Has the fateful question "what will I do when I grow up?" Ever flashed into your head. Whether you're fresh out of high school or are 50, it's never too late to find your way.
“Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know at 22 didn't know what to do with their life. The most interesting forty-year-olds I know still don't know. "
The Big Kahuna.
Fourth grade. The teacher arrives in the classroom and begins to write on the blackboard: "What will I do when i grow up?". Then he turns to us and tells us: “Well children, today you will develop a theme with this title. You have two hours! "
Ah… what a teacher, maestro Gianni! Always attentive to our training: think that in those two hours, to respect our concentration, he read the Gazzetta dello Sport without ever interrupting!
A true Educator! :-D
Idle masters aside, I bet you have had a similar theme and I also bet you had the clearer ideas at the time of what you have now that you are 20, 30 or 40 years old. Firing?
At 10 it's all so simple: there are those who want to be a firefighter, some a doctor, some an actress and of course there is always the child who wants to be an astronaut!
Then we grow up and everything gets complicated: which one high school to attend? Which faculty choose? That work Do? In what paese to live?
What's more, the company does nothing but put pressure on us: "you have to emulate the kid who became a billionaire thanks to an app!", "You must have an Instagram account with 10 zillion followers", "you must find your way! "," You must be successful! ".
And so, a question that as children made us dream, now keeps us awake at night: “What will I do when I grow up ?! What will I do when i grow up?! What will I do when i grow up?!"
Over the years I have tried to provide you with practical tools for find your purpose, yours road and finally understand what to do in your life.
But maybe you are part of that special group of people who need an unconventional approach. In this article I want to offer you 3 (look at the last one: it could be the answer you have been looking for for years).
1. The "plate of shit" method
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, just as work strengthens the body."
Seneca.
First of all, forgive the "Frenchism" of this method, but I promise it is for a good purpose :-)
What dish do you hate most of all, that recipe or food that should never be presented to you at the table? I mean, think of something that really, really, sucks you!
You got it? Perfect.
Now imagine you can be whoever you want: a famous actress, the CEO of one of the largest multinationals, a Nobel laureate scientist, an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon. Anyone.
There is only one condition.
If you want to be that person, you'll have to eat the dish you hate so much for lunch and dinner - every day, for the rest of your life.
Do you accept?
If the answer is "Yes", that is, you are aware that every dream requires a daily dose of shit to swallow, it is useless to pester you with a thousand doubts: you have found your way, follow it all the way.
Maybe take the path defining a goal worthy of the name.
If instead the answer is "No", that is, you would like to be many things, but for none you would make such drastic sacrifices ... then we must see together the unconventional approach # 2.
2. The "child" strategy
Perhaps it is still too early to identify your purpose in life, your main road. However, the “child” strategy can help you not to bullshit that you may regret bitterly in 10-20 years.
Think about your life today: the university you are attending, the job you are doing, the relationships you are engaging in, the city you are living in.
Now imagine you can go back to being a carefree child of 8-10 years.
Do you think that child would like your life? Is there anything that would disappoint him deeply? Yup?! What is it about?
Sometimes, to find our way and understand who we want to become "when we grow up", we first need to to let go what in our life shouldn't even have entered.
I do not know what it is, after all it is your life that we are talking about, but if these last words have touched a deep chord, well ... do not pretend nothing has happened: time to make a decision. You don't want to disappoint your "little boy"? :-)
If, on the contrary, neither of the two techniques just seen has particularly inspired you, there is a third possibility ...
3. "What will I do when I grow up?" the multipotential answer ...
What if your street just doesn't exist?
Understanding who we want to be and what we want to do when we grow up can represent a turning point in our life. In fact, too many people surrender to the daily routine and decide to leave their dreams to mold in some forgotten drawer.
However, it exists an other possibility.
If you haven't found your purpose yet it's because you are simply a ... multipotenziale.
Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Archimedes: they are all examples of multipotential personalities, or characters endowed with an intellectual curiosity outside the norm and who have been able to excel in several fields, without necessarily specializing in just one.
Here, yes Andre '! I am a multipotential! I always thought that! I know cool, right ?!
While I was preparing this article, I posted on the GetPersonalGrowth Facebook page a TED Talk by Emilie Wapnick that talks about multipotentiality (you can find it at the end of the post).
The video was viewed by more than 100.000 people and generated dozens of comments among GetPersonalGrowth readers. I have read several and some made me smile :-)
If you scratch your skin all day and never finish anything, always starting new activities and abandoning them as soon as you encounter the first obstacles, you are not a multipotential: you are a cazzaro.
A true multipotenziale he does not have a single purpose in his life, but when he dedicates himself to an activity, whether it is a new job or a new personal passion, he does it with all of himself, facing countless sacrifices.
Only once he has achieved excellence does he move on to the next project, bringing with him all the experience gained in the other sectors and creating a synthesis of knowledge that makes it unique.
If the method of the "plate of shit" and the strategy of the "child" will help you in any way to answer the fateful question "What will I do when I grow up?", I will be really happy.
If, on the other hand, you have finally realized that you are a multipotenziale, well, don't waste all this potential! Pursue excellence in every endeavor you decide to embark on and never let an obstacle decide what you may or may not be in your life.
