Doing a Redial

As I think back on my life and my career, it's not that my mentality nor my ultimate desire has really changed all that much. I am the same me that I was 10 years ago or 20 years ago.

What has changed is my wisdom and understanding of how things are done. Or at least that's what I hope I have achieved.

But of course, as things in life generally go, we are always learning new things, or changing our perspective on certain things along the way. That's, I guess, what the growing and learning and understanding and wisdom parts are all about.

I remember back in the day Microsoft used to put it in their advertisements for their MSN network, "Where do you want to go today?" I always felt the more important question was, "How are you going to get there?"

Because that's the real challenge in life, isn't it? Not the "what?" But the "how?" It's the people that answer the second question who really arrive at their destination on their grand journeys of life.

Work has never bothered me. But I never did anything in my work life that I was ever passionate about. And so, work has always been just that. Work. And perhaps that has sort of also served to shape my strong desire to depart from it as soon as I can.

To pursue a different kind of work of sorts. To pursue my passions, and my own challenges, whatever they may be. More importantly, to have the time and the freedom to do those things.

When I was younger I worked a lot. At that time it was the understanding that the more I worked the more money I would make, and the more money I would make the better equipped I would be to be able to put that money into things that would work for me.

The stock market has been one of those areas I pursued to accomplish that. Incidentally, I should note that one of my passions is the stock market, and the process of making money through that.

The thing is that, over the past year and a half or so I have been more strong in my desire to leave the work behind and move on to those other passions and challenges than ever before.

In other words, my determination and conviction in wanting to do this have never been as compelling as they are now. And as such, this has created a massive conflict in my life.

For whatever it is worth, my focus has dramatically shifted from doing the most to get the most out of my work to doing the most to get out of it. And that just means that most of my time and energy is devoted to that goal—and therein lies the conflict.

Even some of my investment pursuits have significantly changed. I have made a strong shift toward income strategies in recent years in the stock market, for example, and have pursued other sources of generating passive income.

It is not to say that anywhere along my path in life I think I have missed out on things. But I do often ask myself the infamous "what if" questions. What if I would have stuck with a popular magazine I was working on back in the day, and the anthology I published? What would I be doing now? How might that have changed my path and my course?

What if I would have pursued music differently and shifted my focus from hobby to career? Would that have changed my path and my course?

I follow a handful of YouTubers. Mostly financial guys because I happen to be a financial guy myself and that's just what happens to interest me. Many of them are much younger than I am, and many of them are also much more wealthy than I am.

The thing is not necessarily their age. It's not about the money they make. Although, I wouldn't be complaining. It's about the fact that they are doing now what I think I may have preferred to do then when I was their age. They are doing what they enjoy, and what they are passionate about, and having the time of their lives. Still working, but not working.

Their life is their passion, and their passion is their occupation, and that passion and occupation is providing exactly some of the things that I have worked tirelessly forever to achieve.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying that I think I did anything backwards. But I also acknowledge that the times have also dramatically changed from when I was their age to now. Things were very different, and the same opportunities to pursue one's passions simply were more difficult to do back then than they are now.

But I also strongly believe that it is never too late to do something different. There is no 'end of the road' until you are dead, in my view. Anything is still possible so long as you have the drive, the know-how, the ability to figure out the know-how, and of course, have a bit of talent as well.

This is the redial. The rationalization that work does not have to be work. And that making the passions have a payoff good enough to replace it is still achievable. Not without a plan, of course. Not without work related to that. But it's all doable.

Like one wiseman once told me, "If life were easy, it wouldn't be so damn hard." Of course he was making a joke out of that. And it's kind of funny when you think about it. But he also got serious in the next line and said, "But honestly, if life were easy, it also wouldn't be worth living."

And I agree with that.

For me the thought of ending work isn't about simple leisure. It's about having the time and freedom to make an impression on the world in some way or another. Doing something. But the something you do becomes something you actually care about. Something that is more fulfilling to you personally, and in many cases, something that also can be fulfilling to others.

While the hours in the day are limited, there is always time to devote to pursuing that other life. Those passions and other challenges. There is time to devote to achieving the goal of really getting to that place you want to be.

The hours between the time I get home from work and go to bed have the potential to be the most productive hours of my entire day. If I so choose to make that the case.

The redial is really about getting hotter in the quest of maximizing those hours and putting my pursuits into hyper-overdrive.

The work that I do outside of work has become ultra-important. It needs to be all-consuming. Because what I am doing now simply does not work for me anymore. I have reached that point of 'no turning back.' I may still be 'going through the motions,' so to speak, but it is clear to me that my heart isn't in it. It is all about the goal now. Putting on the final touches. Tying up any loose ends.

Simply put...making it happen.

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Alexas_Fotos. Telephone Vintage Monochrome - Free photo on Pixabay