I don’t know what I want to do!

When you left school / college / university did you know what you wanted to do? If so, I envy you. Fancy knowing your path, your calling, your vocation when you are still so young.  I hadn’t a clue! Everyone else seemed to want to be a doctor, lawyer, farmer, teacher, something and how I longed to want to be a something! It just wouldn’t come though, that flash of inspiration that said, “Louise, you will be a ……”  Did I really just want a label? Hmmm…

When I finally fell into my career in retail, I was relieved. I had some success, achieved a promotion and was finally able to say “I’m a Manager” Phew! Now I knew what I was going to do. Happy Days! And I loved it, for years.  It taught me such a lot about other people, customers, colleagues, team members and it taught me loads about myself. I loved the learning. I also loved the money that came with being successful in that environment. It’s commission, so you only get paid for what you and your team achieve. I loved the security of working with a big firm too. I don’t regret a day of it, even though it wasn’t to last for ever.

So, two things: I didn’t know what I wanted to do to begin with and it didn’t have to last for ever for it to be a success.

I now know something that I didn’t realise when I left school, by the way. Although everyone else seemed to know what they wanted to do, they didn’t! Some did but most didn’t. Of the ones who did know, some of them made it happen, others didn’t.

What is it then? Luck? Fate? Or something more tangible?

The Miracle Man, Maurice Goodman says, “You Get What You Picture”.  (If you haven’t come across Maurice yet, look him up!)

YOU GET WHAT YOU PICTURE…..

What did I picture as an eighteen-year-old? Marriage and kids? Flash car?   Er, no.  Neither did I picture myself doing drugs, hanging with the crowd, or letting things slide out of my control.  I guess my picture was just an optimistic “I don’t know how but I’m going to be independent and I’m going to be successful.” And to me, success meant having enough money to do what I wanted to do and to have some left over for a rainy day. I wanted to travel, eat well, buy shoes and to have a good time with my friends and family. Tick.

These days, I still want the same things and I\’ve added a couple more. Who says you get less demanding as you get older? Now I want to spend more time with my family and friends. Eek, I sound like a failed politician! I mean it though. I don’t really care where we are, where we visit or what we do; I’ve come to appreciate that time with loved ones is precious, it can’t be bought.

I also want to help other people find their success, especially young people, leaving education, who don’t know what to do with their lives!

That’s why I left my secure career in retail earlier this year, took some time out and then started this blog! I want you to know that it doesn’t matter if you don’t know what to do yet. Not getting the results that were expected of you is not the end of the world.

As Marianne Cantwell of Free Range Humans believes, “Looking for the one thing that will make you happy forever is as crazy as buying one outfit and expecting to wear it every day for the rest of your life!” 

Be reassured, do something, make some mistakes, take some advice, do something else, and keep going…. there’s more than one version of “success” and there are loads of paths you can take to get there.