In pursuit of a meaningful life - desperately seeking co-motivators

2783 Views 19 Replies 11 Participants Last post by butterfly9, Aug 31, 2013

butterfly9

Discussion Starter · Aug 27, 2013

Hey guys,

After months of lurking around, I am finally doing a post - yay! Apologies if I'm breaking any rules.

So I've recently realised I'm an INFP after many years of struggling with my personality, loneliness, not fitting in, having seemingly far-fetched and idealistic goals. Despite this, I've remained grounded and pursued an analytical and logical career path. BSc in Economics, MSc in project management which led to good paying jobs. I had good grades at school but I remember struggling to concentrate, day dreaming in class or even not going at all. But I was motivated by the light at the end of the tunnel - one day, I would belong to the workforce, be free and independent. This was my main motivation to study hard at school.

Anyway, it didn't quite work out that way. I have now ended up in an analyst role in a bank with good managers and salary and prospects etc. But I truly cannot stand the activities I do in my day job. It bores me to tears and I have no interest in it whatsoever. It involves messing about with spreadsheets, doing some data quality. I spend 75% of my day pretending to be busy and the remaining 25% rushing to complete everything I should have done earlier.

I am not one to sit around and moan (well not anymore) so I have decided to actively seek a career that I actually give a s**t about. I'm setting up a business with a couple of other people who I can delegate stuff to. It's the simplest business model to execute (for me anyway) - we've actually started selling. Yes, I know that new businesses rarely succeed etc... so I'm going into this with my eyes wide open. I hope to start test running my two other income streams soon. I have a date to leave my bank job i.e. December 31st.

Now this all sounds well and good but I have one big problem that could mar this plan - PROCRASTINATION. I can assure you nobody around me thinks this is a good idea. I don't have any real friends so nobody actually cares what I do. In any case, I really don't want to be one of those people who are stuck in their jobs, living above their means and pining desperately for the weekend while playing the lottery and hoping it will rescue them from their day jobs. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's just not for me.

I am eager to hear from people also implementing or considering a life plan of any kind right now. What are you doing? Can we motivate each other? Pretty please be nice to the newbie

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butterfly9

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 28, 2013

Hey waggz, why do you think music is not realistic as a job? Have you explored any possibilities? Do you play any instruments? What type of music do you like? I'm starting piano and singing classes next month but only as a hobby as I've always wanted to learn.

Yes, I'm just trying to find a career that will give me more control of my time - I've checked and it doesn't exist so I have to create one. Your plans sound exciting - is it difficult to get your secret clearance?

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butterfly9

Discussion Starter · #18 · Aug 31, 2013

Slider said:
I understand quite well.

I procrastinated a lot when I was in college and my grades suffered.

It was boring and I didn't really like what I was doing.

At least the OP is making good money.

Stop whining and find a hobby. You are more fortunate than most people.

Life is not all about making "good money". Been there, done that, still bored.

A hobby does not replace a job where you are contracted to be in a physical place for a particular amount of time doing specific tasks. I spend a third of my time at work. That is an awful lot of time to spend on something that is not fulfilling. I'm trying to replace that with something more meaningful and still make some income to live on. It is not as easy as it sounds and from what I've read on this forum, it gets more impossible to achieve the longer you leave it. The fact that I'm more fortunate than most people does not mean I should not pursue things that are meaningful to me.

I don't mind constructive advice, but your post does not address anything I wrote so perhaps you needn't have bothered.

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butterfly9

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 31, 2013

infpblog said:
Creating a meaningful life is more than just creating meaningful work. You've mentioned your ideas for finding meaning during your work hours. What's your idea for meaningful non-work hours? You've gotten paid well so you should have adequate financial resources to be able to create non-work time full of meaning and purpose. Do you think shifting that energy and focus to work, detracts from the energy and purpose you put into non-work hours?

Thanks infpblog for your detailed post. I think if you already enjoy your job and feel it's a good use of your skills and person, you are able to find the time to do other meaningful things in your non-work hours. In my non-work hours these days, I'm trying to get my startup off the ground. My work hours aren't really that flexible (or many!) but I agree with growing meaningful relationships at work. However, I am still interested in the meaning of the tasks I am doing i.e. yes a promotion would be great but what is the point of this stuff; what is going to go from good to better because I am doing this?

I can't help it but the tasks and the results of the task matters to me!

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butterfly9

Discussion Starter · #20 · Aug 31, 2013

hey @claude - you're like me a from few years ago lol! But sounds like you have a solid plan with writing programmes - that's the great thing about having a "hard" skill. Try to find some time to figure out what you really want but I will admit I didn't think about stuff like this until I realised I was stuck.

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