Make 2024 Different! Liberate Yourself in Your Career

We all have the choice to thrive in our innate elements. This article will help you to identify them.

If you’ve been going through the mundane, living your life on autopilot for the past few years. You start to lose the meaning of life. Especially when you don’t practise gratitude. It is time to ask yourself, how do I break free from the routine? What can I do differently?

I believe even the slightest change in your habit and thought process can go a long way. For instance, start eating more fruits and vegetables for 1 week. Practise gratitude every morning. I encourage you to stop doing the same things you’ve been doing last year. Remember you’ve always got the power to change the outcomes in your life.

It’s Time to Re-orient Yourself

Now, it’s January 2024, and you’re chilling at your home with your hot cocoa and a nice warm blanket, perhaps a cosy fireplace. You’re pretty much in an excellent state to start thinking about your past achievements last year.

Have you been enjoying your work? How do you feel about the word “working” or “career”? Does it excites you or does it make your stomach drop? Take a break and decide where you want to go next. What investments do you want to make? What knowledge can you learn?

Perhaps you’ve been doing a job that provides a steady and reliable income that gives you job security. But it doesn’t give you any growth in career or personal development. When you feel like your workplace is stealing your time and you don’t receive back the growth you deserve, it is time to move on and look for another opportunity.

Start asking questions! Is it meant for you? Some things serve us for only a short time, but that’s okay. If it’s not symbiotic anymore, let it go.

Find a refreshed feeling of growth and being challenged to make something new in your career. Are you too afraid to let go? Think about it.

You’ve made it this far. You had to go through a lot of uncomfortable-challenging phases. No, they didn’t kill you. Uncomfortable phases let you to improvement in life. So if you have definite goals in mind that you want to achieve, fly free and achieve them!

Exploring the Unfamiliar

You may have already come across ideas for additional income or exploring new opportunities while working either full-time for 8 hours or part-time. Or perhaps you’ve been daydreaming about quitting your job and liberating yourself…

I was guilty of that. I had been doing a summer job that was just okay. It was something that didn’t drain me as much. And you know what, it didn’t kill me that time. So I kept doing it. But the whole time I felt imprisoned in my workplace. I was fantasising about quitting, contemplating what I could have pursued instead. The thoughts I was worth more and I deserved more kept flooding my mind.

I think most of us have gone through this phase when we were young. Parents start pushing us to make income and score that summer job. Surprisingly, I had learned more than I expected doing labour jobs. At first, the thought of getting those jobs didn’t exhilarate me. If you encounter this situation, leap anyway and take the job! Just try it out for one week. It would be an experience.

If you find yourself disliking the job, which is often the case when you weren’t excited in the first place, quit it! It’ll be crystal clear that it’s not something you want to do. Take what you’ve learned from it, and evaluate how it contributes to your personal growth, move on.

Lesson learned: When presented with a new opportunity, take the chance! Even if you have doubts and fears. Don’t like it, quit it.

How Do I Know What I Want to Do?

You’ve tried various opportunities already. You got compensated for doing what you didn’t like. Now you’re very clear about what you do like. After going through several bad-feeling jobs, you must bear a strong desire to nail the job that aligns with your purpose. But how do you know which one? Perhaps after going through the jobs you hate, you might not even be familiar with how the jobs you love are supposed to feel.

Remember, you MUST be doing something that you LOVE! Take it from my experience. Doing the work you’re just okay with will eventually get you laid off. When the company needs to trim the team, you might be one of the first they let go. Working solely for the sake of money, tolerating a job just to be okay with it, it’s not enough anymore. At least, that’s the case in a skilled working field.

Yes, you can hate your job and be extremely good at it. But does it make you happy? does it give anything back to you? How long are you going to stretch yourself thin?

My dad is an expert on ‘doing the things that he hates’ just to survive, he said that himself on 30th May 2021. He’s very good at his job. The money is good as well. I was a 21-year-old designer graduate who had been searching for opportunities for almost a year after getting laid off for the first time. I couldn’t find anything. So I came crawling to him desperate for advice. He told me to do a job that I didn’t like and make good money. Instead of feeling lifted, my stomach went into a pitfall. I felt so betrayed that I cried on the spot. No one was helping me — so I helped myself.

Even though everything he said was almost always right in every case — that day I decided that he was wrong. I knew in my gut that it was so wrong that my stomach dropped so low. I’m not like my dad. I won’t be someone who will ram through jobs I dislike only for the money. I am now aware of my worth and the inherent value I can bring. When I started my new life in Spain, I decided that I would do something that I love. Seeing people around me pursue what they love and make a good living from it has strengthened my belief in that matter.

Tip: When you’re doing what you love, it won’t feel like work.

When you’re doing what you love, time flies by. By the time you glance at your clock, it’s already nighttime. A job that aligns with your purpose is something you feel in synchronization with. It’s a tool that you use as if it’s an extension of your body to fulfil your goals and purpose. You won’t perceive it as sacrificing your time when you engage in extra research to enhance your skills in that particular area. When you contemplate doing work, it shouldn’t make you feel like you want to hide underneath your bed covers. It should energize you every day and keep you buzzing with ideas at night. However, it’s important to note that it’s still crucial to distinguish between professional working hours and personal time.

I’ve Found My Niche. What’s the Next Step?

Identifying where you’re supposed to go after finding your niche can be tricky. In my opinion, this is one of the toughest parts. I have attempted to approach it logically in my own experience, as I detailed in the initial subtitle by experimenting and exploring various options. But when that comes to a dead end, it’s time to step back and align with yourself. Make a list of the things you’re good at. Take a note where you’re valuable.

“The path that is the most fun, and the easiest for you, is the one you’re supposed to go to.” -Abraham Hicks

Most of my grand accomplishments don’t come through thinking my way hard on them. I pull myself back and assess. I understand we cannot bridge something that doesn’t feel right by working it through actions. If the actions feel like hard work, it may not be the path you’re meant to take. Try something else. I won’t be discouraging you here. It is possible to be doing something that you love. It is possible. Take Oprah Winfrey for an example.

When you’re relaxed and letting go of the pressure to find a solution, you may eventually experience a burst of inspired action. And when that happens, follow it! Go! Forget the things you were doing, do it right away. The result will lead you to another and another, closing in on your goal.

Optional Read — Personal Experience

I have my own experience to share related to this. In early 2023, I contemplated launching my blog. I watched numerous YouTube videos to figure out the best platform and learn about blog design. There were too many obstacles that were in the way. Man, I just want to write!

So I let that go for another 9 months because the thought of having my own blog was starting to feel bad. Once the university resumed in September, I had to reduce the hours of my summer job and consider generating additional income My mind drifted back to the blog. It seems like hard work, hard to maintain, a lot of promotion and Google ads — things that I wasn’t inspired to learn just yet. I got discouraged.

I bumped my way to writing like a pinball. I began by attempting various roles, such as a transcribe freelancer, copywriter, translator, and even revisiting design. I also explored opportunities on platforms like Fiverr, meticulously planning a strategy for each endeavour. But you know what? They all felt like hard work. Plus I felt like they weren’t meant for me.

Yes, there are some points where I felt so desperate and helpless. Nuh uh, not good. With my foundational spirituality guiding me thus far, I recognized the need to take a step back and reflect. I tried to accept the situation and make peace with it.

At the beginning of the winter break, I spent the next few days at my girlfriend’s place. We had plans, but she fell asleep. In the meantime, I mindlessly scrolled through my phone, still searching for ways to earn money through writing. I was no longer in a state of desperation, even though I had just got fired.

I stumbled upon the Medium platform by chance and discovered that I could earn money through writing. I studied some more and found that it’s legit and easy. The best part was that I didn’t have to design anything. Just write. Grow my audience. Do something I love and give values back to people. So far, it feels so right. I’m doing something that aligns with my purpose!

Conclusion

Always remember to shut the world, and turn your attention deep within yourself. Remember who you are. You’ve come this far. You’ve achieved so much. You are loved. You are worthy. You are powerful, you can change your own life. Don’t be afraid to strive for a change. Get out of your comfort zone and find the next level.

Now it’s time for you to tell a new story :)

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