I recently made a video telling people why they don’t need to go back to school for another degree—at least not right now. And it made some waves.
A lot of people in the comments were saying: “But I don’t have a passion.” “But I don’t know what to do.” “But I’m still figuring it out.” “But I’m still exploring.”
That is totally okay. I was actually once in that exact same spot. So I’m going to speak directly to you right now.
You Don’t Need One Perfect Path
I was never the person who knew exactly what career or job I wanted. There wasn’t one specific path that I saw myself staying on for the next 10, 15, or 20 years. But I always knew exactly what I wanted my life to look like.
I knew that freedom was very important to me. I wanted to be able to travel whenever I wanted. I wanted to go wherever and whenever I wanted. I didn’t want to be tied down to one specific location.
Start with Your Life Vision, Then Reverse-Engineer
While these are things I’m still working toward, having that vision is what’s allowing me to reverse-engineer my steps toward building it.
For example, knowing that I want location freedom eliminates any career that would tie me down to one specific place for an extended period. I also didn’t want to be in school forever, so it was easy to eliminate paths like medicine and law.
The principle I’m operating under is: build a career around my life, not the other way around. In fields like medicine and law, people’s lives often revolve around their careers—not the other way around. And that’s just not what I wanted for myself. So I knew I had to take a different path.
You Don’t Need It All Figured Out
Mind you, I haven’t completely figured this out yet. But what I do have is the vision—and that vision gives me the clarity I need to make career decisions and decide what opportunities to pursue.
If you don’t have a passion yet, that’s okay. If you’re still figuring it out, that’s okay. Start with how you want to live. The career will follow.
