I recently attended and spoke at the inaugural QUT Inspiration – Motivation – Aspiration Student Conference in Brisbane. It was three days of diverse keynote presentations, passionate discussion, relationship building and thought provoking workshops. At 3:00pm on the final day I was apart of the panel of speakers up the front to take a few final questions, it was then that one brave soul put up their hand to ask a truly thought provoking question.

“What is your purpose?” At first the panel sort of gasped, but then we all grasped the importance of the question.

After hearing Lee Crockford and Ehon Chan fire back truly amazing answers before me I was wondering how I could top that.  

I opened with a quote from Bob Dylan "A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”

I then reflected on my unconventional career journey. I never had a set path, nor did I have a career vision. I didn’t even have goals. All I have done thus far is simply pursue things I’m interested in, connect with passionate people, put my hand up for life changing experiences, said yes nine times for every one no and taken a risk.

By taking an organic approach to my career I have been able to take on several opportunities when they come my way, connect with some truly amazing people. Although I found myself enjoying my day job, providing free career counselling to young professionals, speaking at conferences and blogging about HR issues there was still something missing. Although I was waking up and going to bed of a night and doing what I wanted to do, I knew there was a piece of the puzzle that I was yet to find.  

It was after having a coffee with Ehon earlier this year that I realised I had a burning desire to put my time, effort, connections and passion into something bigger than just my work. It was then that I decided to Soften the Fck Up.

I’ve had a rule that for every four pieces of content I consume, whether they be blog posts, news articles, YouTube videos or TED Talk, I’d create at least one piece of content myself.

I now apply that same rule to the projects I take on. So for every career related project or consultancy I take on I’m also going to put my hand up for a social change or profit for good project.

So I challenge you to not only spread the good word of Soften the Fck Up but also challenge yourself to find opportunities to give something of yourself back to your community. Take a risk, put your neck on the line and truly challenge yourself to put your amazing talent and passion to something bigger than just yourself. You’ll be amazed at the difference you can make.