What Work Should I Do in My Life?

"What Work Should I Do in My Life?"

This is a crucial question staring at any student who is about to complete his or her schooling.

The reason above question is a crucial question is very simple and fundamental:

"After you are dead and gone, you would only be known by what work you did in your life!"

Like Warren Buffett would be known for being an investor.

Like Barack Obama would be known for being the President of the United States of America from 2009 till 2016.

Like Sir Donald Bradman would be known for being a cricketer.

So obviously, "What Work Should I Do in My Life?" is an important question.

The work one should do in one's life should depend upon three factors primarily:

• The work is something in which one is reasonably good at
• The work is something in which one is passionately interested in
• The work is something that makes good enough money for a decent life

Let us talk about the above three in detail now.

The work is something in which one is reasonably good at

• Ideally speaking, the work should be such that one should literally be able to do that work in sleep also!
• Finding what one is reasonably good at is a matter of doing experiments in one's own life.
• Trying different things would certainly be very useful in understanding one's inherent and innate capabilities and competencies.
• Choosing a work that aligns with one's inherent and innate capabilities and competencies is the right way to go.
• Of course, one may need to really work hard in a determined way before one can conclude either way about what work one is good at or not.
• This is important because if one is good at something, one can easily find some job in a related area.
• Not being good would mean one may not even be able to find related work!

The work is something in which one is passionately interested in

• Ideally speaking,  the work should be such that one should literally enjoy that work so much that one wouldn't want to sleep and would want to do it even if one doesn't get any money for doing it!
• The above aspect is essentially related to job satisfaction.
• If one is good at something, one can surely find a job. However, one will not be satisfied and happy. One would in some sense drag along in life while doing work one doesn't passionately enjoy in the real sense.
• An acid test for finding this out is to imagine that one is super-rich and has all the money one would ever need in life.
• So in that case one wouldn't need to work for money at least. And if money is not a criteria then what would one want to do?
• It is better to find an answer to the above and do that work.
• One has to blindly assume that one can earn enough while doing the work one would want to do based on above test.
• An of course, one could be totally wrong in making that assumption.

The work is something that makes good enough money for a decent life

• All said and done, money has its importance. It may be the case that one may not live for money but one would certainly still need money to live!
• This is the third leg of the stool of a life lived well.
• One chooses to do something one is good at. One also chooses to do something one is passionately interested in. But is that enough?
• Not really, since for a life lived well, one would need to able to take care of one's physical and material needs and comforts.
• And money is very very important for assuring that. So choosing a work that pays well is equally crucial.
• One should take care of this aspect also while trying to decide what work to do in one's life.

So the question "What Work Should I Do in My Life?" is definitely an important one.

The answer to this question indeed defines and is related to the very purpose of one's existence.