By | Kevin Dickinson | bigthink.com
Some people just seem to have this work thing figured out, don’t they? They go to a job that they love and love doing. It allows them to express themselves, be creative, or do something that they are good at doing. It’s like they were destined to do this job, and they enjoy the privilege of doing it.
Others, not so much. They go to work but have little say over what, how, and when they do their jobs. The work doesn’t align with who they feel they are or their values, and the path forward doesn’t build to anything that excites them. They feel like an imposter waiting for their destiny to arrive so they can finally do what they were always meant to.
Of course, there’s no such thing as destiny — no predetermined journey of departures, ordeals, and rewards for us to follow. We all have to craft our lives as best we can. As the Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote: “For as wood is the material of the carpenter, bronze that of the statuary, just so each person’s own life is the subject matter of the art of living.”
The people who seem to have complete control over their work destinies, generally speaking*, have no more control over the vagaries of life than anyone else. The difference is where they locate their sense of volition and how they exercise it.
