You must quit trying to please everyone; it will never happen, nor should it. If you try to please everyone in the world, you will please no one. Embrace who you authentically are, embrace non-conformity, and embrace the traveler’s code. Like leaping out of your comfort zone, you must learn to get comfortable without other people understanding your journey because the only benefit of conforming is that everyone likes you except you. 

If you listen to what everyone around you is telling you that you should be doing with your life, you run the risk of actually getting stuck in  that thing. Usually those who are the loudest proponents of working a soul-crushing job are those that already dread going to work, where life seems to be an endless cycle of hitting the snooze button, crawling miserably out of bed, driving to a job they loathe, and going through the motions at work just to pay the bills. This sounds like insanity, right? Who are these people, who are so dissatisfied with their lives, to tell you what to do with yours? I’ve met too many people who worked so hard to have tons of money, at any cost, that when they finally achieved financial wealth, they then realized that even seven figures wasn’t worth a lifetime of unhappiness and misery.

So many kids are raised to believe that when they grow up, their future job has to inevitably be boring and soul-crushing and that only a select, lucky few get to do something they really love. The rest of us have to settle for a job that “pays the bills,” working to support other people’s businesses and dreams. Living out of alignment with our core values so we can help other people live in alignment with theirs. But a bright future of work you love is not about luck, it’s about persistence. It may seem to be a secret to some, but you can do something about it. You are not stuck. If you’re just coming out of high school or college and have no idea what you want to do, that’s okay. Even if you’ve been at this dreaded job your whole life, it’s never too late to get out there and start living your purpose. Wouldn’t it be incredible to actually get out of bed every morning with a smile on your face, looking forward to the day ahead, to be excited about a life you love? Wouldn’t it be a life worth living if you could earn money doing what you love? Anyone can find a way to do what they love if they only take the effort to pursue it, and if other people are doing it, that means you can do it too. A dream job isn’t something hidden away that is almost impossible to attain. It’s actually pretty easy to get, you only have to open your mind and want it bad enough. 

Don’t allow yourself to settle for hating your life for forty hours a week and dreading it for the rest of the time that you have off. Don’t allow yourself to follow the pre-paved trail because it’s what everyone else seems to be doing, resisting dealing with the discomfort and becoming nothing more than a reaction to the “demands” of the world. Once you begin the journey toward the life of your dreams, you’ll feel good about even the smallest progress made. Growth in this field may be slow to begin with, but over time you will notice your advancement will be like that of a snowball rolling down a mountain, gaining speed and volume as it moves along its path. Once you get started, it will be hard to stop you! Give yourself the gift of a great career that you get excited about and actually look forward to every day, and you will live a life of purpose and nothing less.

Spending your life as anyone other than who you truly are is absolute lunacy. Following your true north is an adventure, it’s a quest for fulfilment over stagnancy, it’s a journey of self-discovery over living other people’s expectations of who you should be. The traveler’s code is to understand that it takes an unconventional spirit to do extraordinary things and to engage in pursuing something meaningful and to live a life worth writing about; it’s understanding that life is too short to wait for a special occasion to live, that life itself is a special occasion! When you find your true north and follow your inner compass, when you choose to embark on the adventure of purpose, you will find meaning in not only the destination, but even in your very first steps. You will discover parts of you that you never knew existed. Your heart will sing even more loudly than before and you will start to listen even more closely. 

The greatest adventure of your life begins with a single step. 

Are you ready?