Your Neglects And Their Adverse Effects

It’s another workday and you’re grudgingly getting ready to leave for work. You’re standing in front of your mirror and once again you’re being confronted by your reflection.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“Are you supposed to be doing this?”

You get asked similar questions every morning, but you’re always unable to provide an answer. Instead, you’d do what you usually do. Shut the door — and head to work.

This is a job you don’t enjoy, but you still find yourself at this job probably because it helps you pay the bills. Or because you just have to do something.

What you’re doing in life isn’t the point, but what you’ve refused to do. Do you enjoy the process so much that you look forward to it each time you wake up in the morning? Or do you often moan about your job and wish you could just quit?

Sometimes you might find yourself compelled to work on a job you don’t enjoy at all. A case in point is a job I once worked a few years ago. I got myself into a pickle after refusing to follow a path that I was supposed to follow when it was clear to follow it.

Consequently, a job that offered me unfavorable pay, and some other unpleasant experiences became a last resort. I had to temporarily take this particular job back then to keep the wolf from the door.

But while at it, I keep asking myself questions like, what exactly I’m I doing here? I’m achieving measurable growth? Are the people around me impacting my life positively? And what’d be the ‘next’ at the end of the day?

Eventually, I quit. And after some time I started doing the things that I’ve always wanted to do.

But for some people, even after finding out that a job or some activities aren’t good for them, they‘d still find it difficult to quit and start doing what they’d enjoy doing. They’d find it challenging to start living the life of their dream until they’re forcefully removed from that job or activity.

You‘d find yourself settling for less if you continue to do what you’re not supposed to be doing. You invite mediocrity by accepting anything.

And what you mightn’t understand is that your neglects are waiting for you to confront you when the time comes. Like Jim Rohn rightly said in his book The Keys To Success, “Neglect will ace everyone and prevent us all from cashing in on an opportunity.”

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How to Determine The Right Things to Do in Life

You can do exactly what you’re supposed to do by having a clear understanding of the ‘why’. The ‘why’ is the question that goes ahead of every action you take each day. It determines what a particular job or activity means to you at the end of the day. And this is the most important part of it all and not the result.

Because regardless of how outstanding the result might be, it isn’t gonna make you feel extraordinarily happy. It also won’t keep you constantly in a happy mood. Rather initially you might feel empty like nothing happened.

The fun, the joy is in the process and not in the results. The thrill that comes after achieving something great is fleeting, but the daily joy derived from enjoying what you do is long-lasting.

The process supplies the joy. And after each result comes what next? Therefore if the process isn’t gratifying then it might produce a result that won’t lead to an acceptable ‘next.’ The ‘next’ should always be something that’d align with your values so that you’d continue to enjoy the process.

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Conclusion

I get it. You’ve got a lot going for you. You’re always doing something. But are you doing the things you enjoy doing?

It’s important to often ruminate on your activities because the things you choose to do are either helping you to live a life of fulfillment or it’s taking you farther away from living a life of joy and true desires.

When are you going to begin to walk that path you’d love to find yourself in? The path that’d help you enrich your life with nice experiences and memories.

And when are you going to start to climb that ladder that stretches before you every morning? The earlier you step on it and begin to climb gently the better for you. Eliminate expectations and throw yourself into every activity you love so you could enjoy it — and have the experience of living the kind of life you want.

This story was previously published on Medium by the same author.