What to do in life?

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Dear Reader, Suraj here –

How do you figure out what you want to do in life? This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately while re-reading So Good They Can’t Ignore You.

Cal Newport, the author, would suggest that passion is a result of developing rare and valuable skills, not the starting point for finding a job you love. This would imply that, to figure out how you want to spend your life, you should focus not necessarily on what you’re passionate about, but rather on developing skills that will help you build career capital.

Another question arises: What skills should one build?

As luck would have it, I spoke with Chef Young today. He proposed that there are three kinds of things we need to focus on:

1. Things that you need to do
2. Things that you want to do
3. Things that you like to do

#1 is fairly clear. Things that you need to do would be making enough money to survive and pay for the basic needs of yourself and your family. It would be getting a proper diet and enough sleep to maintain your health enough to not get sick.

#2 and #3 are where things get confusing. You would think that things that you want to do and like to do would be the same. However, there is a nuance to this.

For example, you are on Instagram, and you see a lot of reels of people who run regularly. Partly by getting inspired and partly by getting influenced, you might want to become a runner. However, upon attempting to run, you might realise that you don’t like running.

There is an element of discipline that could be involved, but if you don’t like something, you’re much less likely to stick with it

On the other hand, let’s say that you see someone knitting and you also want to learn. You attempt it by watching a video, and you end up really liking it. That, then, becomes something you are likely to pursue further.

The goal, then, is to bridge what you want to do with what you actually like to do. Perhaps you want to be financially independent. The ways of reaching that goal could be multiple. It could be by doing something that you really don’t like, or it could be by doing something you feel excited to do. Try to find out how you can go from the things you like to achieve the things you want.

What is one thing you’ve discovered you both want to do and genuinely like doing? Hit reply and let me know.

I will see you next week.

Warmly,
Suraj

If you'd like to hear more from me, here's my YouTube channel where I share lessons, experiments, tools, and resources to make life just a little better.