Motivation – Don’t Compromise your Life

Motivation –  Don’t Compromise your Life

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

I was extremely lucky to have ‘discovered’ my passion, quite by accident although I like to believe that it was by some sort of design.  I couldn’t bear to think of working at a job that I wasn’t passionate about or that I hated.  On some level I guess, I do understand that there are some jobs out there that are done by individuals who have no passion for what they do or perhaps have no ambition to do anything else – it really saddens me when I think of them though and it just makes me that much more grateful for being able to work at and in a field that I love and am absolutely passionate about.

Actually it reminds me of my younger brother, who at the age of about four or five, was asked “what do you want to be when you are grown up?” and he replied without hesitation “I am going to be an accountant and I am going to be a millionaire!”  All the other little boys were wanting to be train drivers and ambulance drivers and policemen or whatever their perception of a ‘fun job’ was at that time. It was easy to change their minds by talking to them about other adventures like the ones that sailors had or explorers had, but my brother’s very serious statement stood and his mind could not be changed.  At fifty something, his choice has stood the test of time as he is a senior international partner with a well known audit group and he has been with them for around thirty years now and he is a millionaire – so yes, he has achieved the objective that he had as a little five year old boy.

His and my story though are the exception and not the rule as sadly, the reality of life is that often it is easier to find your lover or your life  partner than it is to find a job that you truly love.  How sad is that?

The ideal time to make the decision about what you want to do, of course, is when you are starting out.  Again sadly, the majority of our youth have no cooking clue about what it is that they want to do – the ‘drop out’ rate at universities and colleges evidence the amount of indecision that there is out there and even more end up in dead end jobs doing what they have no passion for and what they hate, just to put food on the table.

The question for me of course is; is this how we compromise our lives?  Is it acceptable that we make do with second best and we then spend the rest of our lives wondering about “what if . . . ?”

We all try and pay attention to the needs of our loved ones, we try and pay attention to the needs of our bosses and all the other external factors that need attention in our lives, but we very seldom pay attention to our own needs and what we need to fulfill our own dreams and aspirations.

Often we allow others to make decisions about our lives and often these decisions are based on their aspirations or dreams.  Sometimes it’s family members who feel the need to live their lost lives vicariously through yours.  Here’s the thing though, living your life like this will not bring any fulfillment in their lives or your life for that matter.

The bottom line is that you have to look out for yourself – you have to what’s best for you in order for you to be able to be there for others or for you to take care of others.

You cannot compromise your life! You have to live your life to the full and become all that you can be in order for you to fulfill your destiny.

I know that I am, but what about you?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za