Here are 4 subtle signs that you are on the wrong path in life:
1. Work: You HATE going to work every day
Some may think this is ridiculous because who likes to go to work every day?
But hey… I didn’t say you love going to work every day. I said you HATE going to work every day.
They are not the same thing.
The reality is that most people don’t mind going to work every day because it actually gives them something to do during the course of the day (who really wants to sit at home and do nothing ALL the time?), and it is the means by which we can buy the things we want.
There is a group of people who are dissatisfied with their work, and I understand that.
But to say you hate going to work every day, that’s a much smaller group of people living in a world that feels almost like torture.
If this is you, then it’s probably time to scrap the resume, brush up on those interview skills, and start identifying a job you really love…or at least don’t hate.
2. Relationships: You prefer to hang out with your friends than with your partner
There was a time in my life when I thought marriage was one of the dumbest things anyone could do.
I just wasn’t convinced that spending life with just one person was the way to go, especially when you hear of so many people in miserable marriages staying only for their children.
I even had a podcast called sYgm (You Should Get Married) that I was focused on answering this question because I wasn’t entirely sure and wanted to do some research with couples to understand if this is something people should really consider.
Well I’ve been with my current wife for about 5 years now and we’ve been married for just over two, and while I can’t say I have all the answers in marriage, all I can say is I don’t know how people he does if he doesn’t marry his best friend.
I have a few friends that I enjoy hanging out with and “cutting it off” from time to time, but there is absolutely no one I enjoy spending time with more than my wife.
If you’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone, then it should probably be someone you like (a lot) and think you have friends you enjoy spending more time with than the person you signed up to spend the rest of your life with. with the breath it’s quite scary.
So if you find that hanging out with your friends is a better proposition (I get it from time to time, but not most or ALL of the time) than hanging out with your significant other, it probably means you haven’t found that. . right person, however, that’s the yin to your yang.
So it might be time to reassess the relationship for advice or perhaps consider whether it’s time to make a change.
3. Finances — Your expenses STILL go up STEADY each year
The quote above from the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad is one that most people have heard, but very few people think about as they run this rat race called life.
I worked for a company that paid their salespeople very well, and for that reason, I worked with several people who made a significant amount of money over time.
Making six figures for my company wasn’t a big deal and people didn’t normally see themselves as successful until they were making in the 200k+ arena.
In the US, the average salary is around $56,310, so the idea of earning twice as much as a basement for most people at my old company would lead you to believe that most people lived a pleasant and stress-free life.
Unfortunately, this was not the case as many successful people making 200k+ were living week to week or month to month from a paycheck perspective as someone making 56k.
The reason for this was related to a derivative of the concept of Parkinson’s Law in which expenses have a tendency to increase to the level of income that we are earning over time.
Simply put, the more money you make, the more money you spend.
If you find yourself in this situation, and each year you are making more money but still not saving much more, then it could mean that you have put yourself in the rat race of failure to try to «Keep up with the Joneses» and you could be in a difficult financial situation in the future if you are not careful.
Studies have shown that the amount of money that generally makes people happier from an enhancement standpoint is $75,000. Anything above that only gives minor incremental happiness that is not equal to the additional amount of capital received.
So focusing on living within that number or a bit more (maybe 100k to be sure) to create a lifestyle one feels comfortable in seems like the way to go.
Then you can save and invest the rest for the rainy days to ensure you won’t be stressed down the road if a financial downturn hits that you can’t predict.
Your future retirement self and current emotional and mental stability will probably thank you.
Goals: You are not excited about the future
Although the story of Peter Pan is probably one of the most recognizable in the Walt Disney collection, I’m sure there are a number of other productions that would probably take the cake as a family favorite.
With stories like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast on the scene, this old classic probably got lost in the mix as a story from a different era for most people.
However, the colossal lesson one can draw from the child who never wanted to grow up is that we must always have the same kind of childlike enthusiasm for life that we had as children.
Most people would say that the reason Peter Pan wanted to remain a child is because he wanted to avoid all the responsibility that comes with being an adult and just wanted to enjoy the carefree lifestyle that children enjoy every day.
And while this is of course true based on the dynamics of the story, what I think gets overshadowed by the idea of having no responsibility at all is the excitement that children have about the future that we tend to lose as adults with the weather.
If you really think about it, it wasn’t so much that Peter feared the responsibility he would have as he grew up, he already had immense responsibility as the leader of the gang of kids in Neverland.
If it was responsibility he didn’t want, then he didn’t have to take on that huge responsibility.
No… Peter Pan’s real fear was losing hope for the future and being forced to live in a world where responsibility was more important than his goals to create a future that excited him.
Why do you think Elon Musk, one of the richest people who ever lived, continues to work as hard as he does and pursue opportunities that would overwhelm the average person?
It’s because you need goals that excite you and make you want to get out of bed every day to do something amazing.
We only have one life to live, and living any part of it just going by the motions is disrespectful to all the people who are no longer here who would give anything to have another day on this planet.
We all have responsibilities, but we cannot allow our responsibilities to prevent us from experiencing the joy of living a life filled with the excitement and opportunity of what we can do and what we can become.
If you don’t have goals that excite you to get out of bed every day, then something is wrong and you need to take some time to figure out what you need to change to create them.
It can be a challenge to know how we are doing in life, because one minute everything can be fine and the next minute our world can be turned upside down.
Fortunately, there is a way to tell if we are generally heading in the right direction by evaluating our lives in these four areas listed above.
If you saw yourself in the questions and you know that your life is going in the wrong direction, only you have the power to change it to create and start living a life of happiness and excitement.
The question now is, do you want to?