Sacrificing Fun For A Purpose That Is Greater Than Yourself ?

[KaleKing]

Hey Guys,

I would like to have your opinion on the matter because I know what my life purpose is, but I find myself procrastinating all the time so it makes me even question myself it really is my life purpose, but it is really what I feel and I would literally die for it, let me explain. Over three years ago, I was vegetarian and a colleague of mine showed me a video of Gary Yourofsky who was talking about veganism. I always thought that it was really extreme even when I was vegetarian. It was the first time that I felt bad for being vegetarian. At first, I resisted his speech a lot but I also felt like there was something there, so I just was watching it in loop again and again. After watching a couple time it just clicked that veganism was the right thing for me so I researched a lot and I went vegan and it is the best decision that I ever made.

From that moment, I knew that my purpose in life was to contribute to this cause, helping helpless animals that have done nothing to deserve it and help educate people, and changing the world little by little. I always feel like I am not doing enough and even though the world might not go vegan or stop killing animals in my lifetime, I feel like I can contribute a lot. I've contacted a lot of Presidents of awesome nonprofits organizations to ask them what they thought was the best way to contribute and to help animals stop being killed as fast as possible. They all came up with different answers, but a lot of them were the same which was donating money to existing charities that you believe in.  That's how I felt as well that it could be really useful after reading a book on the subject called "How to be great at doing good?" Last year, I volunteered in California for three months in a Farm Sanctuary and I totally loved it, it was one of the greatest experience of my life. People that worked there were totally passionate about animals and dedicated. They worked for really low salary as well so it made me consider that I could bring more value if I can start a successful business and give money to those charities instead of working there myself.

I thought, what if I go the speaker way, could it be more useful? It is the route that is the closest to my heart because I like public speaking, I've done some talks on veganism in colleges and these are the moments where I felt the most fulfilled ever. The thing though, is that what I feel, and the contribution I bring for animals is different. Ultimately, I feel like it is less efficient to go for a speaking perspective because you can only influence so many people at a time, while you could make videos on youtube and bring more people to see them and maybe influence more people.

 

So what came to mind was still, what if I start a software company and while serving tons of people, I would use this money to give to animal charities that do awesome work already for the cause that I support, it might actually be the best way to help animals even though I like it, but software development is not a big passion for me or I could even invest in lab meat so we figure a way to stop killing animals. So now, I catch myself procrastinating a lot and not putting in the work that I should be doing because it seems like it is so disconnected.

 

The same goes for my job, as I am trying to build my business on the side, I work full time at a job that I honestly don't like that much and always thought, that I could go do software development for Mercy For Animals, an organization that I like, but the pay is less, so technically it feels like I could not invest as much money in my business and it would prevent it from growing as fast as it could and over time reduce the contribution that I could actually put for animals.

I know that deep down my life purpose is to contribute to this cause that is so dear to my heart, I would die for the world to be vegan, but the thing is that I find myself pondering what is the best way to contribute and then it leads to procrastination that ultimately doesn't help animals at all. I know that I am 100% responsible for my thoughts and beliefs and I feel that I might have limiting beliefs in what I've just written, but it's how I've thought about it for a while so it's always on my mind, do I sacrifice ultimately fun for the sake of the cause the I love the most.

 

Let me know if you guys have any opinions, tips, insights to share on this issue.

 

Have an amazing day,

 

Claude

[aurum]

On 7/29/2017 at 1:26 PM, KaleKing said:

Ultimately, I feel like it is less efficient to go for a speaking perspective because you can only influence so many people at a time, while you could make videos on youtube and bring more people to see them and maybe influence more people.

I'd keep in mind that this is not an "either or" decision. Many public speakers post on YouTube as well.

On 7/29/2017 at 1:26 PM, KaleKing said:

The same goes for my job, as I am trying to build my business on the side, I work full time at a job that I honestly don't like that much and always thought, that I could go do software development for Mercy For Animals, an organization that I like, but the pay is less, so technically it feels like I could not invest as much money in my business and it would prevent it from growing as fast as it could and over time reduce the contribution that I could actually put for animals.

If you want more money because you want to contribute more to veganism, understand it's not going to happen unless you are doing something you feel is valuable. A software development company you have little to no passion for is not going to get very far.

So I'm going to tell you what work is or is not valuable. Only that you have to decide for yourself.

Also, if you're working for Mercy For Animals, how is that not contributing to veganism? What rule says that the only way to help animals is to cut a big check? Just because non-profit Presidents are always looking for donations? Why can't you set the standard?

[Markus]

The point of life purpose is the doing of something you love. The process itself. Its impact is a bonus, not the core. If you focus on the impact, you're heading into moralism and distress, because you can't control the impact - you can only control what you do. How many people sacrifice fun and joy for a greater good? It's like the noble ideal of our society. And now look at us. A bunch of miserable apes.

And if you want to be most effective, spirituality is a must. How are you going to be changing the world in the most effective way you can if you're neurotic about it needing to change. You need that grounding, that inner knowing that everything is fine regardless. Gary is not a happy person for exactly this reason.

 

 

[Moreira]

If you are happy only when having fun is because you accustomed your dopamin levels to that. I'd suggest to take a dopamin habit detox, by reducing tatsy food, visual stimulation, music, internet... when you reset your brain you will be satisfied with whatever your purpose is, just because being content is the natural state. 

[Leo Gura]

@KaleKing To realize your dreams, you're gonna have to work your ass off. Which is the whole point of finding a juicy dream. What dream would be worth busting through the procrastination for?

You need to find a vision which you'd be willing to bleed a bit for. And then you're gonna have to bleed a bit. Just do it and bust through the procrastination. There is not theoretical solution to procrastination. You just gotta develop and juicy vision and start taking baby steps every day. Of course it's gonna be hard.

[Visitor]

 

@KaleKing There could be many fears as to why a person would want to delay a certain action. In the normal understanding of procrastination the two prominent fears would be that of failure and success. Both fears are closely associated with the fears of judgement, ridicule and rejection. Here the ego is expecting disfavour if any responsive act was to be rejected. With the fear of failure the ego is more preoccupied with meeting other people’s expectations more than their own. They already believe that they might fail to meet these expectations from the onset of responsive action. On the contrary, people who mainly fear success believe that they will fail to maintain their expectations after winning the day. Furthermore, they fear that they might not be able to escape once taking on the responsibility for their success. This can be seen as fearing other people’s expectations – after achieving success.

The main issue with procrastination is the delaying of something that a person is already aware of. Ignorance is no longer an escape route. The procrastinator sees barriers of fear in front of them – as if the future is full of possible humiliations. So what fears do you have in his regard? Write them down. And then face them by doing what you fear to do or expect.

@Leo Gura Has made a good point about finding something juicy. In other words, find what it is you really love about your LP, or other LP. It is finding this (love) which will give you all the energy and hope of making it a reality in your life.

Many years ago I was struggling to get higher marks than a Pass (50-55%) in sociology. No matter how long I studied I just couldn't get into it. Then one day I read about self-help groups and its role in sociology. Because I was already involved with such groups and saw the connection between it and sociology, I suddenly had a passion to know more about sociology. My subject scores went up to 75-90%

What I am saying here is that you need to target what you love about your LP and use it to energize and immersed into your LP.