If You Have To Work, Why Not Do Work You Love?
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Unless you have a trust fund, a winning lottery ticket, or a money tree growing in the backyard - chances are you, like everyone else, have to work for a living. So why choose a boring job or one that you hate - when you can be well paid to do what you love?
It is a fact of life that if you do not already have all the money you will need to live for the rest of your life -- you will need to work for a living. And, if you are like most people, you will need to work about 40 years to put aside enough money to retire.
So you may not have a choice in having to work, or how long you will need to do it. But you can choose how that 40 years is spent.
You can spend it either ...
- being unhappy, frustrated, and complaining about the lousy job you have
- or loving what what you do and excited about your job and the salary you earn
This simple choice has a huge impact on every area of your life.
Choosing to do a job you dislike for 40 years has a cascade of consequences. When you work at a job that bores you or that you hate ...
- You earn less (just think about who earns bigger tips -- a grumpy waitress or an enthusiastic one).
- Less money means a smaller house, fewer vacations and more problems paying your bills each month.
- Problems paying your bills means more stress, more arguments and fewer things you can buy for your family.
- Stress and arguments at home can make your life miserable.
- Feeling frustrated and miserable at home and on the job leads to poor work performance.
- Poor work performance means smaller raises and no bonuses ... so you earn less (which is where we started).
This cycle can continue until you feel overwhelmed by life. Simple life problems become insurmountable obstacles simply because you lack the resources, confidence and resiliency to deal with them. A sure sign of this is when all you are able to do after a hard day's work is grumble about
a) how much you hate your job,
b) how much you hate your boss and the company you work for or
c) the high cost of everything.
Who ever dreams of growing up and living a life being frustrated, miserable and underpaid? And who, if they find themselves in that unfortunate situation, wants to live the rest of their life like that?
The good news is that the opposite strategy creates a cascade of consequences that lead you in the opposite direction -- toward your being able to afford your dreams. Our experience is that when you work at a job you love ...
- You earn more (just think about who earns bigger tips -- a grumpy waitress or a happy, enthusiastic one).
- More money means a bigger house, more vacations, and being able to save for retirement and your kids' college education.
- With no problems paying the bills, you feel confident and can spend time enjoying your family instead of arguing and worrying.
- Harmony at home can help your relationships and health to flourish making you happy and enthusiastic about life.
- Feeling happy and enthusiastic at home and on the job leads to great work performance.
- Great work performance means larger raises and bigger bonuses ... so you earn more (which is where we started)
This cycle is an upward spiral, increasing your confidence and giving you the resources you need to deal with life and overcome the obstacles you face. A sure sign of this is when all you are able to do after a hard day's work is talk about
a) how much you love your job,
b) how much you like the company and customers you work for or
c) feel comfortable that you can afford to buy the things that give your life meaning.
Every child dreams of growing up and living a life being happy, loved and well paid. So why not figure out how to make that dream come true?
It seems you have three basic choices. You can ...
- Choose to do work you dislike, earn less money and be miserable.
- Choose to do work you are indifferent to, earn so-so money and be bored.
- Choose to do work you love, earn more money and be happier.
So which one would you want to do for 40 years?
Tools To Help You Find The Work You Love
If you want to learn more or take the next step, these tools are the ones I recommend.
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How to Find the Work You Love This guide helps you focus on the four elements that underlie discovering the work you love. Spend some time exploring what you should be doing with your life. |
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True Work: Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do Discover how to marry your gifts and talents with the vision you have and turn your work into a more fulfilling and spiritual activity -- and do more than work for a paycheck.
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Doing Work You Love : Discovering Your Purpose and Realizing Your Dreams A thorough guide filled with ideas and exercises to help you from the first step through acing the interview, this book is a great resource for helping yourself, your friends and children. |
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48 Days To The Work You Love by Dan Miller Figuring how who you want to be is the key of this life changing book that parallels Dan's 48 Days webiste. A great guide for finding the work you love by following your passions, life calling and gifts and talents. |
The Trick of Treating Yourself Well
The same process applies when you fall in love with a person, and start to build a life around being with them ... seeing the world through their eyes ... and growing older and wiser with them. The Trick is to be able to ...
recognize great work when you see it
Need More Inspiration?
Finding work you love or your dream job can be exhausting work, especially when you have little support and few real life role models. To bridge the gap between your dreams and your current life, you need resources that both inspire you and show you that you can make your dreams come true.
Inspiring Movies About Work You Love
To help you get or stay inspired, here are a few movies that I recommend -- many of them you can find in your local library or watch via Netflix or Redbox.
For more great work movies, browse theses pages ... life calling, working with passion, work that matters, and great work.
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The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
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The Last Brickmaker in America
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To Sir, With Love
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Bad Boys [Blu-ray]
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The Razor's Edge
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Bull Durham (20th Anniversary Edition)
A professional baseball player faces the end of his career and goes through a roller coaster over his job and closest relationships.
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Sahara (Widescreen Edition)
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Desk Set
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Days of Thunder
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For Love of the Game
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A League of Their Own
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The Real Dirt on Farmer John
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Still Not Doing What You Love For A Living?
If negative consequences and a lack of inspiration are not the problem, and you are still not convinced that doing what you love for a living is in your best and highest interest, then it is time to look at the obstacles you face that might be holding you back. What obstacles might those be? Well, most people say that ...
The #1 Obstacle is Money
Do you feel that a lack of money holds you back from doing what you love? Are you searching for ways to start doing what you love for a living?
Many people say the number one obstacle stopping them from doing what they love for a living is ... money. They feel that if they had money, they could start achieving their dreams. Without it, they feel stuck in their current life with no way out.
If you feel this way, have you ever taken a few minutes to wonder why money, of all things, is the thing holding you back?
What is the Real Obstacle?
Is a lack of money really holding you back from searching for your dream job, changing your career or starting your own business? Or is a lack of the things money can buy?
Maybe it is about time we take a closer look at what is really stopping us.
Everyone points to money as the source of most of their problems and why they are not working at their dream job. But realistically, no one is asked what is in your wallet when they are interviewing you for a job ... even your dram job. You get grilled about your experience, your skills, your judgment and work history -- but not about the size of your bank account.
Money or the things Money Buys?
Do you need money, or do you need the things money can buy? If you had a pile of gold in a vault on the moon, could you start your dream job tomorrow? Do you really need the feel of dollar bills or gold coins in your hand to go after your dreams?
Here is a question for you ....
If you were given an unlimited credit card to make it possible for you to work at your dream job, what would you do with it? Would you ...
- spend it on tuition textbooks, and training programs
- use it to pay the rent so you could take time off to study or practice your craft
- buy the tools of your trade
- cover your expenses so you could take a lower paying job to learn on the job skills and acquire industry experience
Or if you dream of starting your own dream business and were given the same unlimited credit card to make it happen, what would you do with the money? Would you spend it on ...
- advertising, marketing materials and publicity
- tools, equipment and supplies
- office and manufacturing space
- phone, electricity, and other utilities
- salary and wages for yourself and your employees
- training in how to start and run a business
- paying your bills for a few months so you could take time off to do the pre launch and start up tasks
The things above are the basics for preparing for a dream job or starting a dream business. So if you listed things like these -- money is not your stumbling block. The true obstacle is that you lack the means to acquire the things you need, and money becomes the stepping stone you need to get unstuck.
If, by any chance, you listed luxury vacations and expensive toys to entertain yourself -- you might need to start getting real about your need to work for a living.
Put another way -- money is not the enemy, it is just a medium of exchange. There is a gap between what you have and what you need. Money helps you span that gap by turning your time, skills and expertise into the things you require. Simply put, it is a great way to overcome lots of obstacles in life.
A Two Side Coin
Money has two sides, and which side you see depends on whether or not you have it. It is ...
- a stepping stone to living your dreams if you have it
- a stumbling block to living your dreams if you do not have it
So the very thing that seems to be holding you back is exactly what you need to start moving forward. Money has become the #1 way to overcome the obstacles keeping you from doing what you love. But that also turns a lack of money into the #1 thing holding you back.
So now that you know what the solution is, how do you get more of it? Do you need to focus on spending more of the money you have on the things you need -- for example buying a textbook instead of a movie ticket? Or do you need to focus on learning how to increase what you get paid?
The Next Step
If you want to learn more about your own obstacles and the role money plays, you might be interested in ...
Is a Lack of Money Holding You Back?
What is Holding You Back From Doing What You Love?
If you agree that money is the #1 solution to the obstacles keeping you from doing what you love, then we suggest learning more about ...
How To Be Handsomely Paid To Do Work You Love
How To Grow & Stretch Your Paycheck
For more ideas about work you love, check out ...
inspiring quotes about passionate work
