In high-school you are told to get good grades to get into a good college. In college, you are told to get good grades so that you can get a good job. As a student, you live semester to semester, report card by report card: a structured set of measurable grades which disappear the second you graduate. But, what if the career path you set for yourself during you student days was not at all what you expected? According to Harris Interactive, only 20% of employees are very passionate about their jobs.
Most of us don’t know what we want, what our passion is, and will end up hopping from one job to another or stay with one company because of the steady paycheck. A look at 3 big achievers shows us how to stop this life-long game of musical chairs or endless complacency: follow your dreams.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg’s original purpose was to create a site for Harvard students to connect with one another. As his site grew in popularity, his dreams got more ambitious.
“The last hundred years have been defined by the mass media. In the next hundred years, information won’t be just pushed out to people: It will be shared among the millions of connections people have.”
Mac Miller
Miller is a 20 year old kid who sells out concerts, despite not being signed to a major record label. His success is directly linked to his Youtube videos, which, collectively, have over 280 million views. Miller started to rap at the age of 15 and pursued his dream of being signed to a major record label. He has received offers but hasn’t accepted any due to his already vast following.
“You gotta have a vision. You gotta have something you want to do with this. And you gotta be willing to work for it. It doesn’t come just because you’re good at rapping. That’s not how it works.” – Mac Miller from BRM
Will Smith
Smith’s first dream was to make a name for himself in the Philadelphia hip-hop scene after his girlfriend cheated on him, which lead to his role in DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. “In my mind, she cheated because I wasn’t good enough. I remember making the decision that I will never not be good enough again.” The charm and popularity he exuded in his hip-hop act got him noticed by NBC, which asked him to play himself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
While staring in the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith had a dream of becoming “the biggest movie star in the world.” Despite living in LA for 5 years, no director showed interest in him until he was cast in Six Degrees of Separation, paving the road for future blockbusters.
If you work in downtown, look around your fellow office men and women. Most of them walk with blank expressions, repeating the same routine over and over again, fulfilling the purpose of companies for the sole purpose of a steady paycheck. Find your purpose, no matter how vague or self-serving it may be, or others will gladly use you for their own.
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