Studies have shown that only 17% of us feel like we are making a substantial, meaningful impact in our career. That means that less than 2 in 10 believe that they are being properly utilized, and that their chosen career path will be fulfilling and worthwhile. Common sentiment tells us that this is the nature of work- it’s called work after all, right!? To be fair, of course there are things about most jobs that are going to feel difficult from time to time, but should we accept that these difficult aspects should define our careers altogether? Should we accept that being miserable is the price you pay to receive a paycheck? The truth is that you can have fulfilling satisfying work. You can work in a supportive environment around people you enjoy, while doing what you love. You can feel alive every day of your life and make money in the process. I have a term for this sort of career: Life’s Work.
Life’s Work is different from a job in a substantial way. Sure, both a job and Life’s Work get a paycheck at the end of the day, but when you are engaged in your particular Life’s Work, you are going to be significantly happier at the end of each week. You will recognize when you’re doing your Life’s Work by the feeling it gives you. When you are engaged in your Life’s Work, you will feel more alive, and the work will actually inspire vitality in you. Your work will allow you to express more fully who you are as it helps you to grow, evolve, and as unlikely as it might sound, actually become more enlightened.
Enlightenment comes from learning to put awareness and intentionality into all you do. When this happens, you bring the energy around you to a point of greater harmony, beauty and order. Doing your Life’s Work provides the vehicle for your enlightenment and spiritual growth. Simply put, when you love what you do, you naturally put intentionality and awareness into your activities, and you can feel it- right down to your soul. It’s my strong belief that any comprehensive approach to life will recognize that none of life is disconnected from any other part. I believe that all of life is connected to all other parts of life, and that when we live the life that we are called to, and when we are engaging in our Life’s Work, then our soul will resonate in the form of peace and contentment. However, even as your soul corroborates, your Life’s Work, it informs it.
Did you know that your soul speaks to you, because it does! You soul speaks through your feelings, imagination, desires and dreams. That’s right, your deepest desires and wildest dreams come from your soul! Your soul is not limited by the identity you have right now, it sees the larger picture of who you are, and who you want to become. It knows what is possible for you to accomplish in this lifetime, and it has big plans for you. Your soul will communicate your potential and give you direction by giving you dreams of your ideal life, but here is the rub: you must not discard your fantasies as wishful thinking. To many of us dismiss our soul’s desire as an idealistic fairy tale, and thus dishonor our deeply legitimate desires. This is not merely soul ignorance- it’s soul crushing. Honor the messages from your soul as the deepest part of your being. They are important messages about what you can do, and the directions you can choose.
At this point some of you may be thinking that listening to your soul to create your Life’s Work, must mean that you have to quit your job, go on a quest and find your mythical purpose. Here is the good news: you likely do not have to make that big of a change! Most of us have those moments in life when things just seem to go well. Those rare moments when you feel like the world is on your side and that you are experiencing a wonderful moment of satisfaction. For some, these moments are fairly frequent, others will have to dig deep to recall this moment in time. All of us need to let ourselves enter into this moment. You must feel the feelings you had in your moment of triumph and understand that this is the feeling that you will have will have when everything in your life is working; when your environment is totally nurturing, alive and utilizing you to your highest potential.
One way to discover your life’s work is to observe what you love to do and what you do naturally, noticing which skills you enjoy using; your lives work will involve using those skills. I’ll use me as an example, I always noticed that I loved talking in front of people and I was always able to improvise and feel immediately energized holding a microphone, so closing my eyes for a second going back to those key moments when I felt that, I try to bring that “feeling” into the worries of my present, into my “here and now”. The reason for this exercise is this: your intent is as important as your commitment.
You see, the stronger your intent and the more you believe that your Life’s Work is out there waiting for you, then the more your success is within reach. The truth is – you will experience a higher level of success, and more quickly, as you listen to and take action on your soul’s guidance. Now if I am making this sound easy, let me tell you that it is not. If finding your Life’s Work was easy then more than 17% of us would be satisfied in our work! It is precisely because finding our Life’s Work is challenging that we must remember to not get discouraged! If you feel like you’re currently doing something that has nothing to do with your life’s work; take comfort in the fact that every job will prepare you in someway for the next one. Trust that what you’re doing right now is helping you to gain the skills necessary for your greater Life’s Work.
The ideal situation for your Life’s work will be a combination of the skills you want to use, and your dreams. As you examine your dreams of an ideal life and identify the things that you are drawn to- from environment to the type of people you enjoy- you are actually identifying the elements of your life’s work! Take a moment to make a mental model that will help to inform and shape your Life’s Work. Ask yourself: What is my dream? Don’t rush through this! Take a moment to get in touch with your dream. It is important to be specific and clear about what you want because you will get what you ask for. Remember that you do not have to identify your dreams instantly, the first step to identifying and crafting your dream is holding the pictures of your ideal life in your mind. Your thoughts are real, and as you get specific about what you would like, your mind and soul begin to create your vision. Ask for what you want no matter how impractical or far-fetched that it may seem. Allow yourself to believe that you are creating a new reality. You do not have to know when or how it will come just yet, all you need to do is get clear about what you want and dare to think big.
You have what it takes
You may feel a bit intimidated as you think big; this is normal. You need to know that you do not necessarily need to posses all of the required skills for your dreams at the start. The beauty of your life’s work is that it’s the joyous journey that lasts a lifetime. This means that you will have the opportunity to develop your inner strengths over time. Just as the old adage goes, “Every epic journey starts with one small step,” you must realize that you do not need to take a large risks or big steps that are inappropriate for you. As you start with small steps, and as you develop your inner resources, each move you make will be an easy next step. When you take these small steps you will discover that your dreams are within your reach, and easier to accomplish than you imagined.
It is important to remember that your Life’s Work will pre-eminently require the skills of listening, and following your own wisdom. In pursuing your Life’s Work you must make your inner compass the authority on what is good for you as creating your Life’s Work is a process of discovering yourself.
Going within
To create your life’s work you will need to learn to solve your own problems. Let’s call these problems “challenges ” or “opportunities for growth.” While it is fine to seek outside guidance when you encounter challenges, you must be the one to make the final decision from your heart and in one accord with your intuition. The first of these challenges is usually the fact that no one is going to be able to structure your life’s work. There is no layout, instruction manual or blueprint for your unique dreams, talents and desires that will make up your Life’s Work. You must understand that you have control over your own life. Know that you are in charge of your destiny. You can shape your future by being alert and aware of opportunities, knowing when to take action and when to remain still. You should start to do this in the small ways even now. Discover your own answers, make your own path. As you begin to forge your own road you will discover that you are developing the skill of creative thinking. As your creative thinking skills grow stronger, you will be able to find more innovative and uniquely effective ways to do your work, meet challenges, and be more successful.
Take action
The first thing you should focus on accomplish every day is something that will help make your dreams come true. You will be amazed at the way your life will change when you re-reframe your priorities and focus from the time you wake up each day. You may have been thinking for months about making a change, but you do not know where to start. Or maybe you feel trapped, like you do not have the option of leaving your current situation. Perhaps you know what you’d like to do, but feel it will cost you too much or require you to do something beyond your skills and resources.
Remember there should always be a period of inner work that precedes external results. Before a significant external change you must be examining your thoughts, reevaluating your life, observing circumstances or challenges from a new perspective, and gathering the energy needed to make a change. Remember: the size of the outer change that you desire is directly proportional to the amount of inner preparation that must be made first. Small changes = less preparation. Big changes = much preparation.
You already know that you have been given the talents, desires, skills, and the preferences you have because they are in someway part of your path. You know that this unique blend is needed in the world. So much important work is waiting for you to wake up to your purpose and start believing in yourself. Your work is important. Your contribution is irreplaceable and needed.
Believe in yourself
Start now! If you are waiting for friends, a spouse, employer, employees or coworkers to give you what you want, you are turning your power over to others. Give yourself permission to do what you want to do with your life, and decide you are going to take action toward your goal. Remember that you are at your best, for yourself and others, when you are fully engaging in your special blend of talents, skills and desires. If you give up your goals dreams and aliveness to be with people, you are actually robbing them of the best that you can offer.
The only way you can truly love and support others is to support their aliveness and growth; the best way to support those who matter most to you is to support your own aliveness and growth. So you need to give yourself permission to do what you love and want to do. Know that not everyone will understand this so it is exceedingly important to remember that only you can know what your path is. Your Life’s Work may be quite different from what others picture you doing, so it is paramount to honor your own direction.
Finally, to succeed at anything you must love it, and only you can know what you love. If you go against your inner message by trying to succeed at a career you do not love just to please others, you will lose your sense of joy and aliveness. Even if you cannot picture exactly how everything will work out, decide that you start honoring your dreams by following your internal compass. You may not see how there can be any money in it at first, but you are designed to live you dream, and invariably, money will follow happiness.
Author: Esther Iturralde
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: My story starts on October 3, 1983 in Mexico City. I was born the youngest of five children to an incredibly loving family. My amazing family influences every party of my story, and they continue to be very close to my heart.
Ever since I can remember, I have had a passion to express myself creatively. This passion led me to study visual communication at the top design school in Mexico, Centro de Diseño Cine y Televisión. Right out of design school, I was ecstatic to get a job with a big design firm in Mexico City. After ten months (and what seemed like a million hours) with this firm, I felt burnt out, and uninspired. Was this really what design was all about? This certainly did not satisfy my creative ambitions that were so important to me! All at once, I could no longer maintain this uninspired routine, and I resigned. For months, at this point, I had been dreaming of opening a design studio of my own. A studio that provided creative freedom and innovation. A studio that I could craft into an outlet for my passion. So I took a risk, and started a design company named Rocket Visual Communication. Here I am, 6 years later, and I have had the pleasure of working with many great clients, and have formed Rocket into a boutique design company oriented towards corporate branding and specializing in international imaging. More importantly, I created just the outlet that I needed.
It is the journey from creative student, to burned out employee, to successful design studio founder that has drawn me to coaching. The countless trials that faced me, both as a young professional and a fledgling business owner gave me a great interest in personal development and self-awareness. Reflecting on my journey, and what I learned along the way, has led me to a new passion. I believe that everybody that feels stuck, unhappy and directionless doesn’t need to feel that way. I believe that anybody should be able to pursue their passion just like I did.
Today I am an entrepreneur, business owner, life coach and the creator of two online platforms: planAstartup.com and metodo42.com
Link to social media or website: https://www.estheriturralde.com
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