“Philosophy” means, “love of wisdom” and in a broad sense, is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other.  Which happen to include career and all professional development of oneself… The thing that people tend to build most of their life purpose on. Whether or not it is OK (work-life balance anyone?), it just is… so knowing how to apply practices of wisemen of the past surely comes in handy. And…

…for me the profession happen to be tech sales so in this article I will try to cast a light on which philosophical theories resonate with me and why. Let’s see if You can relate.

1. Stoicism – the most important thing about it is knowing what You can control and what You can’t (most of things). Then focusing on things within your control. It resonates greatly with me as in sales You can do your best to be helpful to Customer and present Your best approach to the problem. Others will present theirs and Customer will make choice which will benefit him. Choice which You can affect but not control. And when the choice is not You, you need to get past it fast. Stoicism helps in all of that.
   
2. Existentializm – especially one praised by Nietzsche. The man is free and bound only by his circumstances and choices – which he can alter to achieve best possible outcome. Rather than “the fate has been forged” I go for “the fate is for me to forge”. Add the discipline and the aforementioned Nietzsche’s “ubermensh” concept and you can strive for greatness. Oh… but it comes with a cost.
   
3. Absurdism – philosophical stance focusing the inherent conflict between humanity’s search for meaning and the universe’s apparent lack of it. Sometimes You just feel everything’s falling apart… and it’s OK. People are moving towards purpose and universe is moving toward entropy which creates natural conflict. Just be aware of this natural friction and You’ll move on through though times.

In the past we had many brilliant minds laying their thoughts on the paper. Minding that they went through the same chain-of-though as I do (which brought me close to their works) is a little heartwarming. Helps You move forward. It would be a shame not to take some guidance. Just mind two things about philosophy:

1. It’s like character – You create Your own mix of rules from existing theories.
2. No rule is unbreakable – but it is for people of class to choose rules they will never break.

I wish You well. Choose wisely.