What do you want in life - 13 ways to find out

How to get what you want in life

When we enter working life, we have big dreams in our eyes. We hope to achieve our life-long goals. We want to get famous for our work. We want to impress our seniors. Then we plan to work so hard that we can inspire our juniors. We also want to gain some new skills. In the beginning, we are so keen to learn new things at our workspace. We love to build relations, i.e. professionals and personals.

But after some years, we all become low energy moderate working professionals. We lose the glory that we have at starting. This all happens because we will lose the path of our career goals.

Here I have discussed a strategic plan to be on the right path of our careers. Then we will achieve everything that we want in our lives.

High salary:

Money makes a difference. Though I believe that money can’t buy happiness. But without money, the problem of our regular life increases in multiplications.

Some of us get their well-fitted jobs. Even though they might get lucky, you can have a sporty and friendly environment at the office with a supportive boss. But if you are not happy with your current salary, then you might not feel satisfied.

Some cities have high maintenance of living. Imagine you are a working professional in such cities with an average salary. Then you feel not saving enough money at the end of the month. This can become a regular story.

Also, if you have a student loan, then you need a specific salary to pay for all the bills. These are those points when you feel the importance of a high salary job.

Action plan:

In these points of time, you can make lots of moves.

1.) You can request a salary hike. It may happen that you are working in the same company for many years. Then you can request your boss a little increment in your salary. Describe to him how efficient you are. Also, do not forget to make your achievements count.

2.) Try for promotions. Work hard and work exceptionally well. That’s how there will be no chance to miss the next promotion. With the new promotion and a hike in salary, some of your needs will surely get fulfill.

3.) If you are finding new jobs, then go for those with that certain salary to pay all your bills. As a beginner, this is the only brownie points you get. Know what is your most desired things in life. Then estimated how much you need to earn annually. After that search for jobs, those offers that much salary.

Desire to learn:

In this high-tech world, reality is continuously changing. According to that, our desires also change with time. For achieving success, it is very much crucial for working professionals. These days the desire to learn has been one of the most valuable skills. The company loves to hire such people who have a passion for lifelong learning. A person who learns can improve oneself. Society demands this learning desire for professional development.

Action plan:

1.) Only a person who rectifies mistakes can improve in life. To identify your mistakes and admit them. It is the first step of the desire for learning. Always take feedback positively from every person around you. Their feedback also points out their views. Then you get a golden chance to compare that with yours. By doing this, you will learn more with time.

2.) When you are with highly intelligent people, you will get the vibes to learn more. So read about successful people and their struggle. Meet more inspiring people. Try to learn from their stories and their mistakes. They will open a set of new doors to your desires.

Eliminating fears:

Fear is the biggest barrier in our lives. Both in personal and professional lives, we experience fears in every crucial moment. This eventually drags us behind our success. Average humans love to be in their comfort zone. They resist every small change around them. But in professional life, it is not a good sign. If you have to sustain and succeed in work, then you need to change according to the situation. This is where our fear makes the scenario even worse for us.

Action plan:

1.) Do not showcase yourself as someone else. Some people get scared thinking about what others might think about them. If you are not as ambitious as your team leader, then it’s perfectly fine. You need to learn your values and respect that. You should accept yourself as you are. Only then you will not fear about what other people might think of you.

2.) Fear of failure is a common fear among working professionals. It stops them from even attempting new challenges. It makes every path of success with failures and mistakes and experiences. No one ever can be successful in every challenge at the quick try. We ask ourselves, “What if I fail?”

Without thinking, the worst that could happen, you should focus on reality. Try to assess how much damage can happen if you fail. Most of the cases, the damage could be far less than our imagination. Only focusing on reality rather than imagination can help you eliminate the fear.

Set goals:

The goal provides clarity in critical thinking. This is crucial for working professionals. Clear vision or desire becomes easy when you know what the required action to take is. Setting goals does not always mean that you want to be that kind of person. Setting goals define your life and your talent. When you are stuck in your career, or maybe you get bored with the work you do, your goals will help you to make decisions.

Action plan:

1.) On which level do you want to work? That could be your professional goals. If you're going to be the CEO of your company soon, then your actions have to be accordingly.

2.) You may have some financial goals. If you want to buy your dream home, then you have to take care of your finance and accounts.

3.) Put some deadlines for these goals. Also, calculate the time limit to finish every step.

Career advancement:

Many of us are not happy with our career choice. Career advancement is one of the most critical factors in an employee’s work life. It motivates people to work hard. People stay focused on. Even in your choice of career, you may lose your focus at a certain point at the time. That time you do not get a vision about your future goals. This makes your career path non-existence. You feel uncertain about your choices and get demotivated. As a result, you lose your productivity and efficiency. The less promising employee of your company gets the promotion. Then you get depressed.

People can have a different perspective on career advancement. Some people want to be the CEO of the same company they have joined. Some want to work abroad for a certain company. Some want to try different fields and test their skills. They want to evolve as an upgraded version of themselves.

Others want to open a start-up and make it some million dollar worth. Different people have a different perspective on advancement. But they all want success, fame, recognition in their selected fields.

Action plan:

1.) Find sponsors.

Sponsorship works a step ahead of mentorship. Sponsors take employees under their surveillance. Their skills and achievements get promoted. For this favor, they want their employees to perform exceptionally well.

But for grabbing a sponsor, work out of your comfort zone. You should have a clear vision of your goals and dreams. Also, you need to have concrete strategies before finding sponsors. Be very tactical. Your idol is fine to get motivated. But in terms of sponsorship, they provide little efficiency. Find someone in your field who is working in your dream position. He can be the best influence of your life.

2.) Join some professional organizations.

In this high rise culture of the digital world, this might have gone out of fashion. But, this has its charm.

3.) Build your network.

You should give some importance to build a network. Those people should acquire advanced working skills. They can be helpful to grow in your career. You will get to know about new opportunities. Also, they will always motivate you to work beyond your limits. You will get new goals to achieve seeing their previous achievements.

Creativity:

Without creativity, you will get bored at work. No matter how much they pay you, you will not find any course to go to work. In our childhood, we think creativity is singing, dancing, or painting. But not anymore.

We consider creativity as an important skill to achieve our goals. Though in a different profession, creativity implies a different set of skills. Creativity is the ability to think differently. A creative person is more of a solution-focused person. They can find unique solutions to even the toughest problem. They see hope when others are amidst the darkness of pressure.

Action plan:

1.) Work in such environments, where you can challenge your skills. Not every company offers to learn and develop as a professional. You should find what to want most in your life. Satisfaction can be your utmost importance in your career. Then you should choose some field according to that.

2.) Some people love to work beyond their limits. And there are some companies and organizations that love to hire them. In our time, technologies have highly infiltrated our daily lives. If you want to sustain in this competitive world, then you need to work and polish your skills.

Conclusion:

Having big dreams is the foremost thing to achieve goals. You can’t achieve goals when you do not have desires. An all-rounder person wants every bit of happiness in his life. With our guidance, now you know how to make your desires true. As long as you have the inner vision to see your faults, you will always try to rectify it. And that’s how you will satisfy yourself with your work.

It is an irony that even successful people sometimes have the same question about ‘What do I want in life ‘is the success the ultimate’ or ‘what is important beyond success in life.’ We can find people who look for something besides having money and a good life. We can see people who could use some big-break in what they do. To top it all, we can find people who believe strongly about ‘We have one life. Live it to the fullest. Live as you wish.

So where do we draw the line? Do we need success or do we need happiness in life or do we need to live in its way? The buck stops where you listen to yourself and see what you want in your life. You will know then what to do with your life. It could be anything starting from a stable job or big money or a startup to that of road trips or travel plans or following art. But, one cannot deny the fact that this life is all we have so at the end of the day if you don’t feel happy or satisfied with what you do or still feel a hole-to-be-filled, maybe it’s the right time to rethink what you want in life.

To figure out what you want in life

To help you figure out what you want in your life we like to put some points in perspective for you here. Consider these points, process them, and see what ideas you get about what to do with your life and ‘what exactly do you want from this life. You need money but it’s not the ultimate. You need to do work out of your interest and not at the cost of crushing your dreams.

You need a balance. Living life to the fullest doesn’t mean living it recklessly. Thus, you need a life that should make you happy, have some meaning in it as well as sustainable in the point of finance otherwise; the life you live can seem like an unfilled hole. We like to help you by giving you different ways to figure out if this is what you want in your life. Without further ado, let’s get this done.

15 Ways to find out what you want in Life

1. Are you looking for Financial Stability?

Financial stability in life will be the immediate necessity in case you are starting new to work. Being a fresher or someone who is just getting a hang of things at work/business, your focus will be on resolving financial issues in hand i.e. it could be your student loans, personal loans, or any other financial commitments. If you want financial stability in your life, then focusing on your career is important. If financial stability is your immediate focus in life, then work on it. If you pursue what you want without a stable or at least a minimum financial backup, the road can get rougher as we are in a place where the economy plays a vital role in even following your dreams.

2. Want to establish yourself in your workplace?

Deep down many people expect a common thing called ‘being recognized’ or ‘being noted for their work’ or to put it simply, ‘people want others to see who they are personally and professionally and understand them’. It is the main expectation concerning young talents and even senior people at work.

Being focused on your career, doing hard work is secondary to them, but what they primarily want is recognition. You’ll know this for a fact if you are a working professional looking to make your mark. If recognition at the workplace is all you want right now, then find ways to positively do it. Once you are feeling like you are recognized you will become more aware and focused on your career leading to better possibilities for you in life.

3. Do you find it difficult to choose your forte?

People find it difficult to understand what they want to do in life when they are not able to choose or identify their forte. It depends upon the line of work you are passionate about or interested in. For example, you could be an art student, but due to financial responsibilities, you could be working in a different work-stream. If so, try to look for work in the area which you know you can do better. If not, it will make you feel incomplete. The same goes for working people too. If you feel like you don’t fit in the financials, then go for a field that interests you, say for example technical side.

You should be able to figure out your niche which would eventually happen at some point. Once you know your niche, pursuing it is the smart move. It will make your work well. It will help you understand better things you could do with your life. Sometimes it comes with a cost and we agree. The forte you are interested in won’t be able to bring big money or it could be unpopular or in the meantime, due to work-life restrictions, you feel like sticking to the same job instead of following your area-of-interest. You are the one with the better view here, so figure things. Pursuing your interest will bring you happiness, innovations, ideas, and of course, success.

4. Interested in creating something of your own?

Which is good; a stable Safe job? Or quit the work and follow your interest in making something of your own? Young people often find it difficult to choose between these two. If this is what you want in life, if making something on your own, like a start-up is what you want to do, then take the risk of quitting your job and get ready to follow the dreams. If you feel like you need some stable ground (in terms of money or anything) and knowledge to gain before following your dreams, then see to it too.

5. Passionate about anything?

At some point in life, every person will get a chance to know what they want with life or what they are passionate about for sure. Things that you are most passionate about will always burn deep inside your heart. It could be anything like cooking, writing, traveling, a start-up, sketching, hand-made things, designing, baking, lifestyle-related, art, research, community-services, or anything.

Don’t give a second thought and just follow it. Not many people get the chance to pursue what they are most passionate about. So don’t leave the chance. Take the risk and follow what you want. Initially, you might struggle, but you’ll get where you want to be soon.

6. Looking for a real Work-life balance?

You got the job you want but still, feel something’s missing? It could be a work-life balance. You like your job so much that you could lose all your focus and time in it. This could cost your personal life. Analyze yourself and see where the track goes sideways. Focus on your career is important but at the same time, your personal life with family and friends needs you too. It doesn’t matter who you are, a fresher or business person or in top management, everyone looks for work-life balance most of the time in their life.

7. Health and Lifestyle

A healthy lifestyle and holistic wellness are what people looking for these days in their life amidst this fast world. More people are looking for ways to find peace, mental wellness, good mental health, and overall well-being. People seeking yoga and its related lifestyle are becoming high these days. If you are passionate about health and lifestyle go for it. We can find people who are passionate about food choices, body-building, following a specific lifestyle, etc. So, if you fall in any of these, go for it.

8. You want something to give back to the community?

Feel like something’s missing even with having a good job and a good life? Do you want to give something back to the community? Go for it. If this is what you want to do in your life, you can find a lot of ways to do so. Some several organizations and groups do community services, child-health, child-education, medication-supports, sponsoring a child, etc. you can include yourself in any such.

9. Do you like to fulfill some goals before you begin your path?

You know what you want in life but still, there could be some restrictions and things that stop you from doing so. For instance, you may have some personal goals like securing your family financially, taking care of your family, etc. Before you begin your path, you should talk to your family and friends first. It will help them adjust to what’s coming. It can help your family plan the finances accordingly before you quit your job. If your family knows about it, they can handle the rough times smoothly.

10. Adventures

Are there adventurists lurking inside you? Despite good-job, good-life adventure-seeking people will always find a hole if they don’t do anything adventurous. It’s what they want in their life, to do something adventurous. People, who love to be adventurous, try new things, pursue what’s exhilarating will never mind about money or other things. If you are an adventure lover, do what you like but with a balance.

11. Revamp your Bucket-List

Your bucket-list will say what you want in life. A bucket list is not something we write in a specific time; it’s an accumulation of ideas, plans, places, memories, and things-to-do in your life with time in your life. Revamp it. Do things on your bucket-list even it means a simple trip to a place to eat your favorite meal or to a city or country you like to visit. Every bucket-list will surely have one item that you want to do in your lifetime.

12. The luxury of skipping work without money in mind

This one for young talents in the professional world who find it difficult to stay in a place and look for skipping the work quite often. It can be because they need something new that gets them tied to or it could be due to doing the same work over and over again.

In other words, young people are looking for workplaces with new exposures, fun work environments, a more-inclusive nature, no divisors like top or high management authorities, and finally, they look for a very casual work-place. If you have the luxury to do so without any personal constraints, then you can look for a place where you know you will fit in the right. You know what kind of workplace will suit you more for your life.

13. Short term & Long-term Issues

If following your passion is what you want in life, then before you start to take care of your small-term and long-term issues. Small-term issues can be about making plans for your work. For instance, you can start making rough plans, ideas, resources, workforce, workplace, investments from you, good contacts, etc. while you are still working. The long-term issue is about securing your family. For example: If you are following your passion for starting a new business, then the initial days could be financially demanding. So if you know you want to start your own, begin securing your family financially earlier. Plan your finances. Before you quit the job and follow what you want in life, make sure your family doesn’t pay the price to a great extent. Make your long-term issues sorted while you are still at work.

14. Where do you see yourself?

You might be holding on to the job for some reason, but on the inside quitting is what you want. So don’t hesitate to quit from the place that you don’t belong to or a place that will not allow you to grow. The growing environment is what you should look for in life to strengthen your professional as well as personal life. If you know for sure that you are going to stay where you in the years to come, then quit it.

15. What is ‘success’ to you

It shows a clear path to find what you want in life. At last, this is where it all comes to an end. If success means sufficient money, a good job, and a good family, go for it. If success to you means being happy in what you do even with less money, do it. If it means to give something back to people, do it. Success is also making something of your own, traveling, creating a home-grown brand, writing, etc. the list goes on. Once you define success in your terms, then you will know what to do with your life. You don’t need any advice from others as you’ll know deep down what you want to do with your life.

In spite of all this, people tend to have a question about ‘once they know what they want they might not know how to do it or what they should do after. Here’s the answer to it in 5 simple steps.

1.) It is okay to put yourself first:

People will understand that your dreams are as important as family obligations. So it’s okay to put yourself first and follow what you want.

2.) Don’t regret or feel guilty:

Once you are on the path of pursuing your dreams, don’t bring any guilt about family, friends, or anything. Friends and family will be supportive, and they can understand how passionate you are. The same goes with regret. Things happen, and it’s always a lesson. Don’t regret it. It can hold you down.

3.) See what bothers you:

If it’s something in your workplace, address it if it’s a personal issue, sort it out.

4.) Speak to your family & friends:

If you are about to quit your job and follow what you want, then you should share it with your family and friends. Family is a wonderful moral support to you, while friends will hold down the fort for you.

5.) Don’t give up:

At some point, you will know what you want in life. Don’t miss it and straightaway follow it. Whatever happens, you shouldn’t give up. You will get to the place where you want to be in no time.

Final thoughts

Not many people get the chance or luxury to follow their dreams or passion. Not many people have the luxury of quitting the job and go after things they want most in their life. With that thought, if you know what you want in life, if you know that your dreams are worth the risk, then go for it without second thoughts. We hope that our list of 15 steps to find what you want in life will give ideas as most of your concerns fall under them. In your journey of pursuing what you want, don’t forget to tag your family and friends along.