A single entrepreneur, a single artist, a single author, a single startup or a single company cannot change the world – but what about 900 million of us?
There are 900 million people in 142 countries who are unfulfilled with what they do in life [Gallup poll]. In the US alone, 70 percent of people working are unhappy and don’t care for what they do.
Millennials are the most unfulfilled and care least about what they do at work. This is an enormous squandered potential, a lot of misdirected minds and many unhappy people.
Just think about the positive impact these people can make in the world if they started doing something they valued.
The majority of the 79 million US Millennials are either unemployed, underpaid, or weighed down with student loans, and according to Bankrate.com, one in four Millennials has more debt than savings. Some 94 percent of college students currently graduate with debt, so what will they do when they graduate?
According to research at MIT and Oxford University, almost half of the jobs will be automated in the next 20 years. Google’s top rated futurist speaker, Thomas Frey, predicts that two billion jobs will be automated by 2030. What will all these people do when a robot or an app will replace them?
Here are three important points to keep in mind for the future:
1. Focus more intensely on your passion and purpose in life
This will be the foundation on which you will build everything in the future. Living and doing meaningful work gives you the necessary drive to keep learning, to work harder and invest your resources (time, money, energy) into building something that you are proud of, something that you want to share with the world. You might have to defeat social resistance and silence what others demand from you. If you are not sure what your passion is, fill in the gap: Before I die, I want to…
2. Develop skills and knowledge in the service of your passion
The results you get in life are in direct proportion with your knowledge and abilities – and with your willingness to do the work. Build everything in life from the profound knowing that you are perfect just the way you are, and if results are not as you want them to be, understand that you need to learn what you don’t know. Once you know and have the willingness to apply this knowledge – success will follow. No matter what age you are, when you stop learning and exploring, you instantly begin to grow old. Reality will rush by you. You will begin to live in the past, believing a truth that has now become a lie and wondering around in a world that no longer exists.
3. Understand the difference between pain and suffering
You know what you most value in life, you know what your passion is. You know your truth and you know what your will is. Pain shows up every time you deny, ignore or rationalise away your will and your truth.
“Living your passion is your truth and will take your pain away. Choose the process that brings joy in the end, not regrets. The road will be hard but it will be meaningful. Success without fulfillment equals failure.”
“I want to work with children, but…”, “I want to help others, but…”. But creates pain and pain leads to anxiety, anger and depression. Pain leads to abuse, drinking and violence. When you embrace your passion and your truth, pain goes away instantly. Suffering will show up as nothing more than the small hits you get along the way.
Living your passion is your truth and will take your pain away. Choose the process that brings joy in the end, not regrets. The road will be hard but it will be meaningful. Success without fulfillment equals failure.
International speaker, Dr. Dragos has a Ph.D in aerospace from the Center for Sensor Systems in Germany and was named by Forbes Magazine as “among the smartest people in the world”. Visit www.drdragos.com
