Angie Clever

The world is filled with people that aspire to this and that. “I want to be a…[insert your favorite career here]” is the most common phrase I hear from people in their early twenties (and older for that matter). The way I figure it, there are only two types of people. The people who fight for what they want, and the people who whine about not getting it. And if you think that favorite career is going to make you bank, and you can retire at age 22, then that’s where you went wrong.

Money and Passion about Your Work

When I asked myself what I really wanted, I came up with two major points. I want to make money, and I want to make things. For me, the perfect profession is one where I can make the money I need and use my creativity to make things, design things, and do art. While this is the goal, don’t get impatient. And worst of all, don’t stop and spend your life whining about what you can’t be, or that nobody will give you a chance. Maybe you’ll get that lucky break, maybe you won’t. The important thing is to do.

You Are What You Do

Think about this like a role-playing game. You are at Level 0. You want to be [insert your career here, for now we’ll use mine] a game designer. If you were playing a game, if you wanted to level up in a skill, what would you do? You certainly wouldn’t sit around complaining about it. You’d play those boring easy levels, level up a few times, and wham bam you’d be doing come cool stuff. So to get to the point, you are what you do. You are not a painter if you never paint. You are not a game designer if you don’t make games.

Do. (That’s the secret)

Want to design games, design them. What to write, write a novel. Ninety percent of the work is writing, researching, doing, and building. And it’s not easy. What you have to realize is that ideas are a dime a dozen. There are thousands of people out there with unrealized ideas. The thing that sets some people apart is that they are willing to work to build something that they believe in, and that is not something that comes without blood sweat and tears. If you want to do something, you have to do it.

Ask Yourself Why You Want What You Want

If your dream is to make a million easy. Then quit now. Ask yourself why you want what you want. Do you want success and money? Well, who doesn’t, right? But is that influencing your decisions. Let’s pretend for a moment that you already had those millions, would your course of action be the same. Are you making decisions based on what you want and believe in, or are you making them based on fears (fear of money, security, …ect.)? You’ll never be contented and happy with your life as long as you are living in fear and making decisions based on those fears. When you decide what you want to do on a day to day basis, make sure that it is something that you believe in, not just what you think you should be doing based on your fears.

What People Are Afraid of

• Loss of property
• Loss of money
• Disappointing loved ones

From my experience these are the top three things that keep people living in fear. If you had a million dollars, ask yourself if you would still be worrying about money? The answer for most people is that yes, they would. Would they still worry about losing all they they’ve gained? Yes, for most people they would probably worry even more so. To me, it explains why so many religions encourage living without earthly possessions—not because passions are innately bad, but because people tend to live in fear of losing them. How many bad decisions have been made because it would risk what little you already have, even when what you have does not satisfy you. To get to where you would like to be you need to overcome the fear of money, of possessions. You have to realize that to build and grow, things change. You take risks, you lose some and gain more. Measure the stakes carefully, and make sure that fear is not controlling your decisions.

The other large fear is of disappointing those close to you, family and friends, particularly parents and spouses. Isn’t it ironic that if you did not care (or if they did not care) this would never be an issue. People tend to be the hardest on those they care about, and they measure them against the standards that they measure themselves. When you are making big decisions, remember that you are the one that has to live with them from day to day, every day. Make sure that you are not making decisions from fear. Face the people you care about, and measure what you want against expectations.