I’ve been analyzing how I spend my time for the last few days.
As I write these words, I’ve undertaken a project that is very large: I’m building my own house from scratch with no assistance from a construction crew, just me, with a few friends and my wife lending a helping hand from time to time.
If I wind back the clock 5 years, I was spending an immense amount of time on schoolwork in a degree program that I had interest in, electrical engineering.
Wind back the clock 5 years from that, and I was spending an immense amount of time on schoolwork that I had no interest in.
My point is, as I’ve gone from financially insecure to financially secure, I’ve also gradually moved from work and school relating to subjects that were of minimal interest to me, to ones that were exciting to me and that I’ve always had a basic curiosity about.
From that viewpoint I’ve basically moved myself from doing things that were fun and or satisfying, but I had no intrinsic interest in, to things that were fun, satisfying, and I was also interested in. It was merely happenstance that the career path that that I chose also happens to be incredibly challenging, it also rewards those who choose it with higher than average career earnings.
But honestly, we live in the United States of America, and there is so much cash floating around out there that basically any career path can experience a similar trajectory. Which brings me to the point of this post. Any pursuit that we choose as humans must satisfy an innate curiosity that we have (and some people are obviously more curious then others) and when it doesn’t, we will inevitably be dissatisfied with the way that we spend the vast majority of our time. The average person will probably struggle to locate more than 60-70 hours of “free time” per week. If 40 of that is spent at work, what are the chances that you can really satisfy that desire to pursue hobbies and interests in the remaining 25 hours? Perhaps you can, but I think your chances would be significantly better if your career would also provide at least some satiation to your interests.
Here is where people get lost; your career cannot be 100% pursuing your hobby. Every person I’ve ever discussed work/career/life with has always expressed a few things that they wish their job didn’t require them to do. I’ve even had the conversation with people who made their art into a career, (think pottery studio owner) and these people complain about the administrative tasks that are draining for them. You must analyze what your deepest curiosities are about, and then pursue a career that begins to help you satisfy those curiosities.
It is human nature to be dissatisfied with the career that you’ve chosen, but if it is assisting you in your pursuit of a hobby, it becomes a much easier choice to stay with a company or a career path.
Granted, I do have a certain advantage over many people because both myself and my wife know how to live within our means, and that has set me up to pursue school as an adult without crushing student loan debt. But this path is open to far more people then might initially consider it, since the beauty of student loans is that if you carefully choose a higher paying career that aligns with your interests you can use your earnings AFTER the degree program to pay for current expenses.
The moral of the post is that when you have the financial security to do so, making the move to a job that satisfies an innate curiosity of yours can be a very satisfying and engaging life choice, and will definitely increase your satisfaction with your career path.
If you are this far through my blog post, I already know something about you… you care more than the average person about what you end up doing with the majority of your time. Make your job have elements of your hobbies, and you will not dread the morning commute to work.
I hope this post gives you some food for thought. Here are a few steps to get you heading in the right direction:
- Never give up, and don’t settle. If you are late in your career, or far into schooling for the wrong thing, and you aren’t sure you can make the switch, believe me, it is possible.
- Don’t expect everything about your job to be perfect. Even if you are in a good job, there will likely always be things that will bug you.
- No regrets. If you know you will get to the end of your life and regret what you are doing right now, stop doing that thing as quickly as possible. You are never as stuck as you think.
- Write down the things that you research and the things that interest you the most. This is an exercise that you can do in one sitting, or sit on it for a few weeks and write down thoughts as they come to you. One of the ways that I discovered my life path was that I spent a ton of time researching Nikola Tesla (a famous electrical engineer) my senior year of high school. I also read a TON popular science magazines as a kid. My curiosity was captured and it (eventually) directed my career path.