Do what you like. The golden rule is: do what gives you true pleasure, and then you will become much happier
Fate man's way trial and error, self-education and other steps. I can do everything, I want everything, but how do I know what choice to make?
1. Take two hours of our time (undivided, personal and quiet) and sit down at the table
This is important. Not on the sofa, not on the bench, but at the table. We write down everything that we like to do and that interests us. Let it even be a stream of thoughts. It is important to write EVERYTHING.
Now put the paper aside and go to bed. The next day we looked at it soberly, analyzed it, and crossed out the outright nonsense. Now it’s easier - there is a basis and ways of direction.
2. Read, listen, visit
Over the course of a week or two, try reading/listening/visiting several places/events related to your chosen areas. Breathe the local air, feel the atmosphere.
3. What don't you like?
Let's go the opposite way and decide in the same way what we DO NOT like to do. For example, come to work with your mom/dad/other relatives and understand whether it’s yours or not. Did you see? Don't like it? Hood. There is already something.
4. Internship
Any office/magazine/workplace of your dreams is always in need of interns/volunteers. IT'S SO SIMPLE. Exactly. You just need to dial the authority’s phone number and ask about the internship conditions. Trying is not torture. Such an experience will “sober up” your ideas about future work in the best possible way and make it clear whether this is “it” or not.
5. Travel a lot and often if possible.
A closed space, the same circle of friends, communication often leads us to a dead end. There is an explosion in your head, a burst of inspiration and energy. You see how people live far and near, what they do.
6. Talk to older people
Age is not as important here as life experience is. Especially the experience of those who are already successful in their business and have achieved something. Ask for advice, be interested.
7. Club of interests
There are a lot of organizations for students/youth not only based on their interests, but also in a general direction, so to speak. There you can find like-minded people - one, have a good time - two. Three - often the people around us make us understand who WE really are.
8. Read a lot
9. Although it’s the ninth, it’s a very important point(!)
Please think with your own head. Not mom/dad/family/maternal aunts, but your own. YOU get to live and love what you do. This is your ambition, life.
10. Make contacts
This is now called “networking” (from “network”, translated from English). Your interested and capable friends now will be in the future successful people, entrepreneurs, specialists. Be nicer to everyone. Really try to help others whenever possible. Such relationships with people are the building blocks of the future. What you do now is what you do later.
11. We know how to relax
You can’t always search hard for your calling. Have you thought about it? Doesn't work? Let's take a break and just relax.
12. But here’s the catch (see point 9) - listen to your family and friends
13. Test
Take a career aptitude test. I'm not laughing now. Thousands of psychologists and other specialists developed these types of tests for a reason. Every question and your answer to it has meaning. Whether to follow the test results or not is your choice.
14. Exhale, there’s not much left
So, let's try to get out of our comfort zone and do something we haven't tried before. We come up with 2-3 classes a week maximum and expand our horizons. Imagine that you are a guinea pig and a doctor at the same time. Observe your reactions to certain objects/activities/activities. Draw conclusions.
15. Last and most important
Are you ready? Be yourself. Seriously. Stop copying anyone if you have done it before. Someone's experience may not suit you, someone's views may differ from yours, and that's okay. Everyone has their own path. It is important to go through it yourself from beginning to end.
7 tips from modern figures in business, art and journalism.
Philosopher Daniel Dennett belong to the wonderful words: “Find something more important than yourself and devote your life to it”. In his opinion, this is true happiness - to find something that is more important than yourself. But how exactly to do this? Obviously, this is not a matter of chance or the finger of fate. I believe that people are driven by curiosity and the choices that each individual faces almost every second. And despite the fact that everyone comes to their goal in their own way - there is no universal solution - there are certain factors that make the path to your life's calling simple and exciting.
Here are thoughts that for me are postulates in achieving the intended goal.
About how to do what you love
Paul Graham
entrepreneur, essayist
Founder of the company Y Combinator, which provides financial support to startups at the very beginning of their journey, wrote an interesting essay in 2006 “How to do what you love?”. The essay is not only interesting, but also very valuable. The excerpts that I have given below contain all the “salt”, the author’s main idea and what is really important to pay attention to.
What you shouldn't do is worry about the opinions of those who can't call themselves your friends. You shouldn't be worried about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world.
Prestige is like a powerful magnet that distorts your opinion even about what you think you love. It forces you to work not for what you like, but for what you would like to like.
Prestige is just an impression and does not contribute to progress. If you do something really well, it will become prestigious. Many things that are now prestigious were not so at the very beginning of their development. Take jazz - although any other art form will do. So just do what you like and the prestige will take care of itself
About success
Alain de Botton,
writer, philosopher, journalist
Alain de Botton, modern philosopher, creator of the “self-help” genre, an astute observer of the paradoxes and misconceptions of our cultural ideas.
In his book "The Joys and Sorrows of Work" Through his own lens of wit and wisdom, he reveals modern views on work and ideological misconceptions about success.
One of the most interesting things about success is that we think we know what it is. For most of our lives, our thoughts about what it means to live successfully are not our own. We got them from other people. And not only from people. From television, advertising and so on. This is a very powerful and influential area that tells us what we want and how we should look. I don't want to tell you that we should give up and stop achieving success, but that the ideas of what success looks like should be ours. Focus on your ideas and make sure they are yours, that you are the author of your goals. Because it is very bad to achieve something that is not what you want. But it’s even worse to define your goals and, having achieved them, realize that this is not what you really wanted
About setting boundaries
Hugh McLeod,
cartoonist, copywriter, blogger
Cartoonist Hugh McLeod known for his sarcastic drawings touching on creativity, culture and life values. In his book, Ignore Everyone, or 39 Paths to Creativity, he collected the most insightful advice useful for those who lead a creative lifestyle.
16. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the line separating what you are ready to do from what you will never do.
Art begins to suffer the second other people start paying for it. The more you need money, the more other people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more crap you have to swallow. The less joy it will bring. Know this and plan accordingly.
28. The best way to have approval is not to need it.
This is equally true in art and business. And in love. And in sex. And everything else that is worthy of your attention
Work or creativity
Lewis Hyde
poet, essayist, translator
Lately, creative people are increasingly referring to the work Lewis Hyde "The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in modern world» , about which David Fostrer Wallace said “Everyone who is somehow involved in art cannot remain the same after reading “The Gift””.
The job is an hourly activity. It has a start and, if possible, payment. Assembling a car on an assembly line is work. Washing dishes, calculating taxes, making rounds in the isolation ward of a psychiatric clinic, picking asparagus - all this is work. Creation sets its own speed. We can get paid for it, but it’s harder for us to measure its quantity... Write a poem, raise a child, develop new method calculation, getting rid of neurosis, inventing anything - all this is creation.
Work is a planned activity performed by force of will. Creativity can be planned, but only within the limits of basic developments or rejection of what may interfere with this creativity. Besides, creativity has its own schedule.
There are no technologies, time-saving devices that could change the rhythms of creative work. When the value of creativity is expressed in exchange rate terms, creativity automatically depreciates and gradually turns into work
About not stopping
Steve Jobs,
entrepreneur, designer, inventor
Speech Steve Jobs, dedicated to the graduating class of Stanford University in 2005, is a true treasure and revelation. It was sorted out into quotes a long time ago, but still it wouldn’t hurt to include one excerpt in my collection.
Your work will fill most of your life, and the only way to be completely satisfied is to do what you think is great work. And the only way to do great things is to love what you do. If you haven't found your business yet, look for it. Don't stop. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know it when you find it. And like any good relationship, they get better and better over the years. So search until you find it. Don't stop
About friends
Robert Kralwich,
journalist, producer
Robert Kralwich, co-producer of the Radiolab show, author of the most informative blog Kurlwich Wonders, a Peabody Award winner highlights the most important social aspect in doing what you love, there are social connections that are much more important than prestige.
You will lay the foundation for your work, as well as the foundation for attachments with the people you have helped and who have helped you. Those you have met, who have noticed you, who have challenged you, who work with you and support you. Maybe they will become your strength.
If you can... fall in love - with the work, with the people you work with, with your dreams and theirs. Don't miss the opportunity to learn something. Don't miss what keeps you here and now. Believe in your friends. Believe in what you and your friends say, in the way you say it - that you are bringing something new into this world
“Find something greater than yourself and devote your life to it,” philosopher Dan Dennett once said when discussing the path to happiness. But how exactly to find that very activity? Of course, this does not happen by accident. I am convinced that curiosity and the ability to make choices help us find ourselves, but finding our calling is a complex and individual process. Despite this, there are some factors that can help alleviate it. In this article, we share insights from seven thinkers on how to make a living doing what you love.
Paul Graham on doing what you love
Every few months I rediscover and voraciously re-read a wonderful article by Y-Combinator founder Paul Graham entitled “How to Do What You Love,” written by in 2006. The article is excellent, but the part that seemed most important and relevant to me was the part in which the author talks about public opinion and that prestige is not an indicator of success:
“I think you shouldn’t worry about the opinions of others about you, with the exception of your friends. Don't worry about prestige either. Prestige is the opinion of others.”
“Prestige is a powerful magnet that can distort even your own ideas about what brings you pleasure. It forces you to work not on what you love, but on what you wish you loved.”
“Prestige and inspiration are inextricably linked. If you are very good at something, you can turn it into a prestigious activity. Many of the phenomena that we consider prestigious were far from this at the beginning of their history. An example of this would be jazz, although any art form would fit this description. So do what you enjoy and don’t worry about prestige.”
“Prestige is a particular danger for ambitious people. If you need to get a person with ambition to spend his time doing something, make him believe that he will do it. prestigious job. This is why many people give speeches, write forewords, serve on committees, serve as department heads, and so on. I advise you to make it a rule to avoid performing any task with a touch of prestige. If it were truly worthwhile, it would not be labeled with prestige.”
Alain de Botton on success
Alain de Botton, a contemporary philosopher and author of self-help books written in a literary style, studies the paradoxes and misconceptions created by the norms of our culture.
In “The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work,” de Botton, with his usual wit and wisdom, addresses the topic of professional activity, exposing the deceitfulness of “success.”
“Interesting feature success - we think we know what it is. Very often our ideas about happy life are not really ours. They are absorbed by us from other people. We also absorb advertisements, messages from TV and so on. These are the strongest sources that determine our desires and how we perceive ourselves. I'm not saying that we need to get rid of our ideas about success, but only that it is important to make sure that these ideas are actually our authorship. I advise everyone to focus on your ideas and check whether they are truly yours, whether you are truly the author of your own ambitions. Not achieving what you want is bad, but it’s much worse to live thinking that you need one thing, and at the end of your journey realize that this is not at all what you really wanted.”
Hugh McLeod on setting boundaries
Cartoonist Hugh MacLeod is famous not only for his provocative doodles, but also for his categorical opinions on creativity, culture and the meaning of life. In Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity, McLeod has collected his wisest advice for creative people. This thought about the need to set boundaries seemed especially close to my own judgments about the importance of choice:
16. “The most important thing a creative person can learn in terms of work is to be able to draw a line that separates what you agree to do from what you don’t agree to do.
Art suffers from the moment people start paying for it. The greater your need for money, the more others will tell you what to do. The less control you will have over the situation. The more crap you have to swallow. The less pleasure you will get from creativity. Keep this in mind and plan your route with the above in mind.”
McLeod then talks about prestige, expressing a view similar to Graham's:
28. “The best way to get approval is not to need it. This rule applies to art and business. Love. Sex. Everything really worthwhile.”
Lewis Hyde on the difference between work and labor
One of the best books on creativity of all time is Lewis Hyde's 1979 book The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World. David Foster Wallace said the famous phrase about him: “No person who has previously been creative can remain the same after reading this book.”
In the excerpt below, Hyde explains the difference between work and creative work, understanding which can help us move closer to the much desired professional self-realization:
“Work is what we do hourly and, if possible, for money. Work is when people weld car bodies on an assembly line, wash dishes, calculate taxes, make rounds at a mental health clinic, pick asparagus on the property. Labor, on the contrary, sets its own rhythm. We can get a reward for it, but it will be harder to measure it... Examples of labor are creating a poem, raising a child, developing a new method of calculation, overcoming a state of neurosis, inventing something.
Work is an intentional activity performed at the will of a person. Labor can also be intentional, which may manifest itself in preparatory work or avoidance of tasks that could interfere with work. However, apart from these moments, work proceeds according to its own schedule.”
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi gave a name to the quality that distinguishes work from work - “flow”. The flow state is characterized by strong focus and clarity of thinking, as well as a feeling of “losing” oneself, losing track of time, and a sense of belonging to something important. If you've ever sat up all night working on your own project, or spent 20 hours straight writing... love letter, then you probably experienced a state of flow and creative work familiar to you.
Steve Jobs on constant search
In his legendary 2005 Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs spoke eloquently about the need to keep searching for what you love until you find it. In the search process, according to Jobs, the most important role human intuition plays:
“Your job will take up a significant part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you think is good work. And carry out good job It's only possible if you love what you do. If you haven't found something like this for yourself yet, keep looking. Don't stop. When you meet true love, then you immediately understand this, and in the search for your favorite thing, everything is exactly the same. And, like any strong relationship, over the years the attachment to your favorite activity only grows. So keep searching until you find the one. Don't stop."
Robert Kralvich about friends
Robert Krulwich, co-producer of the excellent radio program Radiolab on WNYC, author of the fascinating science website Krulwich Wonders, and recipient of the Peabody Award for his significant contributions to broadcasting, is one of the best journalists working today. Addressing Berkeley graduates, he emphasized the most important social aspect of work - the presence of social connections that are much more meaningful and honest compared to prestige and the approval of others.
“On my own life path you will gain a job, but you will also gain affection for those people whom you have helped and who have helped you. It doesn't matter what status your friends occupy in society. It is important that they make time for you, challenge you, help you with your work, and are always ready to lend a friendly shoulder. Perhaps you will find strength in your friends.”
“If you can, fall in love with your work, with the people you work with, with your dreams and their dreams. Don't forget what brought you to this university. Don't forget what you studied here for. Believe in your friends. Believe that your thoughts and the thoughts of your friends, as well as the way you express them, bring something new into the world.”
Holsti's Manifesto
Holstee Manifesto is a beautiful message about the meaning of life, an excerpt from which we present below:
“This is your life. Do what you enjoy and do it often. If you don't like something, change it. If you don't like your job, quit. If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV. If you are looking for your soulmate, stop. She will appear in your life as soon as you start doing what you love.”
The words of the manifesto are now printed on posters, greeting cards and even children’s bibs, because it’s never too early to learn to listen to your heart.
It is strange that upon closer acquaintance it turns out that many of them unusual story life, interesting hobbies, rich imagination and the like. They are all unique, but how is it possible that they are so different people do they look that same?
Of course, it's all about socialization. When we were children, the world seemed so huge: we played happily, laughed loudly, cried when it hurt, admired, knew how to see the beauty of the world and generally didn’t think much about who and what thought about us. Everything was so easy until we started to grow up, having unpleasant experiences, first disappointments, unrequited love.
In order to organically settle in society, we had to fall under the influence of the rules of etiquette, social attitudes and ridiculous stereotypes - this is normal, because we must live according to certain laws so as not to infringe on other people with our freedom.
But the fact is that in addition to the hard work of being a law-abiding citizen, you need to do an equally difficult job - being yourself. Today, in our world, which is so actively striving for tolerance, nevertheless, this is still big problems, because in order to freely do what you like (of course, within the framework of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), you must have outstanding will and strength of character in order to be able to defend your principles if necessary.
That's why the ability to be oneself is an important spiritual work that every person should do. And the trick is that you need to grasp the delicate balance between not disturbing people with your eccentricity, but at the same time not being enslaved by their love of judgment and imposing their own opinions.
What are the usual reasons for not being able to express your feelings and do what you like?
You are afraid of conflict.
You have gained control over your emotions: usually for girls it is the image of a languid diva who weighs her every word, and for men it is the image of a sexy male who takes himself too seriously.
You have low self-esteem and everything you want seems absurd and impracticable to you.
You like to accumulate sad moods inside to indulge in melancholy from time to time.
You are afraid to take responsibility for your own actions.
Because of this, unfulfilled desires, unmet needs and unfulfilled dreams accumulate in a person for years, which cannot find a way out, and the person, not wanting to become an opposition, does not suspect that result may turn out to be more deplorable than condemnation from others.
Firstly, he simply runs the risk of not living “his own life”. We very often follow the lead of our mother, husband, father, grandmother, best friend who always “know what is best.” Instead of rebelling and making decisions on our own so as not to take responsibility, we listen to people who project their experiences and desires onto us, but, as a rule, nothing useful ever comes of it.
Secondly, he may become depressed. Very often, in a psychiatrist’s office, people admit that they go to great lengths in terms of work, night parties, romantic relationships, just so as not to hear how their soul calls for help and asks to change something in their life. But instead of daring to change, he only pushes himself further, turning his everyday life into Groundhog Day. In such conditions, we do not understand at all who we are and what we want, and the more time passes, the more difficult it is to change something. This cannot continue for long and at some point the body malfunctions, which is expressed in depressive moods.
So, no matter how attractive the prospect of being someone else, more attractive, or the illusion that someone knows for you what will be better may seem, or you simply do not want to enter into conflicts and provoke indignant views, one way or another, being who you are is very important.
Suppressing this natural impulse by adapting to other people’s patterns and standards is a simple disrespect for one’s self, and with such an attitude one can wait a long time for happiness. That's why work on your character, know how to stand up for yourself to withstand a harsh word or look, meditate to better hear yourself and your needs.
Let your childhood be your guideline with all the bright emotions and sincerity, now subtract naivety and capriciousness from here, add experience and wisdom acquired in the process of life - the result of this equation will be ideal option.
And remember: a person should not be someone’s parody, make someone’s dreams come true and conform to tastes strangers– all these desires are fundamentally immature, and therefore cannot initially be crowned with success. Just be who you are, constantly improving and developing!
Elko Roos worked at IBM for more than ten years. According to him, he never dreamed of working in an IT company. He was attracted to photography as a way to express emotions.
Over time account Roosa started signing everything more people, and when the top manager realized that he could make money from this and he liked it, he decided to leave IBM.
Now Roos is engaged only in photography and earns money from advertising campaigns that brands order from him. Customers already included Samsung, Ducati and Johnnie Walker.
I have never regretted leaving my job at IBM.
Elko Roos
What excuse do you have for not doing what you love? It is unlikely that you can recklessly quit your job and start trying to make money with your music group, but you definitely have the opportunity to at least combine two things.
Roos' departure from IBM was a calculated decision. According to him, he left only when the number of subscribers on his Instagram exceeded 100 thousand, and he realized that he could make money from it. Now more than 400 thousand people have subscribed to it.
Doing what you love is difficult. We have to change the very concept of life. I think when you were still a child, you saw how the lives of adults work: they devote some time to making money, and the rest of the time to doing what they like. Of course, there are exceptions. And you have the right to become one of them.
Some people believe that the point of work is to exchange your time for the opportunity not to die of hunger. There were periods when this was the case. Now almost anyone can tell such a concept to hell.
American entrepreneur Paul Graham believes that there are two ways to do what you love:
- The organic way: develop at work, receiving more and more pleasant and fewer unpleasant tasks.
- The path of two jobs: work on what you don’t like to earn money and have the opportunity to work on what you like.
The organic route is more common. For example, you are a beginner web designer. You rave about cool websites, complex projects, and dream of working in a team of professionals who will teach and make you better.
But in order to achieve your dreams, you will have to work on boring projects. It will be good if they are related to the specialty. You may have even less luck and end up making brochures and business cards to make money. Despite this, you are still in a good situation, because it can be worse.
It happens that, following a dream, you have to earn money during the day and work on what you like at night. It may seem to you that you do not live, but exist. You often have to make difficult choices between what you like and what you hate. The choice is also complicated by the fact that if you leave a job you don’t like too early, you risk being left without money; if you leave too late, you risk being left without something you love.
If you have obligations (family, loans, lifestyle), then obviously you need to choose the second path. You can take a risk and choose the first path, but if you haven’t done it before, you’re unlikely to do it now.
Each path is difficult in its own way. There is a chance that you will fail. In truth, the risk is quite high. But it’s better to take a risk and draw a route to your goal, at least in your head, than to work your whole life in a job you don’t like.