I think it's in the mind of every young professional to move forward and take your ambitions as far as you could go. We all have dreams, many of which are tied to wealth and prosperity. Lately, I've been pondering about this, and for the moment, lost grip of what it is I'm really trying to do.

Having read so many books on finance, tech, management and even self-improvement in the intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical... I've come to a point where I can't help but question, "now what?" Do I keep reading? Do I take my savings and pitch up camp for a new business? Do I keep going the route I was headed in before all of this?

I know more now than I've ever known before. I can do more now than I could before. Yet, the question of where that next step is to be seems to linger around my head. As if all the ideas in the world has not yet taught me anything about a personal path that I should start to walk on.

Most of our goals are the same, but the details by which we get there can be worlds apart. I'm doing pretty well for myself, yet there's a bigger world out there that I need to crack into. I guess that's the process I must endure at this point in my life, and all this is just a silly little rant as I just keep progressing through life and eventually reach the destination I desire.

But for now, I wonder... where to step next?

Well two words jump out at me after reading this. Balance and Risk.

Risk: How much risk are you wiling to take to possibly threaten what you have now? But will you be happy with what you have now forever?

Balance: I think life is about a balance b/w going for what we dream about, and keeping reality in check.

I feel the same. I still have the ambition and the burning drive to make it big but bah, idk, i'm frustrated at myself for being so unoriginal. It sure is comfortable maintaining the status quo though. People in my industry frequently joke that we can never do a 9-5 job because we'll never know what to do with ourselves afterwards. My work ensures that I'll have a dysfunctional lifestyle but sometimes I have to ask myself if I'm working just for the sake of working.

I wish I had the balls and the smarts to start my own business. Then at least, the hours will have more meaning.

jshat4 is correct, people who have succeeded impressively have taken a great amount of risk to make it to where they are.

You can either take the safe road and work your way up, which will be a slow but sure process. Or you can take a gamble with something.

Your next step is the biggest one, i.e. what you will do. Can you ask yourself deep inside, what are you passionate about?

what books did you read?

7 habits of highly effective people, good to great, rich dad poor dad, mad for life, who moved my cheese, burn the fat feed the muscle, think and grow rich, various management books on jack welch [like winning, welch way, etc], warren buffet way, peace of mind, the bible, etc.

in addition to textbooks of course... books on flex/rich-internet-applications, php5, tomcat/jboss server technologies, MySQL on the tech side. I've also been rummaging through introductory investment books as well as real estate / finance blogs and merril lynch's information resources [that i get as a client].



if i'm happy where i am now, i wouldn't have posted this up it's not so much risk that's an issue. it's finding something i can really believe in and giving it a shot. vision and passion are the bigger culprits at the moment... for me at least. the past month or so, i feel so uninspired



that's a good question... i'd say the general answer i can entertain is people. people are my passion. just not sure in what context and capacity to which they make my blood boil and tremble in excitement

apply some game theory.

Probably not much help, but just sit down and weigh whatever options you have at this point and go from there. You weigh in the risks and benefits that others have posted about, see what route you think is best for you. I get the feeling continuing to read books is probably not high up as an option I don't know exactly what it is your aiming for, perhaps the house with the picket fence and 2.5 kids, or a Starbucks like operation where people willingly pay $3+ for lattes even though the economy isn't doing so well but certainly there's something you're aiming for, and base your eventual direction from that.