The magnitude of his accomplishments may color your vision. If you knew you had the talent of a Gauguin, you might run off to a tropical paradise to paint, too. Possessing more ordinary skills might make you think twice.
But did Gauguin really possess some fabulous innate artistic genius or, more likely, an incredible drive to bring his talents to fruition? By taking the initiative to explore his dream, he discovered a wellspring of potential within himself. Who knows what might happen to you if you could devote your full attention to developing your potential?
However you judge Gauguin - as a great artist, as an immature guy in the throes of a midlife crisis, or both-it's clear his tremendous talent would never have seen the light of day if he hadn't also had the ability to throw convention to the winds and live as he pleased.
Of course, his approach wouldn't work for everybody. The point is that he found a unique solution, which led to a uniquely satisfying accomplishment and lifestyle.
You may very well place your family responsibilities and financial obligations above your duty to fulfill your personal potential. This, too, is a valid choice. What you need to question, however, is whether you're being unnecessarily shortsighted. If you see yourself as someone without a lot of talent or potential to fulfill, it's easy to idealize your loyalties and stay right where you are.
There are many good reasons not to make changes. Lack of self confidence isn't one of them, especially if you're really unhappy with your current job or career. Even if you never aspire to great achievements, you can aspire to happiness. But don't expect it to fall in your lap. You have to go out and find it.
Believing that you could never have a truly satisfying career is just a way of justifying inertia, says career counselor Mike Murphy with the Signet Group in Chicago, Illinois. "When all the choices you make are based on a false premise, the conclusions that flow from that premise are likely to be false, too," says Murphy. "How can you know there's nothing out there for you when you haven't even looked?" Too often, says Murphy, "We convince ourselves we can't do what really we're afraid to do."
Gauguin may have gone to extremes, but most people dream too small, making unnecessary sacrifices in the name of some misunderstood "reality."
Before you conclude that you have no choice but to stay in a job or occupation that isn't right for you, take some time to ex amine your beliefs. Leave open the possibility that some assumptions you've been making about yourself may be more self-fulfilling prophesy than objective reality.
In Divorcing a Corporation (1986, New York: Villard Books), Jacqueline Honor Plumez identifies a host of self-defeating lies that many of us use to talk ourselves into staying put when we should be letting go. "This way of thinking comes with a very dear price tag: You. Your aspirations. Your needs. Your happiness," says Plumez.
To break free of that psychological bondage, you need to recognize these self-deceptions for what they are-a way to pre vent yourself from getting hurt by not trying.
