Ever read The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz? Essentially what I got from it is, if the choice isn't obvious, it's best to get "good enough" and forget about it. Easier said than done, I know, especially when it's a big choice.
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I really want to read that but totally forgot about it. *Added to books to read list*
Now to address the question of want, need and everything in between.
This has been more than a question for me in my 26 years alive. Really more of a quest. I'm going to start at the end. Happiness is defined in lots of different ways. To me I think that the way to happiness is to identify your wants and needs then go about satisfying those as much as you can.
In my time spent contemplating and researching ideas like happiness I have come up with the following flow of logic;
Initially when younger I thought I wanted to be a musician, a pro video gamer, a pro skateboarder etc. Basically take pro and put it in front of one of my hobbies. Then the idea was born unto me that taking a hobby and turning it into a career does just that; it makes it work. This discouraged me greatly.
The second road block I came to face was the fact that I have a veritable laundry list of interests. Its great to have options but you can't really pursue 10 different careers simultaneously no matter how much you'd like to.
In the end I decided on a much simpler way to deal with all of the above problems, decisiveness and flexibility. I know they are contradictory so let me explain. After reading that being decisive is one of the characteristics of almost all successful people I decided to adopt it. (pun intended) I've also picked up an interesting idea from personal development guru Steve Pavlina. (check out
www.stevepavlina.com and read from the beginning he is quite insightful) In one of his articles on purpose he uses his own life as an example in which he defines his purpose and the medium of delivery separately.
So for example his purpose is to help teach people about personal development and to grow. But the medium of that has changed over the years. At first he just had his blog that he would post free articles on. Then he began giving talks and seminars. Later he compiled much of his knowledge into a book that he had published. In essence his job changed three times; Web Designer / Journalist, public speaker, author. He has a lot of possibilities moving forward including personal life coach etc.
Not all careers have that flexibility so I chose what i'm going into with that flexibility in mind. Personally I've decided my purpose in this life is to observe the world through my unique (intp-esque) lens and give everyone my take on the world. How I envision this playing out is multi-faceted. I have interests in stand up comedy, philosophy, writing (comedy, music, books, screenplays, etc), film making / directing. I personally feel this works well with my self appointed role as an observer.
Here is an AMAZING anecdote from Jerry Seinfeld about the happiness / success and how it is all relative
http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2008/08/dont_lecture_te.html
Another good insight can be found in Malcom Gladwell's book titled outliers.
"Those three things -- autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward -- are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying. It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. Its whether our work fulfills us. If I offered youu a choice between being an architect for $75,000 a year and working in a tollbooth everyday for the rest of your life for a guaranteed 100k a year, which would you take?"
I mention all of these references because I found them comforting in living with the decisions I've forced myself into knowing that overall at the end of the day i'll have more happy days than unhappy ones.
Hope you gained something from my wall of text.
Cheers,
T
