“What if I’m not good enough?” asks the Emma Stone character in the hit movie La La Land. She plays an actress/barista who faces disappointment regularly in her auditions. Likewise her love interest, played by Ryan Gosling, fails to earn money playing the jazz he loves. Are they stymied or do they forge on?
When have you fought for your dreams or, on the other hand, walked away from them? What is the tipping point that signals you to muster more faith or to know that it’s time to discard an ambition?
A complicating factor on many career paths are relationships. Can you have both work and love or must you sacrifice one for the other? Once choices are made, do you consider “what if”? What lessons do you take from the decisions you chose?
Life doesn’t consist of just one career decision. You may have several transition points along a full life. Your dreams grow and change as you do. What you longed for as a child can be vastly different at midlife. Sometimes you discard early dreams only to circle back to them at a later time.
Michael always loved science and entered medical school to become a surgeon. His career was long and outstanding. He had few regrets. But now in his 50’s, Michael is ready to leave medicine and take up something different. Healing, fame, money no longer call him. Michael wants to use his hands in a new, creative way. He wants to sculpt.
Fortunately, Michael is financially secure and has the freedom to explore new ways to use his time and talents. What of those who dream of a transition, but need to earn a living? Or perhaps specific opportunities lie far away from family and friends. How to choose? What will you regret most? The lost career or the lost relationship? Is it possible to have it all?
Life is a series of twists and turns. Sometimes you think lightly of a single decision: which school to attend, which major to study, which person to date, which city to live in. Yet those decisions can influence which doors open and close and impact your progress. Careful thought in decision making is important. You never have a crystal ball: all the needed information about yourself and the world. But you can consider wisely with what you know at the time.
“To be careless in making decisions is to naively believe that a single decision impacts nothing more than that single decision, for a single decision can spawn a thousand others that were entirely unnecessary or it can bring peace to a thousand places we never knew existed”
Craig D. Lounsbrough
Your work lives mean a great deal to you. They support you as you support the missions of your industries. Keeping a steady hand on the tiller as you navigate the smooth and choppy waters and acting with your values and priorities give you a sense of engagement and control. With eyes wide open you can make the best decisions for your future.
Believing you are “good enough” and capable of growth sustains you as you reach for your dreams. Maybe life doesn’t turn out exactly as you imagined, but if you are nimble and hopeful, what appears can be an intriguing opportunity.
Clarifying the confusion:
What currently works?
What doesn’t?
What change do you seek?
Where do you start?
What resources do you need?
Happy New Year and see you on the path!
