Destiny

In life, we are all trying to create our destiny, we’re all looking to build our future.

The other day I noticed the similarity between the word destiny and the word destination. When you travel somewhere you need to know the destination or else you’ll get lost, and you’ll go around in circles. After all, how will you know you’ve got there if you don’t know where it is you are trying to go?

This is exactly the same with life. You need to focus on the destiny that you’re trying to build or you can get caught up with the distractions of life, and you may lose your way from where you are trying to go and what you are trying to achieve. This is a reason why you must set goals.

I decided to take a closer look at the origins of the word destiny. Below is a description I found online about the etymology of the word.

destiny (n.)
mid-14c., from Old French destinée (12c.) "purpose, intent, fate, destiny; that which is destined," noun use of fem. past participle of destiner, from Latin destinare "make firm, establish" (see destination).

As you can see it’s been developed from two words, the old French word destinée meaning ‘purpose, intent or fate’, and the Latin word destinare meaning ‘make firm or establish’.

This is interesting, as I think that these two words that ‘destiny’ derives from are in fact two vital elements in building your own destiny. First of all looking at the French word destinée, it has the meaning ‘purpose’ or ‘fate’. I believe that we all have things which we are completely passionate about, things that get us excited and fulfilled. These make up our purpose, and it’s so important to have the courage to listen to this passion and pursue it in your life.

In 2005 Steve Jobs said:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”

The second word was destinare, meaning ‘make firm’ or ‘establish’. You must ‘make firm’ and ‘establish’ what you want to achieve, or else it will be easy to get distracted in your life and caught up with things that you don’t really want to be doing. By establishing a clear goal you can visualise where you are going it helps to ensure that you’re heading in the right direction. Having a vivid image of your goal can help you to make decisions, get you through obstacles and it can reignite your motivation towards what you’re trying to achieve.

Neither of these things on their own will help you create the destiny you want. If you follow your passion but don’t set goals then it’s just like leaving to drive somewhere without taking a map. You will end up going round in circles. However if you set goals that you aren’t passionate about, it’s like you haven’t filled up with fuel and you won’t make it to your destination because you will lose your motivation to do it. Your passion is the fuel that keeps you going!

So to help you reach your destination you have to use a map and fill up with fuel. 

To help you reach your destiny you must remember to make sure you fulfil your passion (destinée) AND set goals to achieve it (destinare)!

Love what you do!

Most of us start our working life in our early twenties and don’t finish it until retirement age at 65 or so. Unfortunately, many people don’t enjoy work. They come and they go, they stay for their 7-8 hour days and wish away their working weeks eagerly anticipating the next weekend. Then when the weekend arrives they enjoy their two days of freedom before the cycle continues once again. That could be up to 45 years you might spend in that same routine doing something you don’t really enjoy.

Let’s put that into perspective. 45 years equates to approximately 10000 days that could be wished away waiting for the next weekend (based on working 5 days a week, 47 weeks of the year). If use the average life expectancy of 80 which is 29200 days, then if you’re not doing something you love that’s over a third of your life you could end up wishing away.

It may be the case that you enjoy the time you spend after you finish work and it’s only the time you spend there that you’re wishing away. So if you look at just your time spent at work in hours, that’s approximately 74000 hours spent wishing time away (35 hours a week, 47 weeks of the year). If you look at the average life expectancy being 698880 hours (80 years), then that’s still over 10% of your time on the Earth you’re wishing away.

Now I’m not denying that some people still manage to live very happy lives even if they don’t enjoy work and that’s fantastic. They are cherishing and savouring the time that they spend each weekend doing the things they enjoy with their families and friends. However, I don’t know about you but the thought of a third or even just 10% of my life being wished away terrifies me. I want to savour ever moment of my life and not spend any part of it wishing it away. Imagine if you could enjoy EVERY moment of your life. Imagine if there wasn’t such a divide between your work-life and your personal life and you enjoyed everything you did. Imagine if you didn’t wish away any precious days of your life but instead took each day and lived every single one to the full.

The truth is, you can do this.

People sometimes get into a job they don’t enjoy because of the money it provides. They feel that because they’re getting a good sum of money that it warrants how much they loathe work. They put up with long, highly-stressful days to look forward to the pay cheque at the end of each month so that it can be spent on the nice house and nice car that they are too stressed to fully appreciate anyway. Make no mistakes I want to be wealthy as much as anybody else does, but true wealth does not come from the money you earn but instead the life that you lead. If you have a large income, this might make you rich but it doesn’t make you wealthy. True wealth is having the time and ability to enjoy your life and most importantly by using your time and money to improve the lives of those around you. Do something you’re passionate about and your personal wealth and financial wealth will follow.

People sometimes get into a job for security. Sometimes in times of difficulty such as redundancy or joblessness it becomes a necessity to do a job you don’t enjoy. I understand this too, and this is a very sensible thing to do because you’re not going to be able to live your life to the full if you are worrying about where your next meal is going to come from or where you’re going to sleep next. They key here is not to settle. By all means take the job to sustain yourself and keep you from living poorly, but never stop searching for your passion. Never settle for a second class life which falls short of the life you want.

Following your passion and finding something you love to do may not be easy but my tip here is to be entrepreneurial. This doesn’t mean you necessarily have to start your own business as this isn’t the desire of everyone, but it means being creative and using your imagination. It means having the confidence to get out your comfort zone and fulfil your passion. It means instead of complaining that there isn’t any opportunities for you to take, you start asking the question “What opportunities can I make?” instead.

At the end of your life when you look back and reflect, do you want to regret the years you’ve wished away? Or do you want to feel a sense of fulfilment for making the most of every single one?