[翻 译] Personal Development for Smart People — a Career

“Labor is visible love.” — KAHLIL GIBRAN

Think of your career as your primary outlet for creative self-expression. Your career may be your job or the business you manage, but it doesn’t have to be just that. Your career is your career, and at its most basic level, it’s just something you use to occupy your time. Of course, if you want to live consciously, this choice becomes quite important.

Your career consists of two parts: “medium” and “message”. Most people think of their profession as based on the medium, the specific ways in which they express themselves. For example, you could say I’m a writer, speaker, or blogger because this represents some medium in which I express myself. Most job titles are defined by the medium of expression: doctor, lawyer, police officer, teacher, pilot, and so on.

Information is even more important than media. The medium is how you express yourself, but the message is what you express. My message is about conscious growth, but I can express the same message through different media. I could write about it, talk about it, even make a movie about it if I wanted to. Other people can use the same medium to express completely different messages. For example, the doctor’s message is about healing, compassion, scientific discovery, education, vitality, or any number of other possibilities. Just because two people share similar media does not mean they share the same information.

Too often, people identify themselves with their professional medium. This is a huge mistake! The medium is just a shell; It doesn’t define you as a person. You can expect your career medium to change over time, but your message will be more stable. Your message is who you are, and the medium is simply how you choose to express yourself.

A few years ago, I chose to express myself through the medium of game development. Now I prefer writing and speaking. Years from now, I may do something completely different, but the basic information about my conscious growth is unlikely to change much. In the same way, your true career path is your message, not your chosen medium.

In this chapter, you will explore career development in detail while paying attention to your medium and message. To have a fulfilling career, you must identify your core message and use the appropriate medium to express it. Unless you are extremely happy with your current situation, chances are your medium will not match your message. If you’re simply bogged down in your current job, you may need to make major changes to reunite yourself with authenticity, love, and strength. Correcting this will not be easy, but you should know by now that I will not let you settle for less than you deserve.

Career and Reality

When you look at your current career, what do you feel? What do your most honest predictions tell you about your path in life? Did you choose this path, or did you just fall into it? Does your career align with who you really are? If you had to start over, would you choose the same career again? Do you have any regrets about the path you didn’t take?

In order to align your career with truth, you must ask yourself these tough questions and answer them as honestly as possible. Even if you don’t like what you see, accept your answers. At this point, you are always free to make different choices, but in order to do so, you must unconditionally accept your status quo. Never pretend to love a career you know isn’t right for you.

Authenticity is an important part of career development. That means being true to yourself, while staying grounded and realistic. A realistic consideration is that you must make enough money to meet your basic needs. While you may have some income from a side business, for most people, employment is the main source of income. You can’t do what you love all the time if you can’t pay your bills.

Another practical consideration is choosing a medium that suits your message. Getting this right on the first try can be very challenging. The good news, however, is that you don’t have to do it once. You are free to change your medium over time as you become more consistent with your true identity.

When I was involved in computer game development, my inner message was still about growth and improvement, although I didn’t realize it as much as I do today. I got interested in writing games because I was drawn to the challenge of the job. There are many fascinating things to learn, such as graphics programming, animation, input processing, sound engineering, collision detection, path finding, game logic, artificial intelligence, and so on. Working in this field is a great growth experience. I’ve been busy for years, but I don’t regret it at all.

One of my first computer games was a shooter called BrainWave, which used some simple AI techniques, so the enemy characters would gradually adapt to your shooting patterns and become smarter as you played. The longer you play, the harder the game gets.

With my further development in this career path, I became less and less interested in shooting games, and later I developed a nonviolent puzzle game called Dweep. I designed this game to give players a serious mental workout, similar in many ways to playing chess. I felt a very strong connection to that game because I put so much of myself into it. In fact, I try to express my passion for personal growth through the medium of game development. This particular medium gave me enough expressive power, but it didn’t fit my message. Most people who buy games do it for entertainment, but I want to do more than just entertain people.

While running my games business, I started writing articles on the side to help other indie developers. At first I wrote technical articles and sales tips, but soon I moved on to personal development topics such as goal setting and productivity. I love sharing what I’ve learned, and sometimes I get feedback from people who have applied my ideas to improve their lives, which is very gratifying. At the time, however, I was still blind to the underlying pattern. I stumbled upon writing as a medium, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I seriously considered it as a career path. I’ve always considered myself a software engineer, not a writer. But the new medium of writing is more suited to my message. In the time it takes to develop a computer game, I can write over 100 articles on a variety of topics.

I don’t know of any good way to find the perfect professional medium on the first try. But I don’t think that’s the point. Your career path is an ongoing journey, and it may not be a completely linear one. Finding the right medium for your message is an ongoing process of refinement. Your choice of medium will evolve over time as you continue to align yourself more with authenticity, love, and power. When you discover what is most important to you in life, you will make better and more consistent choices. Don’t try to be perfect. Just make the best decision you can and then put it into action. If you make a bad choice, you will soon find out about it.

The most important factor in choosing the right medium is whether it fits your inner message. It’s important to stay true to that message, even if you have to put up with a big pay cut. In order to make the transition from game development to personal development, I accepted that my income took a significant drop, and my family made some sacrifices to support my decision as we cut back on spending.

Whatever my financial concerns, it was the right decision, and within a few years I was earning more than before. When you make a career transition, it’s perfectly okay to take a short-term financial plunge. If the new medium suits you better than the old one, you should be able to earn more once you develop enough skills.

Never let considerations of security, money or fame get in the way of authenticity. Real security doesn’t come from your job or position; It can only come from your congruence with truth, love and power. You’ll explore money in more detail in Chapter 10, but just know for now that the best way to optimize your earnings is to find a career medium that lets you share your most important information. By sharing your information with others, the value you provide can generate significant revenue. As for fame, if you do become famous, let it arise out of your alignment with truth, love and power, not because of a false image you create.

Authenticity will help you choose the right medium for your message, but it won’t necessarily help you determine the message itself. To do this, you need to apply other principles, especially the principle of love.

Career and love

The principle of love has a lot to do with the message of your career. When you discover your core message, it will connect with you on a very deep level, and the emotional release of that connection will literally move you to tears.

Here’s a simple yet effective way to discover your core message, which is your purpose in life. Many who have tried have had major breakthroughs. Find a place where you can be alone and not be disturbed, and complete these steps:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open a text file. I recommend the latter because typing is faster.
2. Write at the top: “What is the real purpose of my life?”
3. Write down the answers (any answers) that come to mind. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence, just a simple phrase. If you’re a nihilist, write down “I have no goals,” or “Life is meaningless,” and go from there.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that brings tears to your eyes. This is your core message.

How long will it take to find the final answer? This varies greatly from person to person. It depends on how aligned you are with truth, love, and strength. It usually takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to erase all the wrong answers that will emerge from your memory. When the real answer finally arrives, you’ll feel it coming from a completely different place. For most people, this takes 30 to 60 minutes and more than 100 wrong answers. Some people thought of the right answer almost immediately. Others have to do it over and over again for days to find the answer that really moves them.

At some point along the way (usually after about 50 to 100 answers), you might want to give up because you just don’t see the right answer coming. It’s normal to feel the urge to get up and do something else. Break through this resistance and keep writing. The discomfort will eventually pass.

You may find that a few of the answers evoke subtle emotions, but they don’t exactly bring tears to your eyes. Highlight the answers as you write, so you can go back to them and make new changes. Each of these answers reveals a piece of your information. When you start getting these kinds of answers, you’re already warming up. Keep doing it.

I did this exercise for about 25 minutes and got my final answer at step 106. Partial answers appear in steps 17, 39 and 53 (mini-orgasms); Most of the answers were refined in steps 100 to 106. I started to feel impatient and irritable around steps 55 to 60. At step 80, I took a two-minute break to close my eyes, relax, clear my mind, and focus on the intent of getting the answer in front of me. That helped, and the answer I came up with was much clearer. Since then, I have made only minor changes to this statement of purpose. Here’s the current version.

Live consciously and bravely. Enjoy, increase and share peace, energy, passion and abundance. Empathize with love and compassion. Awaken the great spirit in others. And fully embrace the present.

This may or may not mean something to you, but it has a profound emotional impact on me every time I read it. When you find the unique answer to your birth, it will resonate very strongly within you. These words will have a special energy for you, and you will feel this energy every time you read them.

If you want to ask why this process works, set that question aside until you successfully complete the process. Once you’re done, you’ll probably have your own answer. If you ask ten people who have completed this process why they succeeded, you will probably get ten different reasons, filtered from each person’s experiences and beliefs, each containing an element of truth.

Many people have sent me their statement of purpose after completing this exercise, and I always feel overwhelmed by beauty. However, discovering your core message is only the first step. Once you know your message, you must use the principle of truth to find an appropriate medium to express that message (see “Career and Truth” earlier in this chapter). Then you must use the principle of force to translate your medium and message into action.

Career and Strength

You are fully responsible for your career path, so it makes sense to build a career you want instead of settling for what you don’t. Your current situation is the result of your previous choices, so if you are unhappy with it, remember that you are always free to make new choices. The only person who can keep you trapped is yourself.

Avoid the common mistake of settling for a career where you lose influence. If you find yourself in an environment where your contributions are neither valued nor respected, get up and leave. Go where your talents are appreciated. Otherwise you’re just abusing yourself.

You should have an influential career, but it’s not going to happen unless you’re totally committed to it. The obstacles and setbacks you encounter are not meant to prevent you from achieving your ultimate goal. They are just one part of the training course you must complete to prove you have the strength to keep going after you achieve your dreams. Prove with your actions that you are 100 percent committed and the obstacles will tend to dissolve on their own.

A reasonable career choice will depend on your knowledge, skills and talents; It’s up to you to take the initiative to develop those skills. You may not have been born with any advantages, but you are fully capable of growing beyond the limitations of your environment. If you haven’t had a good education, educate yourself now; If you start out poor or in debt, accept that reality and make regular efforts to get out of it; If people around you denigrate and criticize you for wanting more, leave them behind and start a new, supportive social group. Stay true to truth, love, and power, and you will attract others like you into your life.

Don’t waste time making excuses. It only makes you lose your strength. If you want to grow and rise above your status, you can’t pretend you can’t. No matter how many obstacles stand in your way, you can still use your power to knock them down one by one. If it takes years to reach your goal, so be it. Time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well use it well. In a few years, you’ll either be where you want to be or you won’t be. You can either invest your time in growth, or you can be a prisoner of time in a cage.

Occupation and oneness

Your career choice isn’t just personal. Your choices in this regard affect all of us. Oneness encourages you to think about your career implications at a deeper level. What can you do to make a positive difference in the world? What do you have to contribute? Is it physical, spiritual, social, scientific, artistic, moral, or otherwise?

Your career is your main source of contribution. Is your current choice to respect the fact that we are all connected, or to completely sacrifice others for yourself? It is not enough not to do bad things; you must devote yourself to doing good.

These decisions affect everyone around you. When you contribute through your career, you encourage others to do the same. As you respect the principle of oneness, you also help others develop oneness consciousness. This commitment elevates us as individuals and as a group.

Reject any career path that leads you to treat people as dollar signs, prospects, or haters instead of real people. Refuse to take a job that dehumanizes you or anyone else. Recognize that if you work for a company whose values are not aligned with authenticity, love, and strength, so are you; You are responsible for the consequences. Hold yourself to a higher standard of social responsibility, even if it requires some sacrifice for the greater good.

Career and Power

Use your career to do the work that really matters to you. Be the boss of your life, not a chore. Don’t work just to pay the bills, satisfy your boss, or make someone else rich. Work to improve your life and the lives of others.

A consequence of living a life centered on principles is that you will naturally attract and accept more responsibility and eventually rise to leadership roles. This can include outside authority, such as managerial positions, but it can also manifest as less formal influence. Either way, such principle-centered leadership is well deserved. It’s wise for all of us to be guided by people who are real, loving, and powerful. Those who succumb to falsehood, apathy, or timidity will not make good leaders.

Everyone’s style of leadership is different, but all effective leaders must be centered on principles. We respect leaders who tell the truth and tell the truth, even if we don’t always agree with their decisions. We connect with leaders who show compassion, love and kindness. We are inspired by leaders who show focus, effort and discipline in doing the important work that needs to be done.

Building a successful career is both a privilege and a responsibility. The more power you have over your career, the more things you can do to serve others, and the more influence you will have. It is an honor to be accepted and embraced by those who are ready.

Career and Courage

Where is the desired career path? Is it the path that scares you? Is it the path that stirs your soul? Is it the path you secretly imagined? It’s a way to respect you for who you are; That is the path that aligns you with truth, love and strength. If you don’t do something that scares or challenges you, you’ll be too timid in the game of life and miss out on golden opportunities that can make a real difference. If your career path doesn’t require courage, you’re on the wrong path.

Trying to avoid all risks only weakens you. If you follow the heart-centered path, you can expect to take risks from time to time. Some will work out in your favor, some won’t. However, if your decisions are wise, the cumulative effect is almost certainly positive and, in many cases, huge.

I’ve taken many calculated career risks in my life. Sometimes I’m scared, but when I believe I’m right, I summon the courage and act regardless of my fear. Many risks are not rewarded; Some risks have left me bankrupt or deep in debt. However, some of the results were much better than expected, such as the decision to move from game development to personal development. Overall, if you put all my failures and successes together, the long-term results don’t look much. I’m very happy with where I am today, and I’m willing to continue to take smart risks as my career continues to evolve. I know that in order to continue to grow, I need more courage. I’ve learned that it’s better to turn around and face fear than to run away from it.

Taking risks is not gambling. In Las Vegas, where I’m from, people go to casinos to place bets where the odds are clearly against them. Without special luck, the longer they play, the more money they lose. Mathematically, when you see a game where the odds are against you, the ideal number of bets you should make in order to maximize your return is zero.

However, when you have carefully calculated the risk, you are making a bet and you expect the odds to be in your favor. Even so, these risks do not necessarily arise. Sometimes you can make a big bet and lose, and that loss will affect you for months or more. But how many of these bets can you take in your lifetime? You can probably do it dozens of times, maybe even more. Even if you have a small advantage, you will eventually win enough times to make up for your losses. Mathematically, when you see a game with odds in your favor, there is an infinite number of ideal bets you should make in order to maximize your return. Bet as much as you can; In the long run, the more you bet, the more you win. Note 1

Another factor to consider is that when you bet in a casino, the odds won’t change no matter how much you’ve lost up front. Each effort is independent of the previous effort. However, this is not the case when you take bold career risks. Every time you lose, you learn. The more you lose, the more you learn, making the odds more in your favor with every subsequent bet.

In many competitive jobs, the odds of success seem low, mainly because there is so much “churn” at the bottom. New people keep coming into the field, dropping out within the first few months, and then being replaced by more new people. They try, they fail, and then they move on. They lack the courage to persevere in difficult times. But if you stick with it long enough, you’ll soon be around the mud and into the long run, and the odds will get better because of the valuable experience and wisdom you’ve gained.

I find that people often start their websites with great enthusiasm. But after six months, they gave up. I’m trying to spread the message that six months is nothing. You need to invest at least a few years to get over the bottom rung. StevePavlina.com made a whopping $167 in its first six months of operation, and I was working full time. That’s about 17 cents an hour — not exactly what you’d call unconditional success. Under these circumstances, it’s easy to give up, and most people do. But I kept learning, improving as I learned, and the carefully evaluated risks paid off.

When it comes to taking career risks, you have to understand that in the long run, you control the odds. By taking the initiative again and again, you’ll eventually figure out what you need to know to be successful. When people ask me what their chances are of success in some endeavor, like a blog or an online business, MY answer is this. If you work hard at taekwondo, what are your chances of becoming a black belt?” What difference does it make to the percentage of white belts that end up as black belts? Maybe that’s an important answer for a statistician, but it shouldn’t make any difference to you. What matters is whether you are committed to becoming a black belt. You decide if you can do it.

If you want to build an outstanding career, you must develop a tolerance for failure. You have to be willing to take assessed risks and accept the inevitable setbacks rather than wallow in depression. Some of your bets will lose, including those that are 99 percent in your favor. When that happens, it can be very disappointing, but it’s all part of the game. It takes courage to play the game when you know you may end up with a loss. Don’t be disappointed by a few failures. Just keep making the best decision you can.

It’s ok to risk bankruptcy when you’re confident that the risk-reward ratio is reasonable and you’re willing to assume the worst. Bankruptcy is no big deal. I’ve been broke a few times myself. And to my surprise, I found no sign of stopping after I ran out of money, so I just kept going and started over. Lack of money will not stop you if you are determined. Are you brave enough to risk bankruptcy to pursue your dreams?

Don’t play professional games for the money. If you think money is the highest reward, you’ll get caught up in all kinds of get-rich-quick schemes and you’ll make a lot of stupid bets. Even if you win a large amount of money, you will still lose because you missed your inner goal. The real prize is the sense of achievement. That means putting yourself in a position to do work you love, build on your strengths and strengths, enjoy a good income, and make a meaningful contribution to others. Now, that’s a reward worth pursuing.

Don’t settle for a weak career choice. Don’t be shy about your dreams. Exercise your courage to pursue true fulfillment, which is far greater than the illusion of security. Don’t be so obsessed with material possessions that you’re afraid to take risks for what’s really important. When you die, everything you own is left behind; It’s really not that important. What matters is how much conscious growth you experience while you’re here, because that’s the only thing you’re likely to retain after you die.

Career and Wisdom

In order to build an authentic career, you need to find a path that aligns you with authenticity, love, and strength. This requires attention to the following four issues:

1. Body (need). What do I have to do?
2. Reason (ability). What can I do?
3. Mind (desire). What do I want to do?
4. Spirit (contribution). What should I do?

Real careers provide the same answers to all four questions. It’s a career that fulfills your needs, your abilities, your desires, and makes a positive contribution to others. This means that your body, mind, heart and spirit are aligned with truth, love and strength.

Based on the questions above, think about your current career. Did you manage to balance all four, or did you only get some of them right? Does your career bring in enough income to meet your needs without pushing you into debt? Does it play to your strengths and talents? Do you like what you do every day? Are you doing work that really matters to you?

Motivation is strongest when these four aspects are in harmony. A lack of any one area will drag down the other three. When I ran a computer games business, I loved what I did, and I certainly used my strengths. But for the first few years, I didn’t meet my needs well and didn’t contribute much. In the end, I found a way to generate enough revenue, but the mental side of the business always lagged. This deficiency diminishes my enjoyment of my work, prevents me from developing my skills as much as possible, and prevents me from achieving greater financial success. On a scale of 1 to 10, what looked like a 7 gradually became a 1.

When I turned my career to personal development, I was still doing work I loved, I was still using my strengths, I was starting to make contributions that felt good to me, but I didn’t have the ability to immediately meet my needs. That last factor, however, did come later, and the results were absolutely wonderful.

Building a real career can take tremendous effort, but it’s definitely worth it. When all four of your areas work together, the combined effect is amazing. Rather than satisfying your needs, you experience true abundance; Instead of applying your knowledge to your task, unleash your true talents; You no longer endure the daily work, but work in a state of happiness; Instead of just putting in the time, you fill your days with a sense of purpose.

What if you know these four aspects are out of balance? If you can’t target all four at once, where should you start? Of all these realms, the realm of mind is the best place to begin, for it gives rise to all the other realms. There is some truth to the claim that if you do what you love, the money will follow. It’s not easy in practice, but the basic idea is right. If you keep doing what you love, you’ll eventually become good at it. Once you reach a decent skill level, you will be able to share the value you create with others and many will appreciate it. Then, if you ask for fair value in return, you can start earning an income from your work. This process may take years to unfold, but it will take you to a very positive place, and it all starts with doing what you love.

Consider alternatives. When satisfying your physical needs is above all else, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing soulless work for a decent income. The longer you go down this path, the more skills you develop in doing things you don’t enjoy. Your earnings may continue to rise as you increase your experience and seniority in the industry. But you’re not happy, and you may not be contributing in a way that satisfies you. The longer you go down this road, the deeper the hole you dig for yourself. The secondary benefits of income replace the real sense of accomplishment you crave. If you find yourself in this situation, I’m sorry to tell you, the best way out is to break yourself down. Bring truth, love and power back into your life and you’ll realize that no amount of external success can compensate for betraying the person in the mirror. The true self can’t be bought at any price.

Another problematic choice arises when you’re doing your best to give to the world and you’re not paying attention to the other three. I call this condition “lightbringer syndrome.” Such people are often very loving and compassionate, but they don’t make the effort to develop the skills that can make a significant contribution. They are very much in tune with love, but too weak, and this hinders their ability to contribute. They had to keep their grand mission on hold in order to scrape together enough money to pay the rent. If you want to change the world, do it in a way that works. If you can’t meet your basic needs, you’re not doing anyone any good.

The final option is to make developing your talents and skills a priority, but this can also be a dead end. You may become very good at something you don’t enjoy at all, or fail to meet your needs, leaving you disconnected from who you really are. I think it’s a huge mistake for parents to put pressure on their children to go into a job, like medicine or law, just because that’s what the parents want. The world does not need more unhappy, dissatisfied doctors and lawyers.

There is no substitute for true happiness. Do what you love. Better to be homeless, destitute and working on a park bench than to sell your soul for millions of dollars. The good news is that if you follow a heart-centered path, you probably won’t be broke for long. The work you do will provide value to others, and that’s how you generate income in the first place.

The last

In order to create a fulfilling career, you must make conscious career decisions. You can’t simply follow the crowd and hesitate when others blindly follow. Don’t compromise. If you find yourself on a path that is not what you want to be, get out of it as soon as possible. Others may protest loudly, but a few years later, you’ll find something quite interesting has happened. People who hate it when you leave will turn around and ask you how to do what you do. The reason people get angry in this situation is because you’re forcing them to also face the unpleasant truth that they’ve been avoiding. You will be an inspiration to others who wish they had your courage. Even if the strongest resistance comes from your own family.

If you can’t find your dream job right away, don’t be disappointed with yourself. Just keep making the most conscious decisions you can and you’ll get there in the end. The heart-centered path is a lifetime journey, not a fixed destination.

It’s time to turn our attention to one of the least understood areas of personal development, the subject of… (see next chapter)