Fast Company has someone thinking about What Should I Do With My Life?

The real meaning of success -- and how to find it

by Po Bronson

The first assumption to get busted was the notion that certain jobs are inherently cool and that others are uncool.

Your calling isn't something you inherently "know," some kind of destiny. Far from it. Almost all of the people I interviewed found their calling after great difficulty. They had made mistakes before getting it right.

Most of us don't get epiphanies. We only get a whisper -- a faint urge. That's it. That's the call.

Pay your dues, and then tend to your dream. I expected to find numerous examples of the truth of this path. But I didn't find any. [Follow dreams, don't kill them by postponing them.]

Can you think your way to the answer? [No,] being smarter doesn't make answering The Question easier. Using the brain to solve this problem usually only leads to answers that make the brain happy and jobs that provide what I call "brain candy." Intense mental stimulation.

A simple test: Is your choice something that will stimulate you for a year or something that you can be passionate about for 10 years?

"To what can I devote my life?"

Asking What Should I Do With My Life? is the modern, secular version of the great timeless questions about our identity. Asking The Question aspires to end the conflict between who you are and what you do. Answering The Question is the way to protect yourself from being lathed into someone you're not. What is freedom for if not the chance to define for yourself who you are?


Nice Article. Another sidebar deals with the importance of intermediate time frames, that backup plans should not lead to differant destinations, and taking breaks to not burn out.

Are you doing the right thing or headed in the right direction? Can you say "I love what I do, and I think that comes across."