Wake up in the morning, go to work, go to lunch, go home, watch TV, eat dinner, and go to bed. Repeat the process daily and pray for the weekend to come as fast as possible! Why is it that we are so much more willing to live in Groundhog’s Day instead of taking control and doing something different? Why do we live for the weekends? It seems like we are ready to sacrifice happiness for stability and security.
Our parents told us when were little that we could be anything, but as we moved into high school and college, we were told to find a good job and start our career. But now, we have been trained since we were young to minimize risk and do what is safe: to go to college and find a good job. Settle down at some point, marriage, maybe some promotions, kids, and do that until we can retire. The cost of doing this is great in many cases. I see people every day that are only happy on Saturday and Sunday.
Happiness is not found in the amount of money you make. It isn’t found in money alone, it isn’t found in family alone, it isn’t found in work alone. Happiness is found in purpose, and in the ability to master that purpose. We find happiness in being excited about the future.
One of the most exciting things we do is talk to people about the future! Eric Thomas, a very popular motivational speaker says, “You should want to succeed as much as you want to breathe.” What I take away from this statement is that when we can’t breathe, our focus is intense and singular. We put everything we have into breathing. So what could be accomplished if we put even half this intensity into our skills? What if we found our passion and what we loved to do? And put that singular intensity into making it our strongest skill. I think you could make real change in the world and at the very least you and the people you are close too would be happier!
The most difficult thing to figure out what your passion is and once you figure that out, how do you use it to live? Unfortunately, that question is very personal to each one of you. Only you can answer that question. Perhaps others who have a deep personal relationship with you can help guide your answer based on what they see in you. But 99% of the answer resides in you.
Take time to figure it out. Experiment a little. Use the time after you get off work and when you have finished family time to do things that interest you. Spend 2 hours each night on something you love. If you love beer, why not create your own? Or maybe you just love the taste and want to experience all the beers from around the world. Start a vlog of you sampling beers. If you find you are happy with this, then you win. There are millions of examples we could go through, but the bottom line is to go for it. Don’t wait for next week. Start now!