What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

“People will do something—including changing their behaviour—only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”
― Marshall Goldsmith

Do you still make a “to do” list? How about making a “not to do” list?

Sounds confusing right? Let me explain. When we make a to-do list without making a not-to-do list, we carry our habits and experience into the future. What happens then, you create more of the same, the same experience which you have been having. There is a saying that if you keep on doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting. You see we have to get rid of something before something else can take its place.

You are where you are.. because of the choices that you have made along the way. However, wherever you are in life, you are in the right place. The situations that have led you up till now are necessary for you to become the person that you are right now.

We need to shift our old philosophy of living our life. People sent their children to school, so their children can eventually get a good job. Now let us stop at this, let us look and do some reality check; how many of our friends or relatives are holding a satisfying job or even a job that is directly related to the subject that they have chosen to study? My observation is, very few and far in between. The question then is, why? Why are we not having the job that we want? Or when we get it we aren’t satisfied and keep wondering why we aren’t happy.

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. – Albert Einstein

You see, we have been conditioned to think that life is about preparing to get a job, get married, have children, grow into old age and then die. Is that it to life? To be born, learn, earn, procreate and die?  A big NO.

It is clear that we should all do what we love, be it whatever, for the simple reason that we live once, life is short, and we are should be enjoying life itself.

Now you might think that if you do what you love you will not be able to make a living. You may say you like to read, how can you earn by reading? Or maybe you love dancing, well a lot of dancers become popular and are in demand regardless of their age.

Or you may love to joke, there is a huge demand for comedians or stand-up comedians.

Now, about reading as a career, or any other seemingly not profitable skill or habit. Remember, if you really love reading, you will improve your reading and somewhere in time you will want to share what you read or you may become so good at reading that you know how to write yourself, or you may become a novel critic and yes, there is a real job called ‘book scout’ or a proofreader.

Everything seems impossible until it is done – Nelson Mandela

It is not easy to start earning in the first year, but if you stick to it, you will improve. With improvement will come passion and then mastery and then the demand for your expertise will be high.

And you won’t care about money because you will be happy. And happy people earn more money. When you do what you love you will definitely want to improve it and you will do your research and find out how to make it better.

When you do what you love, you will have no time for gossip, for judging others. You won’t look for entertainment like video games or mindless binge-watching because you won’t need them. You will have so much energy that those around you will think that you are an alien, that you should take a rest. Because in their limited mind, it is impossible to have so much energy, and it makes them insecure.

When you do what you love, your immune system will be at its peak and diseases will stay away. You will be happy and it will inspire others to do their own thing also.

Just because we have been doing good up until now does not mean we cannot do better. our parents and grandparents have different types of struggle to get us here. We need to create a better future for your next generations, and the same thinking and methods wont be suit the future.

In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. – Eric Hoffer