Interviewer: Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient 00:00:00

You write in the book ''There is no faith, and no courage, and no sacrifice in doing what is expedient'' 00:00:04

What do you say to those viewers that don't pursue their dreams and are locked into their careers because they are too afraid 00:00:12

To take risks and pursue something meaningful? 00:00:20

Jordan: Hm! Well, the first thing I would say is well, you should be afraid of taking risks and pursuing something meaningful 00:00:23

But you should be more afraid of staying where you are if it's making you miserable 00:00:29

it's like, the first thing you want to do is dispense with the idea that you get to have any- any 00:00:33

Permanent security outside of your ability to contend and adapt. It's the same issue with children. 00:00:39

It's like, 00:00:45

You're paying a price by sitting there being miserable and you might say well the devil I know is better than the one I don't 00:00:46

It's like- don't be so sure of that. The clock is ticking. 00:00:51

Interviewer: Yeah. Jordan: And if you're miserable in your job now and you change nothing in five years 00:00:55

You'll be much more miserable and you'll be a lot older 00:00:59

Interviewer: But isn't it a luxury to pursue what is meaningful? Our viewers have mortgages. They have children. Jordan: Yeah. Interviewer: They have payments and loans 00:01:01

It's a luxury to pursue because we lack the resources. Jordan: Well, I don't think- I don't remember now 00:01:09

I'm not talking about what makes you happy 00:01:14

It's a luxury to pursue what makes you happy 00:01:16

It's a moral obligation to pursue what you find meaningful. And that doesn't mean it's easy 00:01:18

it might require sacrifice. If you need to change your job, to, let's say you have 00:01:24

Family, and- and children and a mortgage, you have responsibilities 00:01:29

You've already picked up those responsibilities. You don't just get to walk away scot-free and say ''Well, I don't like my job, 00:01:34

I quit!'' That's no strategy. But what you might have to do is you think well this job is killing my soul 00:01:40

All right. So what do I have to do about that? Well, I have to look for another job 00:01:45

Well, no one wants to hire me. It's like okay. Maybe you need to educate yourself more 00:01:49

Maybe you need to update your- your curriculum vitae, your resume. Maybe you need to overcome your fear of being interviewed 00:01:54

Maybe you need to sharpen your social skills 00:02:02

Like, you- you have to think about these things strategically if you're going to switch careers 00:02:04

You have to do it like an intelligent, responsible person, and that might take you a couple of years of 00:02:08

Of effort to do properly. Interviewer: When you say pursue something meaningful, is it important to have a vocation? I 00:02:14

Jordan: I think it's more important to- to have a an ethos, an ethic 00:02:20

So I have a program for example called the Future authoring program 00:02:25

Which is a writing program that enables people to 00:02:29

Develop a vision for their life and then to develop a strategy. And so it's based on the idea 00:02:31

Imagine that- and it's an extension of the ideas in the book, or at least something along the same lines- 00:02:37

The first thing that you want to do is figure out- imagine you were taking care of yourself 00:02:42

Like you were someone you cared for- which is rule number 2, by the way- 00:02:46

essentially. 00:02:50

Then you should figure out well if you could have what you needed and wanted, what would it be? 00:02:51

What sort of friends would you have? What would your family relationships look like? How would you conduct yourself with your children? 00:02:56

How would you educate yourself? You need to think through how it is that your life could be 00:03:02

Properly arranged if you had that ability. And then you can aim at that. And the funny thing is is that if you do 00:03:08

Posit a goal of that sort and work towards it 00:03:16

you will move towards it! The goal will change because you'll learn things along the way but I mean I've- I've 00:03:20

dealt with hundreds of people in my clinical and consulting practice and we set a goal we develop a vision and 00:03:25

Work towards it- and things 00:03:32

Inevitably get better for people. So, it's not a luxury. It's- it's difficult. It's a moral responsibility and it isn't happiness 00:03:35

It's it's not the pursuit isn't for happiness. Interviewer: It's a moral responsibility to pursue what is meaningful. Jordan: Absolutely. 00:03:42