It might be writing, playing the violin or the driven and passionate artist.
That is unusual and rare.
And they are the lucky few.
The rest of us have to stumble through life trying to find our “why”.
Some of us don’t bother.
Being secure and safe is enough. We don’t feel the urge to move up the ladder.
To reach the top of Maslow’s pyramid.
His theory of the journey that we aspire to was outlined in his 1943 paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation”.
Initially the top of the pyramid for him was listed as “self-actualization”
But later in life he saw transcendence as the ultimate aspiration for becoming fully human.
To leave a legacy and make a difference.
To go beyond the self.
To change humanity maybe in some small way.
So what is life about and what were the lessons that I needed to discover and learn?
Passionate purpose
One of my first romantic interests was Priscilla.
Her father was a rich doctor.
They had expensive cars and a big house.
I was impressed.
Hard not to be when you are just 7.
It was all about the money.
And aspiring to be a medical practitioner had now become a career goal.
But after performing a science experiment at the age of 14 which involved cutting up mice and frogs I discovered something.
I hated the site of blood.
So….a change of direction.
So my next goal in life was to become an accountant.
They looked after the money.
But after starting my accounting degree something else became clear.
My inclination wasn’t attention to detail and balancing the books needed that.
Ledgers and debits and credits were the stuff off nightmares.
When that realization dawned I made a hard choice and settled for a teaching career.
I wasn’t sure but it was the only reasonable option at the time.
But that lasted a few brief years until I transitioned to the tech industry as I participated in the PC revolution.
This was my first career I really loved.
Sales and marketing were my new and exciting path.
This was far from a straight line to finding my “why” but later I discovered that all these experiences were part of…
