This month we’re reading The One-Week Job Project by Sean Aiken.
Sean Aiken started his one-week job project because he wanted to find a career he’s passionate about. During his journey, he not only got to try out 52 different jobs, he got to pick the brains of some highly successful people and get their advice on life and work.
In Week 50, while working as an Association Executive for the Texas Society of Association Executives, Sean discovered an important lesson about leading a fulfilling life…
We fixate on the future to provide meaning to the present. Doesn’t much matter what that future is, as long as we believe that it’s better than our current reality. Things will be better when exams are over. When I find a job. When the kids move out. When I retire. Days blend into weeks, weeks into months, and before we know it it’s time to make a new five-year plan. We wish our lives away with the hope that better days lie ahead. Until one day we might come to the cold realization that the better days we’d longed for are now in the past, and that amid the noise we somehow missed them.
As John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
It’s important that I always maintain a vision of my long-term goals and ideals to guide me, though I need to focus on enjoying my present situation – doing whatever it is that I’m doing in that moment, the best I possibly can. In the end, that’s what will allow me to achieve those long-term goals; that’s what will allow me to lead a more fulfilling life.
This passage struck a chord with me because I tend to get stuck in the “things will be better when…” mindset too. But when I read this passage, Sean’s words made me stop and realize that while the future may hold better days, today is pretty great too.
When I think back to what I wanted when I was 20 years old, there were two things: to find the love of my life and travel the world. The funny thing is, I got everything I wanted. When I stop fixating on the future and look at what’s in front of me right now, I can see that I don’t need tomorrow to be better; I just hope it’s as good as today.
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Did you enjoy The One-Week Job Project?
If so, stayed tuned…Sean Aiken is going to be joining us for an interview soon!
