LIVING WITH PURPOSE
How do you know if you have made the right career choice? If you should leave your current job and take the plunge and dare to go for your dreams? If you will succeed in your next role?
These are the questions I am asked very often. In fact these are the questions that people are waiting to get answers for before making any decision. These are the questions that make us see the glaring gap between where we are today and where we think we might want to be.
I have had many career changes in my short life. From doing the “corporate hustle” in the auditing firms to funding SMEs and finally developing entrepreneurs. My earlier studies had very little to do with my current profession. There were times when I couldn’t quite figure out where my career path was leading me. I spent a whole lot of time questioning, wondering what’s next and feeling out of place in the environments I was working in.
I basically was spending my life waiting to start living. Waiting for the new income bracket, the new title, for my boss to see the valuable contribution I bring, for my job to get more interesting, for someone to say I should do it, for SOMETHING!
It was during my early career life that a friend of mine suggested that we travel to Europe for a holiday. I had never travelled abroad before and I couldn’t quite figure out how I would raise the money to go. But nonetheless I was sold on the idea and as we know, once you decide you want to do something, the solution arises. We went away and had an awesome experience. I came back broke, so excited and with a new perspective on life. I realized just how much I have, just how good I really have it and decided that I would put more effort in being grateful for what I do have and to use it better.
Soon amazing things started to happen. You see gratitude has an incredible way of making what you have today as more than enough for where you need to go. You start to see opportunities that have been right in front of you all this time. I have been living a whole lot since then. Taking baby steps is now an adventure, and it is constantly leading me to more.
So here is my 2cents worth of advice for living fully:
Success isn’t a destination, a specific accomplishment or something that is out there that you need to reach or gain. Success is in living in the present moment and being completely grateful for all the experiences and the learning that we have from every stage of our lives and careers. As stated so eloquently by an insightful writer “As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.”― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
My best friend and I attended a seminar hosted by T Harv Eker and during the seminar he said “How you do one thing is how you do everything”. That was a big “aha” moment for us. Think about how much effort you put in some things and how little enthusiasm you have for other things. If we put as much energy, enthusiasm and love in all that we do, think just how incredible life can be. How rewarding every experience would be. So, whatever career you are in right now, take comfort in that it is preparing you for the next one. Treat it as the audition for your next big move. Do it with all that you have and be grateful for it and it might just surprise you by bringing you great reward and an opening to your next role.
Comfort zones are limiting beliefs
My favourite lesson has been in learning to embrace being uncomfortable. Picture a circle that represents your current life. All that you know, your home, the people in your life, your work etc. are in that circle. Now picture a spot just outside that circle; that is where your growth sits. See the illustration below:
Comfort zones
Your growth is always just a small step away, take small actions and your world will grow.
Taking small steps is a lot easier said than done. But here is something I learned from T Harv Eker, “Sloppy success is better than perfect mediocrity”. Waiting for perfection before doing anything may just keep you in that same position for a very long time. So take the small step; it will be sloppy, it won’t look perfect and it may go completely wrong. You may FAIL! Yes that’s right, you may just fail this round. But failure is FEEDBACK. As long as you see failure as feedback then you gain the best gift of all, how not to do it next time.
Try it, learn from it, and then try it differently next time. Do it fully with enthusiasm and remember to say thank you!
Written By:
Palesa Mabidilala
CEO EnziAfrica