Choose Your Hard

There is a deep, existential unhappiness that permeates society across all industries and social classes.  It’s why self-help is a global, multi-billion-dollar industry that’s expanding every day.  It’s the dread you feel on Sunday when you have to go back to your shitty job on Monday.  It’s the trap you’re in – not wanting to go to your job, but being desperate for the money.

The only people I know who’ve overcome this unhappiness are people who have successfully created the life they want and become the person they want to be.  This is a fraction of the population – maybe 1%.  Everyone else is doing a job that, if they had their way, they’d be doing something else.

How many people do you know who really, truly have their dream job – meaning they would do it for free?  Not many.

So, why is that the case?  Why don’t more people do what they want with their lives?

Because they can’t afford to.  They need the money – and with the money comes the job.  And with the job, you don’t have time to do the things you want to do.  And that’s how the trap works.  That’s how you become a wage slave.  And that’s why most people are unhappy – they’re not spending their time how they want.

Happy people do what they want, when they want.  The happiest people I know are retired or have income that allows them to do pretty much whatever they want without paying too much mind to money.

In other words, they are free.  Free from financial pressure that forces them to do things they don’t like.  Free from wondering where their next paycheck will come from and how they are going to pay their bills this month.

Ask anyone what they want more than anything in the world, and financial freedom will be right at the top of that list – second only to health.

So, what’s the solution?  How can we achieve financial freedom and escape wage slavery?

The answer is to monetize the things you like doing so that you never have to do things you don’t.  Easier said than done, but at least that provides some direction.

The old moniker, “do what you love and you never work a day in your life’’ isn’t completely true.  You will have to work hard no matter what.  Making it in “fun” jobs like sports, art, and music requires lots of hard work and resilience.

But you know what’s even harder?  Showing up every day to a job that you hate, and knowing that the creativity that burns inside of you is going to waste with every hour you spend at your meaningless job.

So, you have to choose your hard.  You can face the challenge of chasing your dreams, or face the regret of not chasing them.

But, either way, it’s going to be hard.  There will be days you don’t want to show up.  There will be days you feel completely overwhelmed.  There will be days you wonder how you ever got yourself into this.

Instead of looking for a job that isn’t hard, look for a job that’s worth doing even though it is hard – something you would do for free, just for the sake of doing it.  Something that, even if you fail, you will still be happy that you did it and will never have to wonder, “what if?”

If your work is not aligned with your dreams, then it will not feel meaningful or fulfilling.  There will always be something else you’d rather be doing – and this will always be a source of discontent.  Alignment is the key – your work must be aligned with your dreams.

Achieving your dreams takes time, but work will still feel meaningful and fulfilling as long as it is aligned with your long-term vision for yourself.  If your dream is to be a travel writer but your job doesn’t allow you to travel, you will not be happy.  If your dream is to be an athlete but your job doesn’t leave you time to train, you will not be happy.

Alignment is a simple principle, but many people overlook it or put it on the back burner in favor of higher pay.  Then they wonder why they are not happy even though they are making money.  The answer is simple: they’re out of alignment.

Their work is not aligned with their dreams.  They took the wrong road.  They’re working towards something that they don’t even want.  They chose the wrong kind of hard.  They chose the slow death of postponing their dreams rather than facing the fear of chasing them.

Chasing your dreams breaks your heart, but rebuilds it so long as you keep going.  Postponing your dreams breaks your heart and leaves it broken.  Chasing your dreams and postponing them are both hard, but only one is worth it.

So, you know what to do.

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