Life’s task is very important for a healthy and meaningful life. A lot of people are not clear about their destinies, they start a career, waste much time and energy on it, and then leave it because this is not what they wanted in life. We need to have clear goals in life and for clear goals, a clear direction is required that is based on our inner calling: passion, what do we love the most? Most people do not know about their passions or their life’s tasks. The reason they switch careers is they do not follow their passion. When we were children, it was clear to us what we loved, we were inclined to activities we enjoyed doing. As we grow up, we listen to other people and follow what they wanted for us, rather than what we wanted for ourselves. And later, we regretted the decisions that we made about our future because those decisions were not ours; those decisions were made by others for us, and just happily accepted them because they guaranteed a bright and happy future. We should follow the path we love, not the path that others choose for us since the path will lead to prosperity, but it will not give us the comfort and thrill that we can get from the path that we choose for ourselves.
“You possess a kind of inner force that seeks to guide you toward your Life’s Task —what you are meant to accomplish in the time that you have to live. In childhood, this force was clear to you. It directed you toward activities and subjects that fit your natural inclinations, which sparked a curiosity that was deep and primal. In the intervening years, the force tends to fade in and out as you listen more to parents and peers, to the daily anxieties that wear away at you. This can be the source of your unhappiness—your lack of connection to who you are and what makes you unique. The first move toward mastery is always inward —learning who you really are and reconnecting with that innate force. Knowing it with clarity, you will find your way to the proper career path and everything else will fall into place. It is never too late to start this process”
The Hidden Force:
When we grow up, we lose our originality and uniqueness. We are molded into a new personality by our parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and surroundings. We are no longer the way were as children: unique and original. We do know what we want from life, what is our passion, and where are we heading due to the change in our personalities. Somehow, we manage to become good at something that we have kept suppressed for so long due to our indulgence in other things since it was taught to us it is not what we should do, it cannot secure a great future for you. The moment when you realize this is what you should do, that is the inner calling, and you should stick to it and explore it in different ways to become a true master of it. The hidden force inside us calls everyone, but most people suppress it owing to their engagement in other things that they do not want, but they are following them since it was told to them that following on that path would lead to a luxurious life. Your hidden force is your life’s task, follow it, and you will have the life you wished.
“Leonardo had always had a strong sense of fate, and for years he had been haunted by one particular question: is there some kind of force from within that makes all living things grow and transform themselves? If such a force in nature existed, he wanted to discover it, and he looked for signs of it in every thing he examined. It was an obsession. Now, in his final hours, after his friends had left him alone, Leonardo would have almost certainly applied this question in some form or another to the riddle of his own life, searching for signs of a force or a fate that had brought about his own development and guided him to the present.”
Express your uniqueness:
You were born as a unique being. There will be no one like you in history, and you carry with you unique qualities that are revealed through your work. You suppress your uniqueness with time when you step into the real world and start listening to people’s opinions intended to fit you into their group. To find your life’s task, you should carefully interpret people’s opinions and actions towards you; they would try to suppress a quality in you that marks you as different from other people, and you may accept half-heartedly their words to be one of them. The quality that makes you unique; could be your voice; your inclinations towards art and music; it could be writing and reading. You may deliberately deviate from the path that you wish to follow since it may be not reputable in your culture; it may not secure you a luxurious life, and your parents may try to change your thoughts at an early age before your get obsession matures; it could be something glandular and people around you may not like that you become master of in that field. Whenever you sense subtle signs of uniqueness, dig deeper and unearth the treasure.
“At your birth a seed is planted. That seed is your uniqueness. It wants to grow, transform itself, and flower to its full potential.”
“What weakens this force, what makes you not feel it or even doubt its existence, is the degree to which you have succumbed to another force in life— social pressures to conform.”
See your career as a journey:
At some stage in life, you feel what you want in life, what is it you loved when you were a child. Some hidden force instills you into action, and you follow the path that you wish to follow that has been blocked since you listened more to other people and less to your inner voice. When you realize this is what you should pursue in life and make it your life’s take, take it as a journey, not a straight line. What happens when we follow a path that we badly wish to follow, we feel tired in the middle due to boredom and distractions and we tend to follow the other paths that seem less tedious and rewarding for the short term, which leads us to a tragic future in the long run. Accept the hardships on the path to mastery, accept it is a long journey, and I have to accomplish my life’s take; I should not give up in the middle.
“You must see your career or vocational path more as a journey with twists and turns rather than a straight line.”
An opportunity that suits you perfectly:
You would seize an opportunity in life that would help you explore your hidden potential. You may be surprised how you did this! You know that this is what you should do in life, you find your life’s task. Begin with something simple in life, things that you love the most and wish to pursue as a career. Later, you can expand it into something outstanding. It is the first that is the hardest, the rest becomes easy with consistency and commitment. Your confidence boosts when you accomplish something easy, and it makes you prepared for your next task that seems a little hard. Your confidence and morals improve with each daunting task you perform.
“You don’t want to start with something too lofty, too ambitious—you need to make a living and establish some confidence.”
Avoid the false path:
You will get distracted in life from your real-life’s tasks by other fields followed by everyone because they provide fame, wealth, and a luxurious life. When you leave the path you wish to follow and travel on the path others are following, you may end up in a better place, but you may not love it as badly as you loved the path that you had wished to follow. Avoid the shortcuts and the easy paths to glory and fame, these are just distractions that cloud your judgments and long-term goals. You should always observe a few steps ahead in the future, not be overwhelmed and attracted by the novelty of things which will lose their charms as quickly as you realize, these are just hindrances on the path to mastery.
“Your strategy must be twofold: first, to realize as early as possible that you have chosen your career for the wrong reasons, before your confidence takes a hit. And second, to actively rebel against those forces that have pushed you away from your true path.”
References:
- Greene, R. (2013). Mastery. Penguin.