Why do most people stay in a job or career that they don’t love? They get scared and put out the fire before it even gets going. How many times have you had a great idea and before you can even contemplate it being a possibility you have come up with every reason under the sun why it wouldn’t succeed and so you shut it down.
Why Are You Stopping Yourself Before You Even Get Started?
If you find you want to leave the corporate world and do something different, it came be very daunting. You’re desperate to find that one thing, your passion, your calling. The thing you were put on this planet to do. You look at other people and feel jealous that they seem so certain of what they want and you don’t.
Yet every idea seems to be followed by all the reasons you wouldn’t succeed.
You’re too old, there is too much competition, there are better people out there, you’ll never make any money, people will laugh at you, you will fail, and so on.
You theorise in your head, waiting to stumble across that one idea that you are certain is your calling and you are certain you will succeed at. Only then will you allow yourself to put some time and effort into researching this area. But this is an unattainable goal, which is why so many people never take action, they are waiting for the impossible.
Stop Waiting For The Impossible
You need to take action before you know if it’s the right decision. And action does not need to be scary, it does not need to mean you commit to this being your new chosen career.
Often you won’t find what you really want until you do some digging around. Start talking to people, reading some books, following people, going to seminars. But if you’re stopping yourself before you even get started, then how will you ever find what you want. You’re not even giving yourself a chance.
What Can You Do:
Simply tell yourself:
I’m not committing to anything. I’ve got some ideas and it will be fun to see where they go. It will be fun to do some digging and find out more about this topic/area. I’m not saying this will be my next career, I’m just keen to keep learning. It doesn’t mean I will quit my job tomorrow!
It may seem simple, but just telling yourself this will alleviate the pressure.
Set Yourself a Challenge
Challenge yourself to spend just an hour each week digging into an area of interest for you. What you will find is that before long you will want to do more than just one hour, as the more you research, the more interesting you will find certain topics. Others will naturally drop off as you realise they aren’t really for you. Again, remind yourself, there is no pressure, you’re just having some fun!
Does my hobby have to be my job?
Just because you want to leave the corporate world and do someting for yourself doesn’t mean it has to be directly linked with your hobby. Just because you love fishing, doesn’t mean you need to work with fish. People get very confused here. A job does not need to fulfil all needs in your life.
What you need to know is they why behind you wanting to do something different. What is it you want to gain. Flexibility, money, fame, freedom, control?
This is vitally important to understand. From there you can build out what you want.
People often have a hard time reconciling what they want with what they think they should want. You may picture yourself opening a bakery because you have an image in your head of you working in a beautiful bakery in a little town. But is it the bakery you want, or the feeling that it brings you? Understanding this is very important. Look at the feelings these ideas bring you.
You want to design a life that allows you to incorporate everything you enjoy.
I love baking. I really enjoy making cakes and pastries, but I don’t want to do that for a living. What I want, is to design a life that leaves me room to do my baking.
So Stop Waiting And Start Experimenting
Tonight rather than watch tv, take one of the ideas you have and play around with it, see what happens. And if it doesn’t feel right, go onto the next one. Start talking to people about it. If you put yourself out there you’ll be amazed what other people will share and the ideas you may get from them.
By changing how you approach this you can stop yourself from putting forward all the reasons you wouldn’t succeed as it’s just a bit of fun!
So get going and enjoy it!
