THIS POST WAS UPDATED 8.5.2021

I want you yo go back in time, to the period when you were about to leave school.

You were probably asked, what do you want to do?

You were probably about 17/18 years with no idea what you really wanted to do because let’ s face it, how many of us really know at that age what we truly want to do with the rest of our lives.

What we really should be asking our young almost grown adults, is what are you dreams and passions?

This will help them to think about what they would like to do with the rest of their lives.

But this is every career guidance teacher’s nightmare and very soon they will re-direct young people to take subjects and careers which they believe are more likely to bring in the money.

To create a steady job.

They are told to forget about their dreams and their passions — these can be hobbies later in life.

My daughter had such an experience towards the end of her school days.

The school held a careers fair. There were all the usual stalls, the surrounding universities, colleges, the army, banks, teachers, doctors all trying to encourage the young people down one of these avenues.

I believe that these are all truly necessary roles in our world, after all how can we continue without the doctor’ s, teachers and vital professions like this.

But what is key is that you should want to go into these jobs because you have a passion for working with children or healing people.

Whatever you choose to do you should have some passion for what you do. I’ ve heard a saying, that if you do what you love then you never work a day in your life. How true that is.

So, after the careers fair, my daughter is asked the key question, ‘what do you want to do?’

Her response was met with stony silence ‘I’ d like to be a dancer’ , she replied.

The teacher screws up her face and tries to interest her in something that she considers would be a proper job.

Should we be leading our children into jobs that they may hate or into ways of finding how to turn their passion into their way of life?

What happens if you follow your passion and does money matter when you are following your dreams?

If you were asked the question

‘What would you do with your life if money was no object?’

What would you say?

Would you be doing what you are doing now?

If not, then ask yourself why not and what is it that is or has held you back.

I came across this short video by the late Alan Watts, a renowned philosopher, which looks at this very subject, Does Money Matter.

‘What if Money Was No Object’ .  Does Money Matter

How does money matter in your life?

Is money at the centre of the maze and where you find yourself wandering around all your life trying to find it? Does money matter?

In this video, we hear how Watts would often speak to student’ s coming to the end of their college study. They would often tell him that they didn’ t know what they wanted to do with their life.

He found that the essence of their dilemma, was not because they did not know what they wanted to do. But more that they didn’ t think that what they wanted to do would earn them enough money to live in this world.

They felt forced to pursue a career which wasn’ t really their passion but more a means to earning a living. They had been taught that money does matter.

When students were asked these two questions

1)  What you would like to do if money were no object?

and

2) How would you really enjoy spending the rest of your life?

Often the answers involved their current interests, hobbies or talents. But they would discount each of these as they did not see these as viable sources to earn a living.

Does money matter for them — you are right it does.

They are ready to give up on their passions, the things they want just because of money.

Watts view is ‘If you say that money does matter when deciding what to do with your life then you will spend your life completely wasting your time’ .

When you think about it, if you don’ t follow your passions then you will end up doing things each and every day that you don’ t enjoy for the rest of your life in order to go on living.

Read that again — doing things over and over that you hate in order to continue paying for you to continue doing what you hate.

How does money matter to you?

If you start from a point of passion, doing things you love and enjoy, then eventually you will become a master at this. This will lead you to earn the money in life anyway using your passion and still be doing what you really want to do.

Isn’ t it better to follow passion and do things you enjoy than to live by the mantra that does money matter.

Watt’ s asserts,  ‘It’ s stupid to spend your time doing things that you don’ t like in order keep doing things you don’ t like ‘

What is even more crazy about the way we live our lives, is that we continue to perpetuate the cycle.

We live our lives doing jobs that we hate, then teach our children to follow us in the same manner.

We are bringing up children to live the same lives we are living and half of us aren’ t happy doing that, so it really makes no sense.

We tell them that in order to get satisfaction in life they will need to bring up their children to bring up their children to do this same thing — Watts calls this the ‘retro nirvana’ — we will never get there if we continue like this.

The important question to ask yourself is

‘What do I desire if money was no object’ and then do that.

Does money matter when you are doing what is your passion?

Here’ s to living your digital life

The Digital Mum spreading the word about the Digital Lifestyle

Because there is another way!

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos by Stuart Miles.
Stock photo – Image ID: 100211185