Doing too Much of What You Love? January 29, 2007
Posted by The Probabilist in : [Articles], Creativity, Personal Growth, Purpose, Responsibility, Work, Abilities , trackback
Are you one of those guys who do too much of what you love to do? You get yourself occupied with something and spend 12 hours straight at it and don’t even notice how hungry you’ve gotten? After you’ve personally mastered a given ability or interest you seem to find another thing that again completely occupies your mind. If there’s a gene for this behaviour then I certainly have it. And I see it runs in my family as well.
When I read and did the excellent mental exercise presented by Brian Kim (How to Find What You Love to Do) I soon noticed that it’s quite pointless for me to list my abilities and interests, mainly because there are so many of them and moreover because I just can’t see myself doing the same thing for more than a couple of years at a time. I have to experiment and experience. I have to go find a new field with greener grass once the old one starts to lose its flavour.
I’ve never kept a journal, but after thinking it through I was able to chronologically list every major point of interest I’ve had since I was a wee child. Some lasted one month and some up to a year and a half. There’s not really anything remarkably significant about these things, but it goes to show a bit how a person and his interests evolve and what I’ve been into. It’s like a chain of synchronicities where some things have definitely been leading to another.
A blog is a personal log so I don’t mind who reads this stuff. But yes, I’ve obviously been a handful. No parent should have to raise a child constantly incapable of automatically and spontaneously doing any work around the house. But I guess I turned out all right in the end (miraculously enough). Some say it’s part of becoming an adult that you stop doing what you love to do. My guess is still that I’ll never find a reason to apply that statement into my life.
So how does one make a living doing what they love to do? Heck, I’d be a very rich man if I knew the universally true answer to that question. But there is a distinction of mind-sets found within this issue as well. Some people, like Steve Pavlina go through the process of hating being an employee and that drives a person to become self-employed.
I’ve never had anything against being an employee.
But being a business owner and investor sounds way smarter than insecurely working and making somebody else rich. Still, happiness certainly doesn’t statistically follow one line of work more than another. That is in the mind of every individual person and goes beyond what kind of labour one performs. But everyone has to provide value in some way, whether we love doing it or not. That’s why I had to drop several of my previous interests and start to focus on matters that seriously and genuinely make a positive difference in others’ lives. The bonus of teaching personal development is that you get your own fair share of learning as well, both spiritually, mentally and bodily.
My father is a great role model both doing what he loves to do and always finishing the must-dos of life. And he has certainly shown me the benefit that comes from constantly shifting the focus of what you love to do - for getting the most experience and lessons out of life. In return I’ve been a role model of living without any kinds of worries. We all come with different sets of strengths and a unique list of interests and abilities that shape the way we are today. However, finding a balance both with what we love to do and have to do should be found. Currently, I’m at a great level of balance in this light as I have the pleasure that comes from combining them together.
If there’s only one thing in life that you can combine with both loving and having to do, then by all means do that for the rest of your life. If you can’t make a similar list of what you’ve done in the past 10-20 years then you’re most likely one of them. But make sure that you do find what it is and make sure it doesn’t completely blow your mind away, leaving your body without sufficient attention. It’s the only you’ve got so take good care of it too. This is one of the latest lessons I’ve had to learn and I hope it sounds meaningful for you to follow as well it has been for me. Remember that there are those of us who want to change the point of interest constantly and it’s just as natural as for those who find one true purpose that lasts a lifetime. Always having at least one thing in life that you love doing is a medicine for the soul that keeps you healthy, happy, fortunate, blessed and without worry.
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- Synchronicity
Comments»
I like the article and I have to say my list is quite similar, toys to personal development! Only switch the piano for a guitar.
Mark McManus
I wonder if there’s a specific word for this behaviour or for a person switching point of interest very often. If not, I have to create one. Seriously, who shapes their own vocabulary by eliminating and creating words to their own liking and best interest? =)
Thanks for visiting.
Ohhhh man this is soooooo me! Ever since I was a kid i’ve always been the one to jump from one interesting thing to the next.
That’s one reason why I have so much difficulty following these books about “finding the career you love” etc… like you, I loved many things at different times in my life and so i’ve added my own list below.
You’ll notice we have a few things in common lol.
Lego - what boy doesn’t like legos?
Ice Hockey Cards (upper deck) - collected these for a few years, moved on
Rollerblades - 15years and I still love it
Team Sports - baseball, soccer, basketball, football, hockey, i did it all, only football stuck for 5 years
Stamp Collecting - I got sick of this when everyone in the world would constantly give me USED stamps
Superman Comic Books - 1993, I bought every single issue printed in that year (and I still have them)
Magic Playing Cards - this only lasted a few months
Dungeons & Dragons - those DM books were too costly
Pogs - I stopped with these after fighting with a friend
Turntables - I used to scratch, make mix tapes (radio cassettes) and sell them, moved on
Linux - started with RedHat 5.0, still addicted to *nix
mIRC Scripting - created a few scripts, moved on
BitchX Scripting - idem
Sim City & Street Fighter II - years wasted, no regret
NBA Jam arcade game - I gave a lot of quarters to that machine
Spring Break - i’ve been to 4 spring breaks in the USA, geez
RC cars - built my own remote controlled car, never painted the body
Dancing - I took hiphop dance classes for 4 years, moved on
Greek Mythology - Was deeply into it, moved on
Car Stereo Modification - I pimped my car haha then sold it all
University - it wasn’t for me… not yet
Motorcycles - Still not rid of the addiction, I love my Ninja!
OO Programming/PHP/C++ - was deeply into this until I met Flash 5
Flash 5 to AS2 - got bored of this and moved to networking
Networking - got bored and moved back to web programming
Real Estate - buy low, sell high, still into this
Bartending - I took a course, will get back into it one day
Snowboard - we’re best friends
Blogging and all things web - since geocities and xoom, have yet to move on from this
What’s next? Who knows… all I know is that whatever has my interest now better manage to keep me interested because like you, I shift focus very quickly.
Haha, that’s awesome! Sorry that your comment got stuck in the akismet spam filter, but fortunately I discovered it. I could’ve gone very much into details as you did and you actually reminded me of a few more hobbies that didn’t surface in my memories - like four ice hockey card sets from the mid 90s I stashed away, pinballs, and various comics. It’s great to hear that there are similar minds who find such joy in living this way!
You made my day. =)
It’s always good to filter the filter lol. Thanks for being so alert
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