5 Important things to build a successful career

Are you confused about choosing your career?

After graduating from college, this is what the question that most of the students struggle to answer and probably the most frequent question among college grads of today.

“What do you want to do in your life?”
Of course, some may feel ambiguous and irritating to hear this question. But that’s not really what the question implies. The question is,

“How do you plan to make money?”

“How do you plan to make living?”

“What career path are you going to take?”

“What job do you want to work?”

I guarantee that every person you’ve met, after joining a college or since your graduation has probably asked you this question in one way or another, they just phrase it differently every time.

And it usually comes with that subtle sense of inadequacy every time you can’t offer them the most moving and eloquent response. Because surely, by the time you’re completing your teens, you really should have your life figured out …right?

Yet most of us don’t.

After a degree, we find ourselves asking many of the same questions.

                              “What do I want to do? What makes me happy? What am I passionate about and what
                                career path should I take?”

And we waste time searching for the answers anywhere and everywhere, never realizing that we may be asking the wrong questions.

Here is the list of 5 important things that would help you with choosing your career in the right way.

1. Stop searching for ‘Happiness’

Hunting for what will make you satisfied, or passionate in life is the wrong approach. It will only push you into a befuddled state in your life.

Eventually, you will end up in this naive cycle of thinking and it will just leave you feeling even more lost and confused.

Here’s the problem

Most of us make our career decisions based on the idea that a certain job or career will bring us fulfilment. We ask ourselves, “what can I do that will make me to enjoy my life?”

We see lawyers, doctors, politicians, and artists and we want to be in their position. We want to stand on stages, or eat at fancy restaurants and generally live as they do. But what we never consider, is what they lose to live such a lifestyle and how they got to where they are.

Think about it.

You can say that you want to be a doctor, but do you really want to go through 8 years of gruelling education and copious reading to become one?

You say you want to be an artist, but are you willing to practice your instrument for 8 hours a day, and perform at gigs where anyone shows up?

Or perhaps you want to be the CEO of some multinational company, but are you willing to have 14-hour work days and forfeit time with your family in the process?

                                   …because if you’re really honest with yourself,

                                  you may realize that you don’t necessarily want to be a lawyer or a doctor, but rather,

                                  you desire the lifestyle that that profession would afford you.

“ You want the berry at the top of the tree, without actually wanting to climb the tree itself ”             

That is a dangerous way of thinking.

                            The problem, therefore, is not what job or career will make you happy,

                           but rather, what pain and sacrifice are you willing to endure to get where

                           you want to be? What tree are you willing to climb? And what are you willing

                           to struggle for in your life?

2. Find happiness in what you’re doing

Let’s see what this new way of thought considers, is that joy and happiness are not solely in the destination that you’re working toward. They are actually in the journey itself.

                “ Happiness does not suddenly hit when you taste the fruit at the top of the tree.

                   It begins in fragments as you climb the tree itself ”

If you aspire to become the best computer software coder in the world, you have to find pleasure in the monotony of sitting at a computer for 8–10 hours a day.

If you desire to become a world-class athlete, you have to perceive happiness in pushing your body to its limits.

And if you want to become an entrepreneur, you have to find joy in being occasionally rejected for your ideas and creating new ones.

                         The bottom line is no matter what you choose to do, you must find satisfaction and

                         happiness in the journey. Because real happiness lies in overcoming the barriers you

                         face towards your goal, not solely in reaching the goal itself. 

3. Be ready to struggle for what you love to do

                                  “What are you like to struggle for in your life?”

Do you think that you’d be like to struggle to start your own business?

Is there anything wrong with that?

There is nothing wrong with ‘struggling’ to start your own business. Though what you must consider is the pain of sacrifice and struggle that building it may cause you, and whether you’re willing to go through the hardship.

Because when times get hard, you’ll have to dig deep within yourself. And at that moment, if the only reason you find to justify your struggling is you wanted to “start your own business…”

You’re bound to cut your losses and quit.

                       If your focus is completely on the ‘happiness and joy’ you think owning your

                      private business or being an engineer, a doctor or a lawyer will bring you, then

                     you will be completely unaware to struggle.                 

So, before you go on your job search, and begin applying to all these job positions you feel unsure about. Before you go hunting for ‘happiness, joy and passion’ like a headless goose.

Think of the end you have in mind for your life. Think about how do you hope to live in a few years from now, and then ask yourself; “what am I prepared to struggle through to make that lifestyle possible?”

In doing so, you will find pleasure, not only when you reach your goal, but throughout your journey as well.

“focus on deciding the best tree to climb, not just the one with the sweetest fruit at the top.”

4. Don’t be realistic, alter your reality instead

Your reality is based on your perception. And your opinion is a function of what you’ve been exposed to. You can alter your reality by revealing yourself to more experiences.

A youth from a poor family might think it’s unrealistic to get a work a company like Microsoft

because he hasn’t seen anyone do it.

A girl from a common family might think it’s unrealistic to build a million dollar business

because she hasn’t seen anyone do it.

A millionaire might consider it’s unreliable to be a billionaire because he hasn’t seen anyone do it.

If you don’t know what it takes to get to the place you want to go, that dream is unrealistic for you. But you don’t know what it takes to get to the place you want to go, that dream is unrealistic for you.

Read books. Listen to podcasts. Absorb as much information as you can from the people you admire. Environ yourself with the people you want to be like. You’ll eventually start to think like them. And eventually, their reality will be yours.

5. Pick a mentor over higher pay

All of us in our twenties are basically competing to see who can attract other people the fastest. And usually, that means working at some company that people have heard of or making good money.

It’s tougher to get people to respect you based on the trajectory that you’re on. But in reality, that’s the only thing that matters. As Jeff Bezos said,

“I constantly tell people, if we have a good quarter it’s because of the work we did three, four,

and five years ago. It’s not because we did a great job this quarter.” — Jeff Bezos

The same thing applies to your life.

Life is long. Getting an extra ten or twenty thousand rupees a year isn’t going to matter much in ten years. But the lessons you learn from the correct mentor will.

There is no “passion” for you to find

“Passion isn’t found. It’s cultivated.” — Cal Newport

We’ve been taught for our whole lives that if we just think hard enough, if we are just deliberate long enough, if we just do enough “soul searching”, then we’ll find our passion — and everything else will become clear.

Not true at all.

Many of us find ourselves procrastinating on choosing a direction because we’re afraid of picking the wrong one. The fact is, there is no “right” or “wrong” choice.

Pick something that sounds interesting and gets good at it. Then, you’ll become passionate.