It's Time To Discover Your Passion And Fire On

Are you doing what you really want to do or the circumstances that pushed you into your present job are completely out of your control? As someone once said, ‘I am one of five lawyers in my family. The ones who aren’t lawyers are seen as ‘rebels’ and not accepted’. Did you decide what you wanted to do or your work was dictated by conditions or your parents? The problem is not what you’re doing and who put you there; but are you happy and fulfilled? If you’re not doing what you really want to do, then it’s very likely you’re unhappy and this may be affecting your health and relationships, as well as other parts of your life. 

The way to happiness is dependent on two basic principles: 1. find out what your interests are and what you can do excellently well and 2. put your whole soul, determination, intelligence ability, and vigor into it. However, the issue remains that though we are aware, deep down, of what we want to do, the difficult part is acting on those thoughts. The ‘do’ part is usually the snag. Perhaps you are trapped in the ‘can’t do’ thinking process that says… ‘Well I can’t really change’ or ‘It’s not possible’. How will I cope? How will I pay the fees? How will I this, How will I that?’  Or perhaps your thinking is the comfort zone and the discomfort of making a change. Or you’re afraid of the unknown or failure. Or you count yourself lucky to have a regular job while your friends are not so lucky.  Whatever your excuses, just pause for a moment and ask yourself: What is really the drive behind my actions? What makes me do what I do?

Take for instance the story of Anna, 45 years old, widow, with three children to support. Anna always had a good job, so when her husband died it wasn’t difficult to continue with the task of sending the children to school and caring for their needs. Her position as an executive marketing manager for a multi-national manufacturing company makes her self-sufficient and quite successful.  That was until one afternoon in December she found her name in the retrenchment list. Her world simply collapsed, as it was unexpected with little or no warning. She has put in twenty years of her life into the company and feels highly disappointed and bitter at the shoddy treatment. After all, she had hoped to work till retirement age at 60.  She even looked forward to more promotions before then. She had worked everything out: better pay, good pension scheme, the children will be out of university, and thereafter be able to decide what she wants to do in the future.

 

Unfortunately that hasn't happened. She is fifteen years short to retirement and needs work to keep her family going. Her initial calls to her huge network of friends and colleagues resulted in either sympathy, calls not picked or returned, or ‘I’m sorry we need younger people.’ On the other hand, there are those who kept her confidence up by inviting her for an interview only to be told on arrival the job is gone or ‘sorry we found someone younger’.

So Anna was forced to ask herself: ‘Where do I go from here?’

The last thing she wants to do is retire. She is too young for that. The lack of response from other manufacturing industries, and so called friends and network, pushed her to ask herself several questions, ‘If I can’t continue the habit of being a marketing executive in a manufacturing industry, what is that something else I really want to do?’ ‘What is the driving factor behind my actions?’ ‘What makes me do what I do’? ‘What did I love most about the lost marketing job’?

Slowly she began to grasp the fact that after her husband’s death, the confidence at work has been replaced with constant fear. Fear of not being able to pay the children’s fees, fear of getting into debt, fear of not meeting with the house rent, fear of having to be on her own for the rest of her life, fear of being a failure. The series of ‘fear’ increased her zeal for success at all cost. It also dawned on her that the driving factor for staying on at the job was the love she had for putting teams of people together.  The love of developing people who believed they couldn’t achieve; the love of motivating, coaching, and counselling young budding marketing trainees; the satisfaction she got out of caring for others, encouraging them, steering them, not forgetting her power of persuasion. Over the years her marketing teams had become her family which she enjoyed. More importantly, she found that her greatest pleasure came from turning round sick, weak, unknown or unsuccessful brands.

Bingo! she got an insight into a new course. She began to pursue this with new energy. Instead of being a middle aged or old victim with little or no hope of getting work, as her friends have told her, she started to look out for jobs and rewrite her CV as a caring coach who loved developing and growing marketing and sales teams of young people. She marketed herself as someone who could be relied upon to introduce vitality and life to old tired and little known products.

Anna is still searching, but the good thing is that the ‘old age’ snag is no longer there. Companies now look at her in line with what she can offer them, particularly her ability to ‘turn around’ brands. This in itself is a good ‘selling point’ for Anna. She has very good chances of either being integrated into a company, or being offered consultancy job, or even setting up her own company to render her ‘coaching’ services.

The most important thing for now is that Anna has a new dynamism. She has renewed energy and new exciting challenges. Because she has discovered her passion, what she really wants to do, she is constantly focused on the positive side. With such vigour and focus, there’s no doubt she’ll eventually get what she wants.

The take out from Anna’s story is that the answer is always inside you, not blowing in the wind. The answer is in your thoughts. Look deep inside yourself. Ask yourself; ‘What really drives me’? ‘Why am I here ’?  It is important to stay with the question, as you may not get the answer for days, months, even years. But one thing for sure, you'll know when you find the answer because your whole body feels ‘yes, this is it.’ When you do, simply accept it, change your thoughts, believe in yourself and just do it. Then watch life change positively. But if you fail to take control of your life, don't complain when others do.  Best of luck as you move forward.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.