In a recent survey when asked why people were doing what they do as a profession the following results came back:
- I needed income and took what was available - (41%)
- I made a decision in high school or college and stuck with it - (19.2%)
- I took this work just because of the good money - (17.6%)
- I finally discovered my purpose and this is it - (9.8%)
- My parents, pastor, friends suggested it - (6.4%)
- I knew since I was a child that I wanted to do this - (6%)
Wow! - 98.2% took a position either because of the money, it was just available, or it was someone else's idea and only 9.8% of have connected it to fulfilling their “purpose.” If you are not fulfilling your purpose, your life is not as fulfilling as it was created to be. In other words, it can be better!
Never do things just for the sake of doing them, The world wants everyone to conform to the same standards. Right now it is, Get out of high school, go to college, get a good job, have a family and help them to go to school, graduate and then go to college and if you don't follow this path there is something wrong with you. I say that if you are doing things only because everyone else tells you too, then that is the wrong reason for doing them.
In his first semester in college, Michael Dell started buying outmoded IBM PCs from local retailers, upgraded them in his dorm room, and started selling them not only around campus, but in the local business community as well. Revenues were $180,000 the first month. Unfortunately, he dropped out of college, convinced he could make a living doing something he loved. Today he has to live with the curse of being a college dropout and with the shame of being worth only $13 billion. Dell is now recognized by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company. All because he did what he loved to do.
God created you with a plan and a purpose. He has given you gifts and talents, dreams and visions and He desires us to not only find out what they are, but to carry them out during our lifetime.
Stop settling for someone else's dream. Stop doing things because the majority are doing it. The majority is a paycheck away from the poor house, the majority are divorced and the majority are now taking antidepressants, Who wants to follow that behavior anyway?
Look at some of the statements from "The Majority" - “I feel like I’ve lived my whole life by accident.”
- “I feel like I’ve been freefalling for the last 13 years.”
- “I feel like I’m a ball in a pinball machine. Something happens and I just go in a new direction.”
- “I feel like I’ve been given six seconds to sing, and I’m singing the wrong song.”
- “I feel like my life is a movie that’s almost over, and I haven’t even gotten the popcorn yet.”
- “I’ve lived my life up until now as though driving with the parking brake on.”
- 'I feel like I'm a box of parts, and none of them fit together.'
- “I’m a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, with my life slowly being sucked out.”
You do have a choice! You can do what you love to do! You can actually enjoy life to it's fullest. And You can start today!
Begin with writing out your dreams, what you would love to do.
Do research about others doing the same thing, find out how they got started, write to them, people love to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.
Can you make a living at it? If you think not, maybe you just haven't found out how? Get help from professionals in the same field. (Remember the pet Rock? Who would have figured?) Maybe you can incorporate it into your existing line of work. Maybe you can work with a non-profit agency.
Drop me a line and let me know what it is, I will use the resources I have to help you head in the right direction. More often then not, it is who you know that matters just as much as what you know.
Keep me posted on your progress to Abundant Life
Bob Wagner
