Bill Riddell

Discover Your True Path

I recently had an interesting comment in response to my previous post, It Is Your Life, asking how to discover what you want to do with your life and for a career.

“It is my life – but I don-t know what I want to do with it. I have yet to have that ‘Aha’ moment … the moment of clarity when you find something you love and want to do,” wrote Hips Magee.

This is an incredibly common problem so I thought I would take the time to share my thought and what has worked for me.

There is no right or wrong way to do it. However if you are waiting for an ‘Aha’ moment you could be sitting about for a while.

Be proactive. You may have a magical epiphany while sitting on your couch watching TV – but chances are it will come from some intense thinking or peaceful reflection.

One way is to make two lists. For the first list write down all of your hobbies and anything else you enjoy doing. No matter how small and insignificant it may seem, write it down.

On the other list write down all of your strengths – even small things like making people smile.

Then when you feel its complete look for similarities between the two lists.

For me I really enjoy writing and I’m reasonably good at it. So from there I started looking at different careers involving writing and even combining it with other hobbies and skills. For instance my last job was as a journalist for a car racing magazine. By combining my love and talent for writing and car racing I was onto a pretty great job.

I later realised that I enjoy being in charge of my own destiny and like to discover and write about a wide variety of subjects, so becoming a freelance writer is a great fit.

The travel bug is calling and within the next 12 months I’m hoping to begin some serious world travel. Along the way I plan to write about my adventures and experiences.

If you have trouble matching a passion, something you really enjoy, with a skill then look to gain that skill. Read some books, take a class, find a mentor, etc.

Passion is the most important ingredient. Skills can be acquired, enjoyment cannot. If you enjoy what you are doing, you will work and study hard and become a success.

You may get it wrong at first, I did. That’s fine – move on and find something else.

After high school I studied Public Relations and although I really enjoyed it I felt that as career something just didn’t seem right. I then turned to journalism, a related field with quite a lot of similarities. My studies even taught me how to write like a journalist, how to pitch and other vital skills. I also now have the added benefit of knowing how the system works better than many journalists. PR people and journalists have intertwined roles like defence and prosecution lawyers, they have a different job to do, yet share a lot of skills and aim for a similar outcome.

Your first choice may be as a flight attendant. After some time in the job you may realise it’s not for you for some reason. Perhaps a job as a travel agent is more suitable or a tour operator. Maybe you could create a school to prepare people to get a job as a flight attendant, or work in recruitment for an airline. The options are endless – but they all revolve around the same core passions of travel or just a love of the airline industry.

Before taking the big flying leap of changing career or your studying do some research to help discover if your new path is right for you. Check what the work conditions are like, what are average salaries and other perks.

Talk to a few people who do the sort of job you are considering. Ask them every question you have. Do they like their job, how did they get it, how many days of a year do they get… whatever you want to know.

If that job doesn’t fit move on to something similar. If that doesn’t seem right either then perhaps something involving a different passion, or combine several passions is more appropriate.

All the best and remember to follow your dreams.