50. things to my younger self... (5/5)

Category: Career and Purpose

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​41-49.

Things about career and purpose that
​I wish I could tell my younger self.

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Now looking back after 20 years of experience working with people, this is what I would tell myself: 

41. Your hobbies are important for your mental health. Treat them with such importance.
Much like health, when things get really busy, your hobbies and the things that give you a lot of energy will be the first ones to disappear from your daily schedule. But they are a life saving boat, more than you realise. Prioritise them.

42. Your first job does not need to be your whole career.
If you are lucky and healthy, you will work for more than 40 years. Do you really think you will be interested in one thing and one thing only? That is the thing that no one tells you, however. There is this misconception that you must choose and stick to your decision. The quicker you let go of that idea, the less guilt and shame you will feel about wanting to explore other paths.

43. Help unconditionally and out of kindness, but respect yourself in the process.
The higher you get into organisations and the more your job has to do with responsibility, the more people will ask you for help. Do what you can to help. It will build you a good relationship with yourself. And in that process, make sure you are also taken care of, always!

44. People will underestimate you. Your job is not to underestimate yourself.
Not everyone will be able to predict or foresee the breakthroughs that you will have, and that is ok. The tragedy is only if you are not able to see the potential you have and hold yourself to it. Please make sure you reach high and far, you are more than capable of everything you dream of. And then some more!

45. Small actions every day are worth more than one big leap a month.
You will procrastinate, again and again. Because you have this idea that it all needs to be done in one big go or that it will take a lot of effort. When in reality it takes tiny, small steps every day. Often you will feel like you are not making any progress whatsoever. It will feel like the actions you are taking are too small. That is ok, as long as you are taking them. It is not their size that matters, it is the consistency.

46. Change is good. Everything changes. What is next is always better.
Change always feels dreadful and like you are jumping in the darkness, no safety net. But trust your wings, trust your process and you will see that the only way to mess up change is to avoid it. Staying still often seems like a good strategy but is such a bad friend in the long run.  So, my dear, do not be afraid of change. Trust it.

47. Search for purpose and dare to take the path once you see it.
The thing that no one really explained in school is that success will not make you happy. But a sense of fulfilment will. And the reason no one explained that is because the world is full of people who reach success, but very few that have fulfillment.

48. Do not take advice from people who are not walking your path or are not where you would like to be.
Many people, especially those who think they are in a position to understand you, will try to advise you. Always - and I mean always - check how that advice feels in your body. Your intuition knows far better than anyone else you will come across. People may mean that in a good way, but they are limited in how they can help you. They can only see what they have experienced.

49. You will feel lost. That is ok. It is part of the journey. Only those who walk a well paved path never feel lost.
You will meet people who feel lost, and others who seem to know exactly where they are going. Just know that both are ok. Please know that feeling lost does not make you less of a human, or somehow behind in life. Please know that those who walk a paved path rarely wonder about the direction. It is only those who dare to drift into the wilderness that wonder which way to go.

     And last but most importantly.... 50