Choosing Life Then Career

Hello Everyone!

I hope this blog finds you all smiling and doing your best to make this day a great one!

Awhile back I had an amazing conversation with a good friend of mine and I felt it was worth revisiting to share it with you all.  My friend, at the time, was 27 years old and is a true Entrepreneur.  After college he took out a huge loan, moved away from his friends and started his own business.  He has now started several other small businesses over the years.  The guy has an amazing work ethic, a good business sense, and the drive to succeed.

As we were chatting the other day he told me he was struggling trying to figure out what he wanted his career to be.  He has a ton of ideas, knows that he could be good at many jobs, but he is unsure about what is right for him.

I told him this, "Instead of focusing on what your career is going to be, focus on what you want your life to be like, then figure out a career that will support that."

The change in the language is a tiny one, the change it produces in ones' though process is HUGE!

So often we human beings live our lives according to what our job's allow.  If our job says we can only have 1 week of vacation a year we wait to take that one week of vacation.  If our job says we can only ever make "this much" then we focus in on that number and shut down the potential we all have to make more.  If our job says we are supposed to work at it for 30+ years until we retire, THEN we can finally start living life, we listen, we settle into the routine, and we look ahead to 30 years from now when we can start doing all the things we really want to do.

I am not saying the above is a bad thing because it is not.  And, it works really well for a lot of people.  The problem I do have with the above is it puts limits on our thinking.  It forces you to narrow your focus to the future and limits you from exploring the possibilities that exist around you at this very minute.  To give you an example:  Put your hands up to the side of your eyes, notice how your field of vision is reduced because your hands obstruct your peripheral vision.  You are left with the ability to see only what is right in front of you.  Now, if you take your hands down, you will notice that you can see all that is around you as well.  It is as if a whole new perspective just opened up for you.

When you get into the mindset of building your life around your job/career, your job becomes the focus, it becomes the driving force for what you do.  When your job is the focus, guess what, the hands go up to the side of your face, and your field of vision is reduced.

When you instead get into the mindset of building your job/career around your life, your life now becomes the driving force for what you do because it is now front and center, it is your focus.  Your hands come down from the side of your face and now you are able to see the world that is around you.

The world that is around you is where all the possibility lies.

I promise you, there are jobs out there that will support you living how you want to live.  I promise you that there are inventions out there that need to be invented that will give you the freedom you desire.  I promise you that there are opportunities out there that will let you live the lifestyle of your dreams, if you will just start challenging yourself by dreaming what you want your life to be like.

Most of us wish we could live life in a certain way, but we never challenge ourselves to start thinking about HOW we can live it in that way.

Focus on your life and what you want it to be like.  As you learn to do that, you will figure out a way to make it happen.

I would love to hear your thoughts, please share them below.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge