I used to think I fell completely on the side that I should do something I love. But the reality is that there is an imperative to make money. And right out of college, however you make money, ends up taking most of your resources: time and energy and...money (buying work clothes, work lunches, activities, commute gas).
However, all I have had to guide me is a longing for something else. A sense that there is something else I can or should be doing. A sense that there is a better way to be doing things.
A mentor sent me a poem called "Ithaca" that describes that you should keep going after these things. It reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. One huge thing to realize is that making money and doing what you love are two separate things. They can happen at the same time, or not at the same time. They are different skill sets. They are different actions.
How do you do what you love?
You are working from a place in your soul, doing something that matches with your essential self. Sounds pretty wishy-washy, but that is it. For a while, I drifted from activity to activity and I couldn't quite separate what was adrenaline, what was good, what I loved, what I was good at. It was all a mismash. Did I like this because I liked it 'inherently' or because I didn't want to do schoolwork?
I did not grow up doing things I wanted, I grew up doing good things that I was good at, or that I competed in. If I could do things I wanted, I would not have known how to do good things that you want. Good things that you want are borne out of curiosity and are like play to you and look like work to others. These might have been things like when I self-learned a programming language and programmed a simple game in a short amount of time. Had I been in the environment to recognize and capitalize on something like that...but there was not much driving me that way, in fact, I might have if I was not being pushed so hard to be a doctor. That is probably one of the worst things that has happened in my developmental life. Totally squashed my sense of what work was like. Work is something practical that makes a lot of money. You do not have to like it. Of course you have to like it, but the world I am in now, the world as it exists is that to excel you do things that you like. What it did do was expose me to a lot of different experiences, gave me a strong (and wrong) narrative, and functioned as a way for me to leverage access. However, to be 'perfect' it would be self-driven and then guided. Anyway that is what I am figuring out now. Without those opportunities I would not be where I am or who I am so I am thankful to my parents for those opportunities.
So that was a rant.
Here are the actual points of what you need to do:
*Understand what it is that drives you. There are only a few things...the sparketypes has actually been the only thing that has made functional sense to me. I've done Myers Briggs and many others. There is a certain tact you take towards any good job.
*Develop your financial skills. Saving money and having fun and a fulfilling life outside consumerism. Investing money in assets to produce income that eventually can sustain and exceed what few expenses you have.
*Develop your personal skills and there are certain skills which make money. Actually just make sure you make money in some way.
*Eventually, your passive asset production will outpace your expenses.
*Happiness is a collection of things, that are not things. Relationships. Work that is good. But mental health, physical health, and spiritual health is a way to break it down. It is a question that is valuable to answer for yourself. But, in general, you win when you are playing a one-person game...not chasing status or some reward outside your own system.
Learning. Teaching. Problem Solving. Making. New Experiences. Relaxing with Family.