Working Towards Our Purpose

Welcome Back to episode 62 of Working

towards our Purpose. Thank you for being here. In today's

episode, we are going to talk about how to figure out what you

want, what you desire. One thing that can help.

So before we get into today's episode, we are gonna do our check

in as per usual. So take a moment to check in with

yourself and I will check in with me

and yeah, just see how you're feeling. Today I am feeling

pretty good. Yesterday I'm feeling

pretty, pretty proud of myself. I guess yesterday I

had sort of one of those days where I have set like

really high expectations for myself. I wanted to get like a bunch done

and I only got like half of it done. So

I started like talking bad to myself, like

distracting myself and noticed the day

starting to go downhill. And then

towards the end of the day, I realized that I had started beating myself

up in my head again because I didn't get the

high expectation of things done that I wanted to. And

at that moment I kind of realized, you know, I started thinking about like what

we've been talking about here on the podcast of, you know, stopping this cycle

of, of negative thinking and negative treatment of ourselves.

And I was gonna get back to work, you know, towards the

end of the day and I was like, you know what, no, not today. Like

today you're gonna go do something else. You're not gonna start doing

more work because you're gonna try to be easy on yourself now. And

if you start working, you're probably just gonna be distracted again and

not get much done. So let's just call it now. And

that's what I did. And I woke up this morning really

refreshed and started getting more ideas again and

getting excited. And yeah, I was, I was like proud of myself now

that I'm, you know, thinking about it. Proud of myself

for being easy on myself

and not letting, not repeating the negative

self talk cycle. And I, and I have to thank this

podcast for that because, you know, if we didn't have those two couple

episodes back ago about like, you know,

nonviolence and being kind to ourselves and self love, then

I wouldn't have had that top of mind and I wouldn't have been able to

make that choice and that decision. So, yeah, feeling grateful for that.

Also feeling a bit cold. It's getting cold out there. I got my Working

towards our Purpose crewneck on today. You can

go to workingtowardsourpurpose.com to get one for yourself. Got some

different colors and yeah, feeling good

otherwise. So. So yeah, let's get into today's topic.

Today's topic is the one thing like this one

sort of secret thing that you can do to. To find

what it is that you want, what it is that you desire, you know, to

keep working towards our purpose. You know, it's always. Always a

topic of this episode. You know, how do we get there? How do we get

to purpose? And following our

joy, I think is one of the most important things that we can do,

you know, following what excites us. Following

something that, like, we're just really into. And,

yeah, I was reminded of this because a close

friend recently was telling me,

you know, she's at this job that's like, not her passion or something

that she sees herself doing for a long time, and she knows that. And

recently she just, like, found something that she's, like, excited about that she can do

and work towards. And to just hear, like, the

excitement in her voice and see it in her face,

um, to just be, like, really excited about something,

as there's, like, no other word than excited, I guess. But

to see that and to be reminded, like, yes, that's

what following your joy looks like. Like. Like, who knows what

that will lead to. Infinite

possibilities. But the fact that you're excited about it

is, like, what makes me happy. And, um,

yeah, so just seeing it kind of reminded me of that topic and,

you know, gave me the idea for this episode today. Um, and.

And, yeah, so I want to talk a little bit about. I want to deconstruct

this because I feel like, you know, when people say, follow your joy, follow your

joy, it's. It could be sort of just like

something that somebody says or like something on, like, a motivational poster. But

I don't know, I feel like it needs to be delved into a little

bit more. So first I want to talk about what joy is. What

is following your joy, and then why

I think it's important. And then some places you can get started.

So first, what is following your joy mean? And again,

I saw it yesterday, so I'm trying to describe it other than the

word excitement. But have you ever been in a conversation with

somebody and you, like, started,

I don't know, like, talking a little bit louder, getting up off your seat like

you were getting. Maybe it's a band or a musician that you just found, and

you're trying. You're telling your friend, you're like, oh, this person's awesome. Like, I really

love the way they play guitar. I love their voice. You know, I love their

falsetto whatever. And you get really excited and into it. Like,

that's joy. Like, that is an example of it. Like, I

remember one time I had a conversation with somebody, and I was, like, speaking

about something I was, like, passionate about. And they were like, man, you're really into

this, huh? And I didn't realize, like, I had changed the way that I was

talking. Like, previously, I was just, like, sort of mundane and, like, blah,

blah, blah. But then I started talking about something I like, and I'm like, oh,

yeah, this guy is awesome. Like, I love this band. Like, I know all about

this. You know, his music career. And, like, that is joy.

And that's what we're talking about today. And why,

like, that's important to follow. So to further

explain this, I have another story. I feel like I've been

bringing up a lot of stories. Not that it's a negative thing,

but. Yeah, just. Just, I guess, feeling in a storytelling mood,

but. So back when I was in college, in undergrad, I

was studying mechanical engineering. And

it was a very rigorous course, if

anybody's ever gone through engineering school. You know, it's a lot of work, a lot

of homework and all that. So I was very

busy. Like, each semester was pretty much full credits, tons

of classes, tons of work projects. And

in my second year, no,

going into my third year, I knew of

this FSAE team that my college had. And FSAE

is Formula sae. It's basically a team of

students and some advisors that build a race car and

then go race it against other colleges in Michigan once

a year. So for me, I always really liked

racing. I always really liked working with my hands in

high school. And now here I was in college, sort of, you

know, in the books and doing everything, theoretically, doing tons of math.

I was really having a craving for, like, working with my hands. And

I went to this meeting with a buddy, and they were like, yeah,

you're going to get to weld. You're going to get. We make this thing from

scratch. Like, we're in a shop off campus. Like, we have all the tools.

We're going to. We tig Weld. So I was, like,

really excited about it. And then they got to a point where they were like,

you know, this is for people who are serious, because you need to show

up there every Saturday morning, like, bright and early, and

you need to be there every Saturday, and you need to be working there all

day, because it's a lot of work, and there's not that many people on the

team. So we need, like committed people. And

I went back from the meeting and I was on the phone with somebody, like

talking about it. And I remember being like, worried

that it was too much of a time commitment. And it was something that like,

I was really into and I wanted to do it. I was excited. But I

was like, but you know, I'm here for a degree. Can I do both

of these things? And I ended up

just doing it. Not totally sure why, but I

ended up joining the team. And every Saturday morning, bright and early,

I. Well, I actually don't remember how early it was. Cause I get up like

really early now, but it was probably something like seven o'. Clock. But for a

college kid that's like, you know, two in the morning.

And I remember, like, at first it was a little rough, but like,

it was just so much fun. I, like, didn't even think twice. And like every

Saturday we'd get up, we'd go to the shop off campus. I'd get a

ride because I didn't have a car. And yeah, it

was just so fun. And I never ever,

like, after joining, thought about the time commitment piece of it because it was this

thing that gave me energy and I was gonna find a way to make it

work. And I think that's why it's really important to

follow the joy to follow, like this feeling that we have. Because

you'll make it work. If you're that into it and you're that passionate

about it, you're going to make it work, you're going to find time for it.

My classes didn't suffer at all. In fact, I probably started doing better in

my classes because I was more focused and I didn't waste

as much time. And you know, I had to think about

like, what I was doing on Friday nights because I had this thing that I

was into on Saturday mornings. Um, so it, it really

helped me out in college a lot and made some

great friends. Like, we have some awesome memories of road tripping out

to Michigan with the car and, and racing it. And, and yeah, I, like, I,

I totally don't regret it at all. Um, I would have regretted it if I

didn't do it. So hopefully that kind of like explains

this joy that I'm, that I'm trying to convey in this, this, this passionate.

Passionate's another great word. When you're passionate about something,

when you truly care about it. That's what we're talking about.

That's the path we want to follow. And I know it can be

easy to think, well, this doesn't make any sense.

This thing that I like, it's never going to make me money,

whatever. Why even bother doing it? And

I also want to talk about why. Why should we be following

our joy? So just because something doesn't make you money

doesn't mean that it's not beneficial to you. Music,

perfect example. For me, music does not make me money. It may

never make me money. And I'm okay with that because when I make

music, it fills me up with energy so much that

it benefits other areas of my life. So because

of that, I prioritize making time for it. At least some point

during my week, I'll go write music, make music, work on music,

play music. And I'm doing it because

it's something that brings me joy and it makes me happy. And

yeah, somehow it just has this, like, magic to benefit all the other areas of

your life. And I think that's what following your joy does.

So, yeah, that's the number one reason I think that we should be

following our joy, even if it doesn't make sense or we can't monetize it

because, you know, you hear people all the time, like,

monetize your hobby, turn it into a business. And I'm not against that,

but I think the thing we have to be careful of is if we're thinking

of the thing that brings us joy in a way that we should

monetize and turn into a business, and then think, oh, I'm never going to be

able to make money doing this, and then you never do it at all. Like,

that's. That's not good. That's what we don't want. I think,

don't let it prevent you. Like, if it turns into a source of income, great.

But also do it if it never will, because it will lead

you down paths that you wouldn't be able to see otherwise.

And yeah, it. It just gives you

energy and gives you

more reason to do the things that maybe you, like, don't really want to do.

And, and yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, I think, like,

you know, it's hard to say, like, what's going to make you happy, but, like,

doing things that you're passionate about and make you joyful, certainly

I believe make you happy. And I believe is our

purpose is part of our purpose. I think, you know, we're always

talking about purpose, working towards a purpose. I think that

part of our purpose is doing things that, like, bring us joy,

and that's what gives us the fuel to keep doing those Things.

This podcast, perfect example. You know, I keep

doing this because it's something that I really care about, and when

somebody, like, says something to me and they're like, hey, that thing you said

resonated with me, and it, you know, inspired me to

do this, or, you know, even. Even just, like,

you know, they feel seen like that, that, to me

is, like, super. I really appreciate that and

care about that, so that makes me to keep doing this podcast.

Another thing, like, why doing something that brings you joy

is helpful and a good thing is we're not just talking about

thinking about the things that give us joy. We're talking about

noticing what gives us joy and then taking action

and doing something in that. So action

always moves you forward, and. And

just being able to

do something for yourself can be crucially important.

So, you know, back in

the time when I was working for corporate, I felt so out of control that

I wasn't controlling the way that my life was going. So one of the things

that I did was I started a side business, and at the time, that

gave me joy, and I was really into business techniques and, like,

trying to get new clients and marketing and learning all this stuff. And

that gave me a reason to, like, keep pushing through my days, even

though I hated what I was doing for work. And I did that for, like,

a year and a half before finally leaving. And

sometimes, like, doing that thing that brings you joy is what can keep you

going and to keep you from just giving up and, like, having no

motivation and coming home and just sleeping and then going and doing the job.

In this cycle of, like, feeling so out of control,

like, that's another reason why doing and

following your joy can be so beneficial, is it gives you

that sense of control back. It's like you're deciding you

have the free will to choose what thing that you're into

and to go do something with that thing. And that's just such

a powerful thing. And yeah, it's.

It's when you have that excitement and that passion about

it, you can go do that thing and you can give yourself

the permission to do that thing. And it's like, you get home and

you're so excited about that thing, you don't even care that you just spent your

whole day in an office. You're like, I'm gonna go work on this thing now

because I'm here and I'm ready to do it. So,

yeah, following your joy is just such a

impactful thing. I think so. And then. And then the

last thing, the last reason to like, to do something that

you know, sparks your joy is that you will attract

like minded people. When you talk passionately about something,

you will make people who also like

that thing notice. You for example,

like have, I don't know if this ever happened to you, but like

if you go to a concert all of a sudden like

everybody there is like sort of your friend because you're all

passionate about this one band. And like it's so easy to talk

to people at concerts because it's like, oh, you like this band? Yeah, I love

this band too. So you kind of already have like this.

It's like you're in this little inner club. This, you have this thing

in common that you're passionate about. So you, both of you can talk

for days on end about this thing, about this band because it's something that you

care about. So in, in the same theory of

like, you know, maybe your thing is, is sewing or whatever,

you know, you find somebody who also likes sewing and when they see you talking

passionately about selling, it's like you're gonna attract them like

strongly. And now you kind of like

are able to build this network of people who can be supportive for this thing

that you care about that can then lead to more opportunities and potential

down the road. It's just like, yeah, it's just beautiful when like you see

somebody that's passionate about something. It's so magnetic. It's,

it's, it's really important, I think. And,

and yeah, so those, those are some reasons as to

why. And then I did also want to talk about like where to start.

Like maybe, maybe you feel overwhelmed and maybe

like there's so many choices out there, you don't really know

first I would say, you know, tune into your feelings,

like see where you actually do get excited about something. But

some like practical outlets. I did want to talk about Substack real

quick because I've been using Subsack and if you're on there, you can follow

me. But I think Substack's such a great social media platform

because it's the opposite of the instantaneous

gratification, instant gratification of like Instagram and TikTok

and all this short form video content.

There's hardly any video content on it. It's all writing. It's mostly

blogs and people writing about

taking their time, long form content. And you

go on there and it takes a minute to read these things. But when you

find somebody that's writing about something that you care about and you're passionate about

you're gonna go read that thing. And it's been a nice, wholesome

place to be able to express ideas and thoughts and

to find people who also resonate with that. And,

yeah, it's just. I don't know, I think it's really. So, you know, what I'm

saying is that if you're a writer but you think like, oh, I can't

write a book, start on substack. Just go write some articles on substack

and make an account, just start publishing some stuff,

start reading some other people's stuff, make connections. It's like a really great

way to fuel and to keep

pushing that thing that you're excited about. So really like that

platform. YouTube's another one. Maybe if writing is not your thing, you know, you

can make some videos. If you're into, like,

cinematography or maybe photography or music, like, you

can. You can do so much with YouTube. And I think it's a great platform

because anybody can go and upload something and you've created

something, you know, whatever it is that you're passionate about, you can synthesize

that into something that people can watch. And even if you don't have a

lot of people watching it, you. It's still cool that you went and made that

thing and you put. Again, you're in action,

you're passionate about something, and you made something, you did something from that

passion. So YouTube's a great outlet.

Music, obviously, for me, you don't even have to publish the

music. You could just go make music, go write music, go play music with other

people. Music's just such a powerful thing. And then

another one that I don't really have too much experience with is

like, joining a sports league. I feel like people who are passionate about sports,

like, you know, it's one thing to, like, watch sports, but to go and play

with other people, like, that's. That's action

of the thing that you're joyful about and passionate about

is. Is going and playing a game. Like, that's a totally different

thing than just, like, you know, talking about it or doing,

like, fantasy sports. So. So I think that that's really

cool. And, yeah, so to kind of, like, wrap up

this episode, I think that, you know, what I'm kind of thinking about

here, what we're moving towards is like, it's not just

following your joy, but it's also following your joy and then putting it into

action is, like, the most important thing.

So. So, yeah, think about, like, you know, one thing that you're

passionate about. Or you're really into or excited about.

And like, how can you turn that into an action? I think, I think that's

the one takeaway from this episode is like, how do you turn the one thing

that you really care about, that you're really into and turn it into

an action? Because that's how it becomes more real.

So another thing I want to say too, there's no

wrong choice. There's definitely no wrong choice. Doing

anything is going to move you forward and move

you closer to your purpose, to

finding something that you're into and you care about that

maybe can turn into, you know, a job in the future,

a business, you know, who knows, a creativity outlet that you

can get paid for. That's not important. We're not thinking about the finances right now.

We're just thinking about starting something. Because I think

what I want to say is that the potential is

endless and limitless. The potential of following this

path is limitless. So you gotta get started to see what's on the

path and I encourage you to go make

an action towards that. And then lastly too, I always

wanna say, like, you can always change your mind. You know, you can go do

something that you're passionate about for a year and if it doesn't bring you joy

anymore, find the next thing that gives you joy. And that's okay. It's

okay to change your mind. You don't have to like sign a contract

and be like, I am passionate about music and will be for the rest of

my life. You can totally be free to change

your mind. And I know sometimes that's like looked down upon, but

you know, when you do things, you find out more information and when you have

more information, you can make better choices for yourself. So,

yeah, I think that's where I want to wrap up today. I

do encourage you strongly to go, to go out and find your

joy and to put an action towards it.

And thank you for listening. Thank you for

watching on YouTube. As always, I appreciate every one of you

and I will see you on another episode real soon. Thank you

so much.