CHOOSE THE RIGHT VEHICLE WITH PURPOSE

You have probably heard someone ask, “Are you a job person or a businessperson?”As if one comes with more moral superiority than the other. They are both just a means to an end.

A job, a side hustle, a full-blown business empire, they are all modes of transport designed to take you from where you are to where you want to be. Some of us get so obsessed with the journey that we forget the destination. This is the reframe that changed everything for me.

Some people thrive inside a high-performing team, love the stability of a fortnightly pay cycle, and sleep peacefully without thinking about payroll tax. Others love the freedom, thrill, and very occasional panic of running their own show. Both are valid and neither is better. The only real difference is the journey and the destination. A lot of people hop into someone else’s journey without checking where it leads to. They chase a title, a revenue goal, a fantastic office only to realise they were supposed to turn left 10 exits ago.

When life gets busy, most people just default into more…more work, more meetings, more ideas, more caffeine-fuelled days in the name of hustling. I ask them where they are actually headed and what the destination looks like…I usually get crickets.

The power move is not choosing between job or business, it is choosing with clarity. Do you want to build an empire? Fund your travel addiction? Work three days a week and be present for school pick-up? Once you know the goal, you will know if the vehicle you are on makes sense.

However, the Ego trap is real, it wants us to run the business, or take the title, go big or go home. Having clarity makes us ask ourselves whether we are rested, are we growing, do we like the life this is building? This is not an anti-ambition rant, it is just a reminder that ambition without direction is just going to result in anxiety. 

Do not scale a business if what you really want is time.

Do not stay in a job if what you crave is autonomy.

Do not keep building just to prove you can.

Build because it aligns with where you want to land.

Are you exhausted but cannot name what you are chasing? Are you doing all the right things and still feeling off-course? Are you daydreaming about another career path but talking yourself out of it in meetings. That is your internal GPS throwing a tantrum so listen for the signs and reroute. You are allowed to stop, change cars, or ask for directions .This is self-leadership.

At the end of the day, the journey as well as the destination is your’s, designed to move you forward to get you to your next, truest chapter. So stop obsessing over whether you are driving a startup or clocking in at 9:00 AM and start asking where it is taking you. Start designing around your destination because the point is not to look successful in the carpark, the point is to arrive where you are meant to be.