(This post originally was a comment posted about a blog on www.savvysassymoms.com)
No one else can tell you what you should be doing with your life. You are the expert on you. The trick is getting beyond all the logic and analysis which needs to be done so you can finally hear your inner voice. Picking the right Fork In The Road often comes down to feeding your inner self with enough information and then knowing when your inner wisdom has figured it all out.
Great career choices come down to doing what you are passionate about and have a talent for. The passion drives you and the talent insures you can do it well. Here are some simple steps that can help you wade through your options and give your inner wisdom the information it needs to guide you.
1. Passion What would you do even if you weren’t paid to do it? Make a list of all those things. Sometimes, it isn’t any one thing on the list but the pattern of seeing many things on the list that can open your eyes.
2. Talent List all the things you are really, really good at. That’s not just about what you have done on the job. If you are a homemaker, you have to be great at many task. Almost all of them translate into skills that can be used to make money. If you are over forty, you already have a Ph.d. in making things work in the real world! It’s important that you choose something where you have a lot of talent. Otherwise you could pick something you love but you might not be very good at.
3. What are you bad at or hate doing? Yes, you need to make this list too. No career is perfect. You are going to have to do some things you are not good at and some things you dislike. Make sure those represent less than 20% of all the task and time involved in your career choice. Try to get it down to 10%. Otherwise you are likely to lose motivation over time and not accomplish as much as you wanted to.
Ultimately, the best choice for you won’t come from your analysis of these lists. They start your mental and spiritual juices flowing. The real answer will be worked out behind the scenes in your unconscious (and from above).
Don’t rush this. Don’t force it. Be patient and wait for a sign, an inner voice or a feeling that suddenly feels right at a very deep level. Confusion, frustration, cloudiness, uncertainty, anxiety and all the rest will just vanish to be replaced by a calm, peaceful, radiant knowing. You will feel it down to the core of your being. Now go for it! That is the right Fork In The Road for you.
If you’ve ever listened to your inner voice or feelings to make a choice, please share your story on this website. I am collecting 1000’s of stories for the book I am writing “Life Is A Fork In The Road.” Your story is important because it will add something unique from all the rest. What I learn from all these stories added together may help us better understand how we can make better choices in the future and learn more about how the universe works.
