to please.
But in fact, you shouldn’t shut yourself off from flattering words, blush and “bring down your worth.” After all, if you listen to the words of praise addressed to you, you can track the work that you do best. In what context and for what are you most often praised? What do they admire and approve of? This is exactly what we should focus on. - Abstract yourself from worries and routine . When you come home, do you start acting on a specific and established list? It’s worth taking a break and forgetting about business for a while. And after that, ask yourself a simple question: “What would I like to do?” But one must listen precisely to desire, and not to the voice of conscience and responsibilities. This may take more than one day. Consciousness may require sleep, temporary relief and simple, easy rest. But when the body replenishes its resources, imagination and internal potential come into play. Certain ideas and thoughts will appear, as well as a desire to occupy yourself with something interesting.
- Fix . Did something turn out to be unexpectedly easy to complete? Did you enjoy spending time with your friends' children? Did your bird feeder turn out especially beautiful? Knitting did not cause any difficulties and “took you” for several hours? It is important not to miss this and record it in your diary, notes, or at least in your thoughts. Perhaps in the future you will have ideas on how to transform, develop or even monetize this activity.
- Study .
It is a big mistake to take as failure attempts that were not successful due to a lack of experience, knowledge and skills. A hobby is not always an activity that comes to you on an intuitive level. Sometimes you have to work hard for a passion. But then you have to reap pleasant benefits in the form of success and ease. In this case, the only signal that serves as an incentive for you not to stop should be interest.
Practice for finding something you like
How to realize your potential and find a purpose or how to find a job you like?
In order to decide on what you love, you need to have a serious conversation with yourself. There is another practice of finding something you love. You can take a piece of paper and a ballpoint pen and sit alone to think carefully about which activities you get the greatest satisfaction from, experiencing joy and a sense of accomplishment. You need to choose those things that you have always done with joy.
Some people like cooking, others like drawing, others like bracelets made of natural stone. An adult may well discover his own inclination towards some activity. However, the process itself can bring pleasure from the process, and not just from the positive result. Some of the worries that bring not only pleasant emotions may be worth entrusting to assistants.
The list should not contain too many items - their number should not exceed five. If there are more than five of them, the conclusion suggests itself that you selected them without due attention, perhaps without taking into account any of the requirements stated above.
Then you need to take one sheet of paper for each specific task and write down what exactly is needed to do this, what results and consequences may be.
For example, if you like to take photographs, you will need a camera and other types of photographic equipment, field trips or models for filming, appropriate conditions, materials, thoughtful composition, further processing of frames, etc. You need to write a similar list for each lesson.
Consider the consequences. You should describe everything that can happen after you start doing your favorite activities, what experience you can gain and what will happen next.
Using photography as an example, you can learn about many photographic techniques, make acquaintances with models, learn about interesting places for photography in the nearest area, and obtain photographs with the possibility of selling them to a magazine or photo bank.
And also learn to use programs that process images, learn to draw in these programs, and create collages. Write down absolutely everything that comes to mind, while one consequence may directly follow from another.
All that remains is to eliminate activities that do not bring satisfaction and the results from which you do not enjoy or are not very pleasant. You need to think about all these things, about the feelings they evoke, and how you could earn income from them.
What resources are needed from you? It’s likely that you simply don’t have enough time for anything, while you don’t have enough health for anything else. A lifestyle that comes from many activities is sometimes not to the liking of some people.
You need to think about the whole list in order to find a job that you really like and suits you to the fullest - this is how you can find your calling.
This is where modeling comes in handy. (Remember, I wrote about him at the beginning of the article.) Find someone who inspires you to try on their way of doing things.
Self-determination. How to understand what you like and what you should do in life
Consultation
Hello! I am 22 years old, studying at the Faculty of Pharmacy. I entered pharmacy on the advice of my relatives, my aunt works in a pharmacy and she only regrets that she did not get a higher education. Nobody forced me to go there to study, it was really just advice. The logic was this - quiet work, clean and tidy, and in fact you will always be able to find a job in your specialty. At that time I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew for sure that I didn’t want to be a doctor, but a pharmacist (pharmacist) is still not a doctor, even though it is a medical profession. After thinking about it, I thought - why not, it’s probably a normal job. Since I myself didn’t know where I wanted to study, I followed my family’s advice.
Now I understand that at that time I did not even have a complete understanding of this work. If someone I knew asked me what a pharmacist does, I could only say that a pharmacist can work in a pharmacy or produce medicine. The first two courses of study were aimed more at forming a base of general knowledge, i.e., again, although there was already an idea of pharmacy, it was very weak. From the 3rd year, specialized subjects began. The more I delved into all this, the more I formed the position that I did not want to do this. Perhaps if I knew what I wanted to do in this case, I would have left the university and gone to study in a different direction. But here I had no options. I take my studies responsibly and study well. But I am still haunted by the thought that all these efforts are in vain, that I am driving myself into a trap. It’s unpleasant to think that you spend so much time and energy on a hateful study, only to then work in a hated job for the rest of your life. Sometimes I think about getting a second education later, but I’m afraid that this study has already squeezed out all the juices, so I won’t have any strength for a second education - neither physical nor moral.
When I share my feelings with my parents that it seems to me that pharmacy is not for me, they tell me this: every job has its problems, no matter what field you choose, and in general, work is work, you don’t have to love it . Of course, I understand that you don’t have to love your job, but I still want it to bring some kind of satisfaction (not only in terms of money) so that I can feel in my place. Perhaps I am too naive due to my youth and inexperience, and I want too much. And as my parents told me again, I haven’t even worked in my profession yet, and work is still not study, so maybe I’ll even enjoy this activity. I agree with this, but doubts do not go away.
I must say that the whole learning process is very nerve-wracking. The principle “it will be easier in senior years” does not work here. I was often brought to tears. I have little student debt, but it takes a lot of effort to study without debt. And we're not even talking about good grades, but about studying without failing grades, because failures need to be worked off. As a result, tension accumulates and accumulates, and then pours out into tears and hysterics. I'm not the only one with this situation. I am a calm and peaceful person by nature, but at some moments I began to notice that I was becoming irritable. And I always try to restrain my anger and irritation, because I don’t want to throw out my negativity on those around me who are not to blame for my problems. As a result, internal tension increased, and I decided to go to Thai boxing training. These workouts really help me relieve unnecessary stress and I have become calmer about everything. What I am saying is that I admit the idea that my attitude towards my future profession is based on a negative perception of the study itself.
Now I am in my last year of study, which means I need to think about work soon. There are most likely only 2 options here - either I go to work in a pharmacy, or if I’m lucky, I can get a job somewhere in production. But when I start to think about who I would prefer to work in the field of pharmacy, I realize that I don’t want to have anything to do with it at all. For me it's like a choice of two evils. And I feel like I'm driving myself into a trap. After all, where can I go with a pharmaceutical education? There is only a direct road to pharmacy. Most likely, when I start working, I will already cling to stability and will not want to change anything, even if I don’t like the work itself. I am one of those people who prefer the familiar to the good. I don’t like this quality in myself, but it’s not always possible to fight it. That's why I'm afraid that I'm making a mistake.
It’s probably not very clear what kind of help I expect from this consultation. I think I need an outside perspective. Do you think I should think about looking for another direction for myself or is it quite normal when, even after graduation, a person is tormented by doubts about the right choice of profession? Of course, I will graduate from this university, because there are only six months left, it’s stupid to quit. But I don’t know where to move next and would like to get advice. Is this normal?
