Self-Conquering, Passion, and Vision

Hello friends! Welcome back to this journey in which you can discover your hidden potential and pave the pathway to the right career. I had previously discussed the importance on distinguishing between what a “career” entails versus a “job”.

As a life coach, I can assure you that these steps have been defined by me after thorough research and enriching real life experiences that I have encountered throughout my many years coaching and mentoring hundreds of career aspirants.

In this article, I begin sharing my ten steps to envisioning and accomplishing your dream career goals by highlighting the first three fundamental steps:

1) Self-Conquering: Where you conquer your flaws and embrace your weaknesses

2) Passion: Where you discover your inner burning flame that drives you

3) Setting a Vision: Where you set a target to achieve

Step 1: Self-Conquering

“For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.” - Plato

You may ask yourself, what does conquering yourself actually mean? The essential meaning is that it ties into self-awareness in which you garner a deeper understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.

Instead of exercising control and relentless authority over others, you must firstly attempt to conquer your self-limiting and self-centering thoughts.

How do you conquer your body mind and soul?

One out of three people struggle with knowing what type of career they desire in life. This is the first battle to overcome. Indeed, the battle with oneself is never easy; however, it is not impossible.

All that you need to do in order to win against your inner struggles is the following:

Identify --> Acceptance --> Rehabilitate and Conquer

What do you need to do to identify yourself?

Well, to put it simply, you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. What are you good at? What are your inherent talents and what comes naturally to you? The answer to all these questions assists in defining your strengths.

Secondly, dealing with weaknesses. Your shortcomings or weaknesses can also bring out the best and worst in you. Some weaknesses undermine your capabilities, some perhaps inflate your ego with high self-opinion and others can be emotionally devastating and result in your collapse.

Emotional triggers such as anger, anxiety, ego and other inner devils reveal the untamed demons within you.

They just need a small kindle to ignite and destroy you. Constantly be reflexive and confront these emotional monsters in order to further understand the root causes to learn to conquer them.

Weaknesses can also take the form of two different extremes.

Firstly, self-limiting thoughts in which negative thoughts creep into the deep corners of your mind and cloud you with self-doubt.

A few examples of these disastrous thoughts can be “people will not like me because I am too fat/thin or that I have a dark-complexion” or even “I better avoid making this presentation because I cannot make a food of myself in front of my colleagues”.

These thoughts, and many more, can jeopardize your efforts to reach out to your goals and can leave you caged in your own dark, clouded world.

On the flip side, instead of having self-limiting thoughts, you may be engulfed with self-centering thoughts in which your ego announces you as the BEST in the crowd.

All your ideas and thoughts are then centered around your inflated self with perceptions such as “ I deserve more compliments and praises for what I do”, “ Life is pretty unfair to me and not my friends”, “I am the only one to get there” and many more self -pivoted thoughts where the predominant article is “I”.

However, do not be deceived by the momentary confidence these statements might arouse in you. The truth is, and you know it as well, that these thoughts are hurdles that block your road to success. Do not let them bluff you.

Another question you might ask is; how do you accept yourself? The simple answer would be, accept yourself the way that you are including all of your strengths and weaknesses. Cherish your abilities and embrace your weaknesses. The more weaknesses you have… the better!

Yes, you read that right! The more weaknesses you have mean greater opportunities for you to constantly work on yourself and carve yourself into becoming a better YOU.

Now that you have accepted yourself with all the good and bad… it is time for some rehabilitation.

Before your weaknesses become mere monsters in your head, find corrective measures to see how you can improve and work on them on an individual basis.

For instance, emotional shortcomings such as anger, anxiety, ego and so forth can be taken care of with little self-control and some mindful exercises like meditation, yoga and good sleep that can calm your system and resist the urge to react at every trigger.

To curb self-limiting thoughts, think of all the positive and uplifting moments in your life that will give you insights into your self-worth and motivate you to celebrate your uniqueness.

Yes, the hardest battle is indeed suppressing the self-centering thoughts that restrict you from learning new things and trap you in the illusion of being the “best”.

The next time your ego interferes with your learning and growth, tame it down with humility and plenty of kindness.

Instead of seeking compliments from others for your efforts, try to focus on self-growth and eventually fame and money will follow you.

Someone truly said “Work in silence, let success make the noise.”

Step 2: Discover your Passion

“Dream is not which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep.” - Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

How passionate do you think you are? What is your burning desire? If you still haven’t discovered the one dream that motivates you during both morning and night-time, one that drives you to perform better than the previous day, then do it now.

Yes, that is your passion! There may be certain things in life that you are good at doing, but what is it that you truly love doing? Something which ignites an inner kick and whispers to you to go and chase your dream.

To discover your career passion, think of all those things, activities and work that make you feel “right”; the ones you truly enjoy doing without ever thinking that you are “working”. The ones hat leave you feeling “fulfilled” and “satisfied”.

The sooner you discover your passion, the better place you will be in life in working towards it and nurturing it into your dream career.

Step 3: Set a Vision

“If you’re working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” - Steve Jobs

Vision makes you do things. That’s the gravity of your life. All successful people have a vision as their driving force. As you embrace your flaws and order, you will be able to unmask the vision that provides you with a prospering future based on your passion and understanding of yourself.

Setting goals helps you to establish benchmarks and reach milestones one after the other on your highway to success.

It is the ladder which will take you from today to the future.

Once you set a vision, work relentlessly to hit the bullseye. When you set a realistic vision, it navigates you to your destination avoiding roadblocks and distractions that hinder your journey. It helps you to know where you want to see yourself 5 years down the line.

Are you heading towards your set vision? To answer that question assess your present status, your life’s growth so far and the direction in which it is heading. See what you need to do to make this road to success less bumpy and more smooth sailing.

Take small, planned steps in allocated time that will make a big leap towards your career.

As you tread on these 3 steps, look forward to the next two articles that will continue on the “10 Steps to a Successful Career” series. I hope this article shed some insights on the importance of self-construction and how it lays the foundation of a successful career. Stay tuned for further articles in which we will discuss factors that influence your career explicitly and how you can take chare of them.

And once you follow the steps diligently, you will conquer your inner self and inch closer towards your dreams.

Till we meet again, this is Nan Samy your Life Coach and friend, signing off for now.

Stay happy and Stay positive!