For my first post I would like to start with what I consider the necessities. One year ago I was considering whether I wanted I should apply for an engineer development program with a company I had completed two internships with. I had enjoyed the work I had completed there, but it seemed to "normal." That is, I would be following the standard American development model, which I grew up with: get an education -> get good grades-> get a good job -> become independent -> get married -> buy a house -> start a family -> provide for your kids so they can get a good education. Then repeat this cycle repeats for my children while I would theoretically go into retirement after working about 40 years and give the same advice to my children, which my forefathers gave me. Thereby completing the circle. Now, there is nothing wrong with this path and it can lead to happy and successful people, as it has with my predecessors. And up until I was 19 years old, I...

Okay, if you have defined your purpose with me in the last post, you might now be saying, wow Ryan, that is great, but what does this have to do with "pursuing the dream?" Simply put, if you know exactly what you should be doing from just your purpose statement, yours must be much more defined than mine is and your could be well on your way to pursuing the dream. My purpose, for example, can be met through multiple ways like in the agriculture, water treatment, water distribution or sanitation industry, either through he implementation of these services or through the design of improved equipment and techniques. In fact, only the first bullet of my purpose has much to do with a career, while the others are general enough to be completed in almost any area. This is fantastic, as it gives me and people with similar purposes the choice on how we would like to best fulfill our purpose and it does not restrict us to only one way of life (although if it is in line with your purpose, this...

In theory, this is a straightforward question with a simple answer for some and a difficult answer for others. The key difference between the levels of difficulty is how well you know yourself. Common answers might be, because I felt like it, because it was the best decision at the time, or because I had to. All reasonable and justifiable answers, but here at pursuingthedream, we are looking for something a little more in depth.  One way to discover ones' true feelings and reasons is to always ask why. Why did I feel like it? Why was it the best decision? Why did I have to do it? Sometimes it is a gut feeling or a spur-of-the-moment decision. Other times you might realize that it was not the best decision, or you did not have to do it, which you might have learned if you had spent more time contemplating the outcomes. Questions similar to this are good to think about, in order to improve future decision making, but often can become hypothetical and therefore, it may be better...

Every weekday the average worker spends eight hours at work. In total, it takes a little less than half of one’s alert life if one works full-time (40 out of 112 alert hours per week, which includes 8 hours of sleep per night). Our work life also has an influence on our personal life. Working late, stressful schedules or a bad day are not always left at work, but often brought back to the home. Fortunately, the opposite is also true with good and productive days bringing joy into a home. Therefore, with a large part of our lives being dependant on work, it should be considered a necessity that we choose a job which we are not only interested in, but passionate about. People generally choose something they are interested in, as it would be irrational to choose otherwise, but how many go to the next step in finding a work they are passionate about? A study in 2005 from Harris Interactive found that a total of 20% of Americans workers were passionate about their jobs. This statistic was...

Do you remember being a child and being told that you can be anything you want to be when you grow up? An Astronaut, a doctor, pilot, professional soccer player or super model; it didn’t matter, everything was supported. But as time went on what people expected from you became more limited. Maybe you weren’t good enough to go pro or pretty/handsome enough to be a model. It is ok, there were still many other opportunities next to the luxurious ones. Now as you matured while going through high school and started thinking about further education, work, or the military, your families and teachers recommended alternative paths based on your perceived potential. In my life the choices were narrowed down by reasoning that working right out of school is traditionally viewed as requiring lots of dedication and has slower rates of advancement and although the military offers great opportunities for certain people, I am not one of them (please note that this is being written from the...

In a previous entry, Our Work Should Compliment Ourselves, I mentioned how we should have a passion for our work. Now before you start commenting about how work isn’t fun, I do not mean that you are jumping out of bed and speeding off to work every day (although if you are, great!). But rather, that you go to work not only because it gives you a paycheck, but instead, it helps fill a void you would have without it. I define this void as some type of longing to do something, whether it is to fix things, create things, or provide a service and help others in some way. As humans, there are two characteristics that are important to recognize here. First, we are social and need to interact with others. Second, we need to have a sense of self-worth and direction. We cannot live an aimless doubt-filled life and be content. Although it may be hard to believe at first, some type of work is necessary for our happiness. Work makes us feel valueable. Our co-workers and customers count on us...

We all have had a friend who has had a good job. It interests them, they enjoy it and through their salary, they can provide for their family currently and in the future. We all have had a friend who has had a bad job as well. They do not enjoy it and it is just done to pay the bills. They view it as tedious and because of that attitude, their work is clouded with insignificance, dependence and fear. What is the difference between these two types of people? Is it their work environment, skills or interests? It could be. Are their long term goals different? Not really, both want to provide for their family. What about their attitudes? Bingo! Our attitude is immensely important throughout our lives. It determines how we are going to react to each situation during the day and therefore, how our whole day is going to go. We all stub our toes in the morning, but how we react to it determines how our day proceeds. We expect (in my opinion, look for) things that are going wrong when we...

It has happened to all of us. I was talking with some friends and left for a couple minutes to get a drink. When I came back, someone said “shhh…he can’t know about this.” Immediately I started thinking. What shouldn’t I know about? Have they figured out my secret? What should I do? The people I considered friends a few minutes ago have turned into accomplices in a conspiracy against you. How could they do that? I hope you can spot the personalizing that is going on. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it if the subject was a she instead of a he. I might have even wanted to hear the gossip about what was occurring and who it was about (but probably not - I avoid gossip). Yet because of this one letter s, my mind has been completely consumed by my egocentric thoughts. This led me to a well known but under implemented fact in life: As humans, our mind has the amazing ability to think the whole world revolves around us. Now I have to share some unfortunate news. The world does not...