Should We Help People With Our Life Purpose + Stuck With Career Choice

[Toshko]

Hey guys, I am very glad to be amongst you in this forum! I'll try to keep it short.So my story is the following : Before 1-2 years I had a dream of becoming a basketball player in the NBA, I trained hard - sometimes 2 times per day, was supermotivated and that time was really the happiest part of my life. My plan was to study something in college which would help me to make video games after my career as a basketball player. All went well until I stumbled upon Leo and personal development stuff. As I expanded my consciousness, did some meditation and learned about enlightment I felt that, as a sportsman, I wouldn't do much for the world and wouldn't help people much. So my motivation just went away and after some months I decided to quit. I also quitted the programming that I was learning at the time because I felt that I couldn't help humanity with making video games(It also was kinda boring to program). I even became depressed after that. Now, it's like 7-8 months after - I feel alright, but it's my last year in high school and I am stuck which path to take. I was thinking of becoming a doctor but I don't consider that to be my thing. I would be much more pumped up from doing work that makes other people more happy and conscious(e.g. a life coach) . Also I feel I don't have a lot of life experience so what I want the most now is to travel the world, to expore it and maybe to write my journey in a book. (but how would I contribute when I travel with no purpose?). But I'm only 17 and I don't know if it would be ok not to go to university and just go travelling. Also, today I realised that this idea of helping others really turned my life backwards. I really feel some regret and guilt from quitting my old dreams. I even plan to return to the domain of game development. So now I gotta take ONE direction : 1. Learn game development and become a video game designer (sort of the low-consciousness thing) 2. Learn psychology and become something like a life coach, and do research on the human mind (helping more people) 3. Go on a big trip around the world first (I want to go mostly to Africa and Asia and make it a cheap adventure like this guy here:

So, I thought that I really need some advice and decided to write here. What if I become a video game designer but don't really help people that way? Personal development stuff says that I won't be fulfilled, but will it be so?

[Leo Gura]

@Toshko Don't get too hung up on "helping people". The point isn't to help people but to be passionate about having some sort of creative output -- whatever that may be for you. If it's creating fun video games, that fine. But you gotta be REALLY passionate about that. If it's healing people as a doctor, that's fine, but you gotta be REALLY passionate about that.

Given that you're so young, go do some traveling. It's not like you need to travel for 4 years. You can do some traveling and go to university too, if you want.

Be creatively flexible. If Asia and Africa aren't realistic for you right now, then maybe travel somewhere closer and cheaper. Just to scratch that travel itch. As you do that, you may receive your next clue.

[Huz]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@Toshko Don't get too hung up on "helping people". The point isn't to help people but to be passionate about having some sort of creative output -- whatever that may be for you. If it's creating fun video games, that fine. But you gotta be REALLY passionate about that. If it's healing people as a doctor, that's fine, but you gotta be REALLY passionate about that.

Given that you're so young, go do some traveling. It's not like you need to travel for 4 years. You can do some traveling and go to university too, if you want.

Be creatively flexible. If Asia and Africa aren't realistic for you right now, then maybe travel somewhere closer and cheaper. Just to scratch that travel itch. As you do that, you may receive your next clue.

Is passion something to be obtained from the start of the endeavour that you are being creative in? Or does it go like this... That you have an inkling that this is something you want to do, and the more time you invest in that endeavor the passion begins to build as you get better and more creative. Like a snowball effect. From that paradigm, you can start to do anything that remotely interests you in a general spectrum of fields but as you take the emotional bullet and choose one thing then that will develop into a deep passion.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Huz

[Toshko]

@Leo GuraThanks Leo! I realised my intuition is telling me to study veterinary medicine (thought about it since childhood) and go to Africa and save the animals (thats why I wanted to travel there). It isn't something that motivates me highly (but I love animals) and I can't come up with a big vision but I sense that it's the right track and maybe the true passion will come as I get deeper into this. Your life purpose course may be a good idea. In the summer I'll go and do some volunteering in Africa to explore what's going on.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Toshko

[Martin123]

I just realized through this topic how fucking beautiful this forum is. You'd have to pay big bucks to get this kind of advice from a professional. Leo gives you such beautiful freebies.
It never hit me how generous Leo is... as weird as it sounds

Thanks @Leo Gura! You da real MVP <3

@Toshko Travel fosho! 
The thing with helping people...
Is it the exact quote? Idk, doesn't matter
"Gandhi! Gandhi! What is your message?
My life is my message."
The impact you have on people around you is often times indirect.
I experienced this with my family. I never really tried to help them, but as I transformed, they started noticing things, and actually quite turned themselves around. Like srsly my dad started meditating, thats fucking beautiful lol =D.

If you live your life consciously and with passion, people can see it. They can see the light in your eyes. They can see the love for life in your body-language, in the way you speak, in the way you describe things, in the way you approach problems.
And that itself is inspiring. This is a real contribution! :-)

Edited December 6, 2016 by Martin123

[Leo Gura]

On 12/4/2016 at 4:19 AM, Huz said:

Is passion something to be obtained from the start of the endeavour that you are being creative in? Or does it go like this... That you have an inkling that this is something you want to do, and the more time you invest in that endeavor the passion begins to build as you get better and more creative. Like a snowball effect. From that paradigm, you can start to do anything that remotely interests you in a general spectrum of fields but as you take the emotional bullet and choose one thing then that will develop into a deep passion.

Good question.

I would say there has to be at least a kernel of passion from the start. Don't expect it to be the kind of full-blown passion you'd get if you were already a master in the field with a long track record of success and fame, but the idea of making creative output in your chosen field should excite you a lot right now. Your mind should be swimming in possibilities. There should be an exciting vision possible now, even if you're unsure how to make it real.

Think of a young aspiring movie director who has no clue how to make movies yet, but he's already eager about planning out movie ideas. That's what it should feel like when you've found it.

A snowball effect will definitely happen as mastery is developed, but you cannot just select any random field and then expect to become passionate about it through mere mastery of technique. If that were the case, life purpose and passion would be irrelevant.

Think of it like getting married. Your strategy with marriage would NOT be to select any random girl on the sidewalk and marry her, and hope things turn out well. Your strategy would be to find the RIGHT girl, the one with whom you share values, interests, personality traits. and dreams -- in other words, there's a certain chemistry. You're not gonna get that with every girl.

[Leo Gura]

@Toshko There are animals that need saving in Central and South America too.

[Toshko]

@Martin123 I am also very grateful for Leo, you and all the other people who give advice! It's life-transforming!

You are right that the biggest impact on others is when we become the person who we want to see in them and set an example. Gandhi also said: "Be the change that you want to see in the world." I could burst into tears when I imagine how this principle has a huge potential for changing lifes and making yourself and others happy, it's really the real contribution. Thanks for sharing!

@Leo Gura Thanks a lot for the advice and ideas! Let's go for some passion hunting baby!