HOW to know what you want to do in life 🤔 | choose your career

Key Takeaways: How to Figure Out What You Want to Do in Life

• Accept that you don’t have to know yet

  • You often figure it out as you go, not all at once.
  • If you’re in your early twenties (or anytime) and feel pressured to decide, you’re not alone.

• Follow intuition as your “internal compass”

  • Your heart/intuition may not give you the exact answer, but it helps you sense what feels right vs. wrong.
  • If you’re avoiding life (avoiding waking up, avoiding showing up), treat that as a sign you’re not meant to be there.
  • Practice listening inward rather than only choosing based on:
    • what seems logical
    • what’s prestigious
    • what others expect

• Use “trying things” as a strategy (learn through experience)

  • Don’t demand certainty first—test paths (internships, acting attempts, music, etc.).
  • Failures and disappointments are feedback, not waste.
  • The “slow way”: it took time to try roles and feel what it was like before knowing.

• Check whether the “pros outweigh the cons”

  • Reference: Elizabeth Gilbert’s “shit sandwich” concept
    • Every career includes something difficult/unpleasant.
    • The right path is often the one you can tolerate because the benefits outweigh the downsides.
  • Practical way to evaluate a career:
    • Talk to people already doing the job
    • Ask:
      • What do you hate?
      • What’s the hardest part?
      • What’s the most difficult day-to-day?

• Find where you “light up” (energy + flow)

  • Ask:
    • Where do I light up?
    • What do I have the most energy for?
  • Look for flow (time stops), even if it’s not “easy.”
  • Consider whether you energize from:
    • helping people
    • creating/expressing
    • solving problems
    • deep research

• Clarify your values and ideal lifestyle

  • Identify:
    • what you care about (values)
    • what your ideal life looks like
  • Then “work backward”:
    • Ask whether each step brings you closer to or farther from that vision.
  • Warning: choosing only based on pay/prestige can lead to long careers you don’t enjoy—and lifestyles you don’t actually want.

• Choose flexibility over “staying boxed in”

  • The speaker avoided a corporate job because it felt like it would trap them in a framework that would be hard to leave.
  • Take risks early because:
    • time is the most valuable asset
    • you can pivot sooner rather than being stuck longer

• Don’t fear starting over (pivoting is normal)

  • Advice: do not be afraid to start over
  • If something doesn’t feel right, pivot rather than forcing it.
  • Example: music → freelance marketing → acting attempts → YouTube (a major pivot requiring a restart)

• Remember: nothing is wasted

  • Past experiences still build your:
    • skills
    • confidence
    • perspective
    • toolset
  • Even if it doesn’t make sense now, it can connect later (“the dots connect”).

• Life as an art: continually edit your direction

  • Career/life design is framed like artistic creation:
    • if you don’t like what you painted, edit, change, or paint over it
  • This approach supported the speaker’s long-term growth and the creation of their channel.

Self-Care / Mindset Practices Embedded in the Advice

• Reduce anxiety by reframing uncertainty

  • It’s okay not to have it figured out; it’s a continual exploration.

• Self-trust

  • Let internal knowing matter more than external pressure.

• Permission to change

  • Starting over is treated as healthy, not failure.

Presenters / Sources

• Presenter: Lavendaire (referenced as “Lavendaire” / context credits the speaker to Lavendaire)
• Referenced source: Elizabeth Gilbert (for “the shit sandwich” concept)