After graduating from college in 2003, I quickly decided to keep the “real world” at bay for just a little longer by seeing more of the, uh, real world. With nothing but a big red backpack I purchased at REI, I hopped on a plane headed for France.

I backpacked with a friend and saw some of the most incredible man-made structures ever created, iconic pieces of artwork, and encountered interesting people from all over the world.

A lot of my time on this two month journey of haphazardly criss-crossing western Europe with a few trips into eastern Europe (I had an unlimited Eurail pass) I did a lot of thinking. When you’re sitting on a train staring down the barrel of a 13 hour overnight journey, there’s not much else to do.

I thought a lot about what I wanted to do with my life, how I would go about finding a job when I returned to my home in the United States, and what I wanted to do in terms of a career. I wondered if I should go to law school like I told myself I would.

I didn’t come up with any concrete answers. And now I realize that there really are no answers–at least for me. And I know a lot of other people like me. I realize that the only way I’m going to be happy is by pursuing what I’m interested in today. I am not going to be happy in a job that I am not totally excited to go into each and every day, minus vacation days and holidays. Sure, sometimes we have to work jobs we don’t like to pay the bills. That’s life.

What I’m getting at here is taking steps everyday to inch closer to what you really do want to do with your life. This makes having a not-so-fulfilling job sort of fulfilling: the fact that it helps you pay the bill while you move closer to your goals.

I realize that you have to take action. Today. Right now. If you want to be a writer, outline an article or jot down some ideas, do some research. If you want to be an internet entrepreneur, take steps to start a blog or a website today. If you start a project today, continuing to work on it tomorrow or next week becomes much easier.

This website is about finding the entrepreneurial path that works for you. I want Gainfully Unemployed to be a resource of articles, news, and information about working for the best boss in the world. You.

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