looking back I totally wasted my 20s I had no one in my early 20s speaking anything positive or beneficial to me when they say to choose your friends wisely they're not lying I worked in a restaurant for a few years alongside a part-time radio gig then I got married and I stepped up into a data entry rle at lap Corp entering data via a number pad no there were no letters it was just a square number pad and there was a stack of drug tests and I just flipped through it and punch in the numbers for 8 hours then I went on to working in a medical transcription department for the next 10 years now the problem with this approach to life is that if you're ever faced with the unfortunate circumstances of being laid off you will realize that you were left void of any skill set to move forward with you don't have any particular place to go after that if you're in a job that's not specialized and really anyone can do it and you stay there for too long and you move up the ladder when your days are over there you have nowhere to go you have no specific skill set or experience to shift into something later I didn't go to school for anything particular I worked jobs that could be replaced easily and when they announced that they were laying off our entire department except my boss and I then I knew my days were numbered now in all this my wife was my biggest asset she kept telling me hey you're fixing everyone's computers in the office you spend a lot of time on computers at home why don't you do some training in computers or programming and she said this multiple times over those years but I worked around very unambitious people 8 hours a day and just thought it was impossible looking back she was right all along but that's another story so in those latter years in that job I started reading I started started studying I learned to write code and I got into software development in the whole story all of the details are found in this video so I won't repeat that here but be sure to go watch that if you're interested but the turning point for me in coming to the realization that I can move forward with work in computers is largely based on a diagram that I came across a diagram that radically changed my mindset on what I should be doing with my life and when I talk to anyone in a similar situation especially people in their early 20s who have no clue what to do with their lives what their calling is how to make money how to build a career that's in demand I now Point them to this resource and I initially came across it in a blog post Years Ago by Michael hayatt and I don't think this blog post exists anymore but the diagram does and you may have seen this before but I'm not sure you've really investigated all of the questions that this diagram answers so let me explain it to you so there are three key items here that help you determine your calling and all three components have to be here if not you'll either hate your job you'll be broke or you'll forever be in and out of work one of those three and before I explain this I do want to mention the launch of my weekly newsletter that kicked off last week if you're looking for a summary of the latest programming and Tech news AI updates or insights into the latest tech job markets or you just want to be an informed developer be sure to give it a subscribe I think you'll love it link below so there's three key items here listen closely first there's passion everyone has something they're passionate about computers business finances building things debating caring for people whatever it is every person has activities that fire them up it's what excites them it's what makes them tick the problem though is that passion alone doesn't pay if I'm passionate about collecting baseball cards that's great but it probably won't put me in any successful career in addition if you aren't passionate about something over time you'll begin to hate what you do sure it may pay good and sure you might be good at it but if you hate what you do every day what good is the job second is proficiency what are you good at as my wife kept telling me I was good at all things computers I was also passionate about it but both of these are not always the case many people are good at things that they hate doing when you're good at something people always come to you and if you hate doing it you'll be like ah not again there's an auto mechanic in my area that's really good at what he does but he complains non-stop every time you go in there it's just negativity and Dread but on the other hand if you're passionate about something but not at all good at it you won't succeed either and then finally and it's all going to come together here there's profitability is the career a profitable career if you have that passion for collecting baseball cards and you're proficient and you know all the ins and outs of all the years and Brands but you can't make money doing it then it's not a good Pursuit and this is actually called a hobby so if you have a passion say serving people and helping people get well and you're proficient at it say you went to nursing school and you passed with flying colors then you need to check if it's profitable and nursing pays good because they're always in demand check all three are there but if any one of these three things are lacking then probably it isn't a wise and good calling that fits you longterm sure you may work jobs here and there over the years and that's fine passion can come later over the importance of a paycheck and let me be clear being a hard worker a person who is productive and honest and all that goes a long way many of us work jobs we hate for a while to pay the bills that's a good thing passion is an end goal and can come later but you eventually want to reach this intersection where you have passion for what you do you're good at what you do and it's a profitable industry it's in demand if you have the passion for something and you're good at it but it's not a profitable career or sector to get into you'll be poor if you have the passion for something and it pays good but you suck at it you'll be fired and poor and if you're good at something it pays well but you hate what you do every single day of your life then you'll just be a miserable person so where are you at today think about these three things first what are you good at ask people often it's glaringly obvious to everyone but you so ask people and then put a list together of some things that you're good at second what do you love doing what excites you when you get to work on it what topics excite you maybe it's something that you haven't done in a long time but always have had in the back of your mind again make a list of a few of these things finally take these two lists and cross off the things that aren't profitable for me I loved computers I was good at computers and actually this goes way back to high school and it took me forever to realize it and then finally the role of software developer is a profitable career it pays good so here I am in my vocational calling can this change sure I mean here I am talking to you on YouTube in fact given the leverage that the worldwide web gives you in 2024 and Beyond there are boundless opportunities out there crazy I actually had a comment recently taking offense to me saying that there are endless opportunities people like this they're going nowhere and they want to see everyone else fail as well such as the nature of negative people and this sort of diagram can help you in many walks of life let me give you two examples first think about college degrees let's say you love theater you're good at it and you go to college for it to then get out with a ton of debt and no market for that sort of thing that's just a hobby or take graphic design or fashion design art photography tourism degrees you may love these hobbies and interests and are wise and knowledgeable about them but there's no market so just following this chart can save you tons of money in college debt alone and here's a second example this diagram actually can be altered to help you figure out many other things in life I saw this one just the other day same kind of chart on how to determine what video to create so you have what you want to create what your viewers want and then what others are creating find that middle ground there and create those videos but back to this original diagram where are you at in this chart have you found the calling that covers all three of these areas yet if so full steam ahead if not let me know down in the comments what's stopping you I always love reading them if you found this video helpful give it a thumbs up if you haven't subscribed to the channel consider doing so and I'll see you in the next video [Music]