Do You Have a Deeply Fulfilling Career? (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Do You Have a Deeply Fulfilling Career?

[Angela]

Oh, boy. "Either your career is overflowing with your personal magic, or it isn't." Maybe this is why I'm feeling so glum today.

But there are parts of my career that are a 10+, things that I will miss dearly. And there was a time when the whole stinkin' thing was a 10+. Is it possible that it's like a marriage: if the magic was there in the beginning, maybe it can be rekindled?

Or do I need to just kill my husband, metaphorically speaking of course.

[cdn2wheeler]

Careers, like marriage, are like a bath: After a while, it's not so hot.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Angela

Oh, boy. "Either your career is overflowing with your personal magic, or it isn't." Maybe this is why I'm feeling so glum today.

But there are parts of my career that are a 10+, things that I will miss dearly. And there was a time when the whole stinkin' thing was a 10+. Is it possible that it's like a marriage: if the magic was there in the beginning, maybe it can be rekindled?

Or do I need to just kill my husband, metaphorically speaking of course.

Maybe it could be rekindled, or maybe it's time to lovingly move on to your unfolding new purpose?

[DebiKC]

This really speaks to me. I am 37 and am in my first week in a program to get an Associates in Massage Therapy. This is after getting my Bachelors in Journalism back in 1994 and working in various PR positions ever since. I'm currently stuck in the admin job I took when I moved to Kansas City, and I've done quite a bit of soul searching to find myself making quite a career change. Thank you for this post - it reminds me of why I'm making the change!

[Lola]

Originally Posted by {aspiring_to_clarity}

Maybe it could be rekindled, or maybe it's time to lovingly move on to your unfolding new purpose?

OK, now aspiring and I are sharing thoughts!

Originally Posted by Angela

Oh, boy. "Either your career is overflowing with your personal magic, or it isn't." Maybe this is why I'm feeling so glum today.

Sometimes that glumness is to inspire changes within our careers. Sometimes it's to prod us to change careers. You'll figure out which it is because you're tenacious that way! (But let me know if you need a sounding board. I owe ya one. Or two. Or 173.)

ps to aspiring - I was reading last night and came upon a sentence that contained the word "aspiring". My brain automatically filled in "to clarity". Funny thing is it kinda fit!

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

I'm famous!

Lola, I would share thoughts with you any day.

[Steve Pavlina]

A fulfilling career is not a fixed position to achieve. It's an ongoing journey, an endless path. If you try to hunker down at some seemingly stable position, then no matter how good things once were, they'll eventually crumble. The reason is that you can't continue to express your true self if you fail to honor the new desires you are constantly spawning. And it's impossible for you to avoid spawning new desires -- that happens automatically as a consequence of observing what you're getting.

This isn't just true for a fulfilling career but for other areas as well, such as your personal relationships.

Another way of saying the same thing is: Either you're growing or you're dying.

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

A fulfilling career is not a fixed position to achieve. It's an ongoing journey, an endless path.

So many people - myself included (ACH..!) - have fallen into this trap. The delusion of the "brass ring" has been a particular bug-bear of mine in regards to career choices. Oddly enough, that hasn't manifested itself in other parts of my life. For instance, I've never been one to think that, "Once I have X (some sort of item that can be purchased, for example) then I'll be happy." But when it comes to career choices, for some reason it's different. Dunno why... yet another area for personal development, I suppose.

gawd... my PD list is getting longer and longer and longer...

[Ramsus]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

But if you picked anything other than 9 or 10, you’re a 1. That’s right, you’re a 1.

Yes! I've believed this for years, but everyone around me tells me I'm wrong. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Great article Steve, really great. I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the series.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Angela

But there are parts of my career that are a 10+, things that I will miss dearly. And there was a time when the whole stinkin' thing was a 10+. Is it possible that it's like a marriage: if the magic was there in the beginning, maybe it can be rekindled?

If I were to ask you if you currently have a fulfilling career, and your best answer is maybe, mostly, or sort of, then your honest answer is no.

Says Steve.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Angela

Or do I need to just kill my husband, metaphorically speaking of course.

Maybe you don't need to kill him. If he's just a bit outdated, you could adapt him to your current Self to make him sexier again. Unlike with real persons, with a metaphoric husband you can do that. Or keep him and get a few additional lovers for yourself. Metaphorically speaking of course.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

Maybe you don't need to kill him. If he's just a bit outdated, you could adapt him to your current Self to make him sexier again. Unlike with real persons, with a metaphoric husband you can do that. Or keep him and get a few additional lovers for yourself. Metaphorically speaking of course.

Right-o, Rose, that's what I was asking. I like your idea of being a swinger, so to speak.

[Lola]

Steve - thanks for this series. For once I'm reading your words and rather than feeling intrigued at the something new you're introducing to my consciousness or slightly confused at something I'm not sure I understand, I'm tingling in assent at what you're saying. Hey (I say) I know this!

The irony is that when you leave behind a career that’s a 7, your emotional journey and your physical journey will usually be out of sync. You might assume that messing with your income and job security is a bad thing that could easily turn your 7 into a 3 or less. And from a purely physical standpoint, that may be true.
...

But from an emotional standpoint, your 7 will almost immediately rise to an 8, 9, or 10 as soon as you get moving, even if your physical reality seems to worsen in the short term. Even while your physical security may seem to decline, you’ll actually feel relieved to leave an unfulfilling job.

Yes, yes, YES! This is absolutely true. And *feeling* so much better definitely provides you with a greater ability - more power - to creatively cope with whatever short-term physical sacrifice or discomfort may arise.

When you are really on the right career path, you can actually be at an emotional 9 or 10 even while an objective observer might rate your physical and financial reality as a 1 or 2. Trust your feelings! If you keep trusting those 9 and 10 feelings, it won’t be long before your physical reality catches up.

I am trusting my feelings (and now YOU!) that in making the changes I've made to my career path, my temporarily less cushy physical life will soon match my skyrocketing emotionally satisfying life.

[wulph]

Originally Posted by Angela

But there are parts of my career that are a 10+, things that I will miss dearly. And there was a time when the whole stinkin' thing was a 10+. Is it possible that it's like a marriage: if the magic was there in the beginning, maybe it can be rekindled?

Or do I need to just kill my husband, metaphorically speaking of course.

Angela, I would suggest that you think about the reasons your career was a 10+ in the past. What was fulfilling about it? Has your career changed, or have you changed the way you feel fulfilled? For example, maybe in the past you were allowed autonomy and creativity, and now management restricts you in subtle ways. Or, maybe you've outgrown your role, and you are interested in pursuing bigger challenges.

Similarly, what aspects of your career are still 10+? Are these in alignment with your core desires, or are these parts superficial and could be applied to a completely different path?

By analyzing these aspects, you will gain some clarity as to whether you want a slight change of focus or a completely new direction.

However, be careful about rationalizing your current position just because of all the time you've invested in it. Our emotions can play tricks on us here; sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. One good way to accomplish this is to think about where you'll be in 5 years if you stay on the current path.

[Ilya]

Great article as usual. Great example of how to leave the local maximum by using your emotions as a guide. Can be applied to the different areas of the life.

One consequence of this thinking is that sometimes you have to resist advancing your career at all. For example, many years ago I've got a job. It was truly my dream job in terms of self-expression. It was complete crap in terms of money. At the same time I've read Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and the idea to "never work for money" really hit me. And I though, damn, what shall I do? Should I quit? Should I stay?
In the end I had to remind myself why am I on this job. Not for money, but for self-expression. So I let it stay this way. I consciously focused on self-expression and consciously ignored the opportunities to get a raise, a promotion - anything that would suck me into the rat race. At the same time I've learned about investing, frugal leaving and abundance mindset. In three years I was financially free, while working on my gratifying, but low paying job.
And while all this time my physical perception was about 2-3, my emotional was gradually growing and finally shot to 10.

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

The emotional shift can happen very quickly, but it takes the physical world a while to catch up.

This is a great quote. Very true I think.

[jmac]

"Similarly, you are the Gene Roddenberry of your own career path. Either your career is overflowing with your personal magic, or it isn’t. Recognize that if you aren’t there yet, you aren’t there yet. The wrong path is the wrong path. The wrong path doesn’t suddenly turn into the right path around the next bend."

This was a vivid metaphor for me (I actually saw the end credits with his name in my head.)

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately in terms of designing the life and livelihood I want, i.e., using all the powers of my imagination to create images of a livelihood that is unique to my talents, loves, skills, desires, personality, etc.

I usually just do something I do quite well, or well enough, and do it for a while and then say it's not enough and then do something else for a while. I've done research and desktop publishing for a major university and driven a tractor trailer to name just a few of the jobs I've held. I've kind of, as Ilya put it, continuously reached "the local maximum" and then branched out a little (or occasionally a lot) beyond it.

So Steve, how I'm interpreting your article is that we are the centers of our own universes and our emotional journeys help us to stay connected with the energy and imaginings of that. The rating/evaluation process helps us to get from here to there (sort of like enlisting the left-brain to work in conjunction with the right-brain.) This is exciting to me and very, very new to me with respect to the fact that it is really internally generated, meaning one has to be strongly in touch with one's own vision but also in touch with one's emotional journey.

"You deserve to be fulfilled. If it takes you a decade or more to get there, so be it. The time will pass anyway, so invest it wisely. There’s no limit on how many tries you get. Just know that in your heart of hearts, you really want that 9 or 10, and no matter how much you try to deny it, the desire for creative self-expression still burns within you, and you will never be truly and deeply fulfilled until you have an effective outlet for it."

I love this.

[Ahora esta claro]

I'm 42 and I'm a self help junk. Anything that come to my hands I will read it and get inspired by. I've got hook into Stephen Covey seven habits lately and I cannot tell you the trips I've been having. However, on Sunday October 28 I found this site and read it for like 3 hours. The last one I read was the one about becoming an early riser. What follows is that I went to bed, set the alarm for five and got up at that time. I've been doing it since then (12 days). No great inspiration music in the background like in the movies, neither burning desire Rocky Balboa...Just Do it kind of thing. I cancel my dish tv, my NYT suscription and I also start writing about my life purpose. I sat for an hour writing and writing. Nothing totally concret yet, but I'm close. At least I know that my life purpose has something to do with me been in a state of total relax but focused at the same time. I know deep inside that I have to find that FIRST in order to think in a career. Steve says it over and over that the most important part is the one that is related to the heart or the inspiration. I don't just say that he is right, I feel it. You might say that at 42 is kind of late, but otherwise I will continue doing the same of the same which is not thinking intentionally. Last night I saw The Secret three times. Maybe you had the same reaction that I did when you saw this movie which is I know all that suff. But inmediately I thought but I'm no doing it! Remember, first things first.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

It's never too late.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Ahora esta claro

You might say that at 42 is kind of late, but otherwise I will continue doing the same of the same which is not thinking intentionally.

42 is not old! It's not late at all. Go for what you love! Ahorita!

Or do you want to be dying while still alive?

[JohnR]

I can sure relate to this. My working life has only been punctuated by periods of fulfilling career experiences. Most of it was soul destroying. Perhaps because of that, perhaps for unrelated reasons, my body put up some serious road blocks. The physical problems forced out, and into self-employment.

Being stubborn, or maybe unwilling to rise to the challenge, I made choices in my self-employment that held no future for me, and again my body forced me to change. So here I am at 57 trying to be 10 . But do you know what? With limited options left to make the same mistakes, I might just get there. Body-wisdom has no patience with our unwillingness to be genuine. As Steve said, "Truth is truth" no matter how much you deny it. I hope he is right that there is no limit to the number kicks we get at this can.

I am a visual artist and I have done some freelance magazine writing. I've also taught mind-body disciplines to groups. The crossroads I am at right now include all these avenues. I want to change the art up; I want to get back to some writing, and I also like learning about internet marketing. It looks like a good opportunity to combine things here wouldn't you say? A web site/blog about art, life, and creative expression?

Who needs to retire when you can kick the can -- and be a 10?

Cheers Steve and Hi to all,
John
John Rocheleau Canadian Artist

[Ninja]

No, that's why (in a rare bold mood) quit my job and decided to go college a little more than two months ago. Scariest thing I ever did, but also the best. I wrote a long story about it in my first post in the introduction subforum . It's not worth it to stay almost all your life in a job you hate!

[Samuel Bryson]

Its definantly not worth doing a job that you hate. It makes no sense really, accept so that one can live of course. But interestingly one finds that they typically do better at, and succeed more when they follow their own interests. If you don't like your job you can most certainly find another, alternatively maybe you just need to change your thinking alittle.

For those interested I wrote an article called: Total Wellbeing: Discipline Vs. Desire – Is Discipline Really Such an Omnipotent Virtue?, it certainly brings the whole doing what you love doing thing and doing better at it concept into focus.

[evelynlim]

I love the article! How true! For the longest time, I've tied my self esteem to how much I'm making. But recently, I've moved into self help, giving up every shred of security, because I came to realise that I feel most fulfilled by serving others.

I do recognise that it is tough to do a career switch especially if there are bills to pay. Hence, I really like Steve's analogy using a range of numbers to illustrate the point about the emotional and physical journey.

To those who need a little encouragement, here's a quote from Alan Cohen...

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

In case you have not read this news...the South Koreans appear to take finding meaning in their lives seriously. They stage their own mock funerals, donning traditional costumes for the dead and lying in caskets, so that they can have a "realisation" and thereafter, lead more fulfilled lives. Read the part about Samsung, South Korea's largest firm, which sent 900 workers from its factory to hold their own funerals so as to "motivate" them for better job performance => Hold A Mock Funeral To Find More Meaning In Life?

Evelyn