Pivoting life goals?

[StrayDog]

Hey gents! I know you all come from varied walks of life and have wrestled with your own journeys for your sense of purpose and place in this strange and wonderful world. Thought maybe some of you might have some interesting thoughts and perspectives on the matter of pivoting major life goals.

I have always felt compelled towards a career in art/entertainment and dedicated myself rather diligently in the pursuit of honing the crafts necessary for my specific interests in the field. I did this mostly through being an autodidact (self-taught). The road has not always been straight and narrow. Lacking certain guidance and focus (largely due to my own lack of perspective in seeking guidance, and creating opportunities) my development on this path has moved slower than I would have anticipated. Nonetheless, a time came when I was able to leverage a wonderful opportunity that kickstarted my career in a professional sense. I was, for the first time, working full-time in the industry and making a somewhat decent living. Then covid hit, and largely derailed the momentum I had been building. The opportunity I had been given, and working on for a number of years, evaporated. I hadn't quite built enough momentum to directly pivot into another endeavor, and just take off. I wasn't at square one, but I did not end up ahead. In addition, I didn't land in the most financially stable position either. This put me in a period of deep reflection/re-evaluation. I am nearing my 40's and would like a bit more stability in my life. At the same time, many of the aspects of the industry that compelled me to pursue it have greatly shifted on a cultural level. Much of what I love about the process of creation, and how people relate to human expression seems to be from a world of the past. Its relevancy to our modern age, and in turn its commercial viability, is quite uncertain. More so than before, in an already uncertain industry.

This is basically a moment where I have to ask myself. Do I forge onward, despite not having as much of a 'Northstar' as I did when I was younger and more tolerant of the lack of stability in this industry? I am certainly not short on creative vision, and a piece of me still burns to share my expressions with the world to masterful degrees. But there is the reality of where I stand right now, and the shape of the world around me. This said, I have always been adept at learning new skills, and have found joy and pleasure in many different pursuits. While I have always been called most strongly toward artistic pursuits, I am open to the possibility that deep meaning and purpose can be found elsewhere. Ultimately what appeals to me is the prospect of developing resources and agency through pursuits that feel meaningfully authentic to my personal character. The thing is, I have never put myself in the position of discovering what that might look like outside of my artistic endeavors.

So a guess I am just curious how any of you guys have managed turning points in your life in this sense. Moments when you had to reevaluate your station. Moments when you chose to forge onward, or change course. How did you come to your decision? What mindsets or strategies lead in the right direction?

This question might be kind of niche, so I don't know how compelled yall might be to answer. But I know a lot of you are entrepreneurs, creatives, self-directed, men, and the like. So, I figured I'd just put it out there.

 

[Will_V]

Hey gents! I know you all come from varied walks of life and have wrestled with your own journeys for your sense of purpose and place in this strange and wonderful world. Thought maybe some of you might have some interesting thoughts and perspectives on the matter of pivoting major life goals.

I have always felt compelled towards a career in art/entertainment and dedicated myself rather diligently in the pursuit of honing the crafts necessary for my specific interests in the field. I did this mostly through being an autodidact (self-taught). The road has not always been straight and narrow. Lacking certain guidance and focus (largely due to my own lack of perspective in seeking guidance, and creating opportunities) my development on this path has moved slower than I would have anticipated. Nonetheless, a time came when I was able to leverage a wonderful opportunity that kickstarted my career in a professional sense. I was, for the first time, working full-time in the industry and making a somewhat decent living. Then covid hit, and largely derailed the momentum I had been building. The opportunity I had been given, and working on for a number of years, evaporated. I hadn't quite built enough momentum to directly pivot into another endeavor, and just take off. I wasn't at square one, but I did not end up ahead. In addition, I didn't land in the most financially stable position either. This put me in a period of deep reflection/re-evaluation. I am nearing my 40's and would like a bit more stability in my life. At the same time, many of the aspects of the industry that compelled me to pursue it have greatly shifted on a cultural level. Much of what I love about the process of creation, and how people relate to human expression seems to be from a world of the past. Its relevancy to our modern age, and in turn its commercial viability, is quite uncertain. More so than before, in an already uncertain industry.

This is basically a moment where I have to ask myself. Do I forge onward, despite not having as much of a 'Northstar' as I did when I was younger and more tolerant of the lack of stability in this industry? I am certainly not short on creative vision, and a piece of me still burns to share my expressions with the world to masterful degrees. But there is the reality of where I stand right now, and the shape of the world around me. This said, I have always been adept at learning new skills, and have found joy and pleasure in many different pursuits. While I have always been called most strongly toward artistic pursuits, I am open to the possibility that deep meaning and purpose can be found elsewhere. Ultimately what appeals to me is the prospect of developing resources and agency through pursuits that feel meaningfully authentic to my personal character. The thing is, I have never put myself in the position of discovering what that might look like outside of my artistic endeavors.

So a guess I am just curious how any of you guys have managed turning points in your life in this sense. Moments when you had to reevaluate your station. Moments when you chose to forge onward, or change course. How did you come to your decision? What mindsets or strategies lead in the right direction?

This question might be kind of niche, so I don't know how compelled yall might be to answer. But I know a lot of you are entrepreneurs, creatives, self-directed, men, and the like. So, I figured I'd just put it out there.

I'm sort of in the same position right now, I'm in my early thirties and have a bunch of choices to make if I don't want to find myself in the wrong position at the next junction.

IMO the best way to plan these things is to look at what your highest goals are likely to be far into the future and take steps that fulfill (or at least don't get in the way of) those goals. For example I know I want to make a lot of money and start a family, and my current vocation which is related to game development, although somewhat successful, doesn't really fit in - games are more a product of the interest of my younger self, it's hard to make money in the field, and it's not really something that satisfies me much any more.

So I have to choose something else right now, something with more consistency, something that gives me a lot more satisfaction (which basically means solving/optimizing a problem that is meaningful), and something that I can build a large business with. It's almost certainly going to be software, since I already have experience in that, but exactly what I don't know yet.

Something I've found very useful with these kinds of decisions is to spend some time just gravitating toward interests spontaneously and without planning, and dabbling in them to see if they stick - finding resources online, watching youtube videos, doing an online course etc - you can learn a lot about your deeper interests that way. For example I can sit and watch stuff about neuroscience or psychoanalysis for hours, so I know that it's something I could really enjoy diving into. How I could add it to my journey? Not sure yet, but I'm aware of that interest and open to finding ways to gravitate toward it.

It's very important in the end to remember that taking action is always better than not, the only thing I really regret about my life so far is wasting time not acting upon decisions that I had pretty much already made a long time ago.

 

[mist]

Hey gents! I know you all come from varied walks of life and have wrestled with your own journeys for your sense of purpose and place in this strange and wonderful world. Thought maybe some of you might have some interesting thoughts and perspectives on the matter of pivoting major life goals.

I have always felt compelled towards a career in art/entertainment and dedicated myself rather diligently in the pursuit of honing the crafts necessary for my specific interests in the field. I did this mostly through being an autodidact (self-taught). The road has not always been straight and narrow. Lacking certain guidance and focus (largely due to my own lack of perspective in seeking guidance, and creating opportunities) my development on this path has moved slower than I would have anticipated. Nonetheless, a time came when I was able to leverage a wonderful opportunity that kickstarted my career in a professional sense. I was, for the first time, working full-time in the industry and making a somewhat decent living. Then covid hit, and largely derailed the momentum I had been building. The opportunity I had been given, and working on for a number of years, evaporated. I hadn't quite built enough momentum to directly pivot into another endeavor, and just take off. I wasn't at square one, but I did not end up ahead. In addition, I didn't land in the most financially stable position either. This put me in a period of deep reflection/re-evaluation. I am nearing my 40's and would like a bit more stability in my life. At the same time, many of the aspects of the industry that compelled me to pursue it have greatly shifted on a cultural level. Much of what I love about the process of creation, and how people relate to human expression seems to be from a world of the past. Its relevancy to our modern age, and in turn its commercial viability, is quite uncertain. More so than before, in an already uncertain industry.

This is basically a moment where I have to ask myself. Do I forge onward, despite not having as much of a 'Northstar' as I did when I was younger and more tolerant of the lack of stability in this industry? I am certainly not short on creative vision, and a piece of me still burns to share my expressions with the world to masterful degrees. But there is the reality of where I stand right now, and the shape of the world around me. This said, I have always been adept at learning new skills, and have found joy and pleasure in many different pursuits. While I have always been called most strongly toward artistic pursuits, I am open to the possibility that deep meaning and purpose can be found elsewhere. Ultimately what appeals to me is the prospect of developing resources and agency through pursuits that feel meaningfully authentic to my personal character. The thing is, I have never put myself in the position of discovering what that might look like outside of my artistic endeavors.

So a guess I am just curious how any of you guys have managed turning points in your life in this sense. Moments when you had to reevaluate your station. Moments when you chose to forge onward, or change course. How did you come to your decision? What mindsets or strategies lead in the right direction?

This question might be kind of niche, so I don't know how compelled yall might be to answer. But I know a lot of you are entrepreneurs, creatives, self-directed, men, and the like. So, I figured I'd just put it out there.

I’m going through this buddy

https://www.skilledseducer.com/threads/im-dropping-out-of-college-moving-to-sin-city.26865/

currently getting a warehouse job while I pivot away from music ed and into the hospitality industry as a bartender.

biggest thing i recommend is get a mentor in what you are working on. get out into your city and meet guys who are doing what you are doing or use the internet

that’s my next step and when i was crushing in my previous industry that’s what i was doing

 

[StrayDog]

IMO the best way to plan these things is to look at what your highest goals are likely to be far into the future and take steps that fulfill (or at least don't get in the way of) those goals.

Right on. Definitely discovering how underneath the outer expression of our interests and goals is a more core fundamental principle. How that principle manifests itself can look many different ways. In a chat session recently @TomInHo expressed that he felt following our passion, as so commonly touted as the ultimate pursuit, is actually very overrated. As it just limits how the range of experiences we open ourselves to, and limits our capabilities as well. At least that's how I interpreted what he was throwing down. It really hit with me, and I think what you are throwing down here is very much in line with that sort of adaptable, malleable mindset.

Something I've found very useful with these kinds of decisions is to spend some time just gravitating toward interests spontaneously and without planning, and dabbling in them to see if they stick - finding resources online, watching youtube videos, doing an online course etc - you can learn a lot about your deeper interests that way. For example I can sit and watch stuff about neuroscience or psychoanalysis for hours, so I know that it's something I could really enjoy diving into. How I could add it to my journey? Not sure yet, but I'm aware of that interest and open to finding ways to gravitate toward it.

Yeah, often times what we are seeking is actually much closer to us than would have originally conceived.

It's very important in the end to remember that taking action is always better than not, the only thing I really regret about my life so far is wasting time not acting upon decisions that I had pretty much already made a long time ago.

Indeed, indeed