A few years ago, before starting the journey I’m on right now, I once had a good-paying corporate job, smashing goal after goal and going up the ranks like there’s no tomorrow. People around me said that I would go places. And that, I did.

But not in the way others had predicted.

One day I woke up and asked myself “Is this It? Is this really all there to it?”. I was great at what I did (so I was told) but I struggled to see myself doing it for the rest of my life. Something was missing. But at the time, I couldn’t tell what it was.

However, now that I know better, it dawned on me that the word I was looking for back then was “Fulfilment.” 

How Can Something So Important As Fulfilment Get Past Me?

Fulfillment, a feeling so strange yet so important. Something we strive to find but still ironically neglected because we are too busy being busy.

Some of you may beg to differ, constantly denying the sense of dissatisfaction you feel with your current job or life by saying things like “it doesn’t just put food on the table and besides, I’m good at it ” or “I’m lucky to even have a decent job, others wear their bodies out earning scraps.” While I empathize with your sentiments, having thought the same things when I was in your shoes, have you ever thought that there might be something else that you’d be even greater at, that would make the IMPACT that you’d always wanted to make in the world, earns the same amount of money and feel fulfilled at the same time?

Let me tickle your brain a little. Say, you’ve finally had a great weekend off work – no overtime, no extra shifts. You used it to spend time with the family, taking a trip to the beach, going shopping, and whatever else you thought would be nice to do. But then, Sunday evening arrives.

What feeling do you get when you think of going to work the next morning? Do you feel excited and think “OMG. I can’t wait till tomorrow!” Or, do you feel drained of energy, that catching a bug, getting the mumps, or any other kind of painful, pathetic reason would be much, much better if it would mean extending your weekend for another day. If you’re like me, who falls perfectly in the second category, then you’ve got a serious case of what I call The Monday Sickness.

What Causes Monday Sickness & Why It’s A Sign of Your Life Ending

Monday sickness; oh, what a dreadful affliction! I did not like it and I bet that right now, your feelings resonate with mine. Just when you finally think Monday’s about to end, your hopes of Tuesday getting any better gets crushed, the moment you wake up with the same feeling of dread eating away at you. That’s when you come to realize that it isn’t just Monday or Tuesday that makes you feel like that. The same feeling burdens you on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Let’s just say you feel it every day of every week, every year, till the day you die (or a few years before that)! Talk about something that lasts a lifetime!

I realized this at a much later time before it was too late, that I was pushing this dreadful feeling into the back of my mind until I was a master at it.

So, if you ask me what had caused it – the answer is simple.

I WAS NOT FULFILLED.

I grinded for 40 hours (sometimes more) every week in order to enjoy the two days off I have during the weekend. I worked 48 weeks per year so that I get to do stuff that I really love for 4 weeks. I was sacrificing 92% of my time – my life – just to live a little bit better with what little time I had left to do things I REALLY valued most.

But then, I stopped. I realized that no one or no-thing ever had power over me. Even if I jumped on a train to find my destiny in Norway, no one will stop me. And no one can – even if they tried. It was time to let go of my fears. I was the master of my fate and only I knew how to live my life. So I started to ask myself these questions:

• Is this how I want to spend the rest of my life?’

My answer was NO.

• Will I ever find fulfillment in what I currently do?

It’s possible but highly improbable.

• How do I flip the coin? How do I turn the tables?

 I already knew the answer.

• Am I ready to have fun 48 weeks a year and feel like I’m only working for 4?

You bet I am.

And it changed my life forever. You can probably guess the insane cascade of events that came after. I can place a good bet people had called me crazy, stupid, or even mentally retarded at some point. And I can’t blame them. Looking back now, what I did back then was downright ridiculous. I quit a well paid job, relinquished what authority I’ve built over the years, and went on a journey to find myself. You must be thinking, “No way! I thought that only happened in movies!” But, it really did happened to me. You’d be surprised at the strength of your own conviction.

I can tell you about what I did, how I did it, and what lessons I learned from that journey but I’m afraid one article cannot contain the richness of the experiences I’ve had – so let’s save it for another day. All I can say is that everything worked out exactly as I hoped for (with a few bumps on the road of course). And now I’m having more fun than I ever could’ve imagined. I found exactly what fulfilled my life and it made me all the more merrier and richer.

Now, I’m on a mission. A mission to find people who were once like me. Caged in, trapped, and empty. I made it my life’s advocacy to share my story hoping that the right ears get to hear my message.

Along my journey, I came across a book written by Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent several years caring for patients and kept them company on the last 12 weeks of their lives. She would often ask her patients about their lives’ biggest regrets. If there’s anything at all they would like to redo, given the chance. Bronnie talked about the phenomenal clarity of vision people would gain at the end of their lives. It’s all in the book – along with other common themes she observed in the course of their conversations.

The first thought that came to my mind as I unravelled the contents of the book was why people keep realizing things too late. I mean, why do I have to wait until I’m lying on my death bed to realize what I actually wanted to do with my life? When by that time, there’s hardly anything I can do about it anymore?

Why don’t I ask life’s most important questions now?

If you died tomorrow, which one of these regrets do you think you’d have?

1. I wish I’ve had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so much.
3. I wish I’ve had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish I gave more value to my family
6. I wish I worked for something I find purpose in.
7. I wish I asserted myself better.
8. I wish I didn’t let public opinion get the best of me.
9. I wish I lived more carefree
10. I wish I had let myself be happier.

A part of what I do today is working with highly successful individuals who know that right now, they are nowhere near where they should be – people who know that they are meant for something much greater than what they have already achieved. They believe that in order to break through barriers, they have to play a much bigger game.

YOU are one of these special people.

And my role is to create a strategy that gets you to the other side of that barrier – faster than you ever thought possible. By combining what you think you want in life with what truly fulfils you, great change happens.

By taking away the things that hinder you from truly actualizing the person you are destined to be, you become unstoppable. And that’s when true magic happens.

After all, this isn’t about me. I’ve already found a good story to tell.

This is all going to be about you and others like you. Living a life more cruel than dying – a life of regret. Now, do you desire to keep living on like that?

It’s your call.