“Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” ~Confucius
True, that. But what if you don’t love your job?
What if you are trudging through your work day
because you have bills to pay, a family to support, loans to pay off? What
then?
Well, then it would appear that you have some soul searching
to do and a choice to make.
In the grand scheme of things this sort of dilemma
leaves one with a relatively simple choice.
If you don’t love what you are doing
you have two options:
Change what you are doing or change how you think about what you are doing.
(Hey, I
said it was simple, I didn’t say it was easy! Nothing worth doing comes without
a degree of difficulty, really.)
So how does one go about making this kind of life change?
Make no mistake, it is a life change.
As in: lifelong, creating new habits, following through, being really brave, life change! It’s a never ending process
but let’s talk about some tools you can use right now to get you started down the path to
a work life you love.
Purpose
I believe that everyone has a calling, a purpose. Yes, you
too. There is a reason you are here, at this time, with the gifts and talents
that you possess. It’s becoming evident that more and more people are becoming
conscious if this and asking themselves “Yes, but what is my purpose?” “How
will I find it?” “What if I never find it?”
Rest assured if you are seeking, chances are your purpose will find you.
But be aware, most times it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Also, it almost always comes as a way for you to serve others using your
particular gifts and talents. A good guiding question to ask is “How may I
serve?” This is particularly important for management and executive staff. Too
often leaders get so caught up in authority that they forget that their primary
responsibility as a leader is to serve and to inspire those whom they lead.
Taking a few moments in the beginning of your work day to reflect on how you
can serve the day, your co-workers, and the project you’re working on, or even
the company’s vision will start to shift how you see your purpose in your
current job. Purpose is always tied to contribution. Always. Asking yourself
about your contributions in your work is a great jumping off point.
Passion
Still, if the job you are currently doing is an absolute
soul-sucker and there’s no way you can see yourself happy doing it long term,
then you need to start figuring out just what you were put on this earth to do.
OK – Let’s try this exercise: You just won the lottery for
twelve gazillion dollars. You never have to worry about finances again. You’ve
already bought the home of your dreams, the cars, the clothes, the shoes, the
toys, the gadgets. You’ve taken every trip you’ve ever dreamed of and quite
frankly, now you’re bored. What would you
do for free? Write it down, right
now, without over-thinking, without censoring yourself. There are no wrong
answers here. What is the thing you can
get up in the morning and do all day without stopping and still be joyous the
whole time? It’s not the same as having an interest. Interests get old after
awhile. You lose steam to pursue them. Really dig deep for the thing you would
sweat all day long doing, every day, and love every minute of it. There can be
more than one thing. You are a limitless being. It doesn’t have to make sense
to anyone but you. If you are a dancer who would rather be creating financial
portfolios, if you are an professor who loves to build additions on to your
house, if you are a call center employee who wakes up singing and dreams all
day of being a singer, there is where your passion lives. And where passion
lives, purpose lives right next door. Purpose is simply finding a way to do
what you love the most, and then do it in service to others. When you do that,
you’ve discovered your calling. Congratulations! Now, how can you incorporate
this calling into your job and daily life right now? Maybe nursing is your
goal, but you work in a corporate office. Can you contact HR and start a health
and wellness initiative in your office? Get creative. If your purpose is to
teach and you work at a supermarket, volunteer to train or mentor new
employees! You get to act on your passion; you are acting in service to others
and your employer gets an enthusiastic trainer. Win-Win-win!
Vision
Ok – so you’ve figured out that you are in fact the world’s
greatest untapped source of (insert passion and purpose here). Let’s say, for
the sake of argument that you’ve decided your purpose is not best fulfilled by
your present job as it presently exists.
Good. You know something you don’t want and all knowledge is power. And let’s
say you can’t exactly quit your job to go be a realtor or something due to
financial responsibilities. Try this technique: Think from the end and then
take a step. Thinking from the end means getting clear about your calling (see
above) and then getting detailed about what that success looks like. Author
Wayne Dyer has a method he uses when sitting down to write one of his many best
sellers He gets the title of the book first. He then envisions the cover of his
book: the font of the title, the picture on the cover, the bio on the back
flap, all of it in great detail. Using this vision he calls his publisher and
has them make a sample book jacket and send it to him. Upon receiving the
sample, he wraps a random book in the jacket and sits it upright on his desk,
in front of his face, as he writes. So as he is creating his vision (his book),
it is already manifested, the finished product, complete, right in front of
him. This is thinking from the end. The next part is taking a step, any step,
even a baby step. Perhaps you enroll in realtor school at night. Maybe you take
a dance class. Maybe you commit to writing non-stop for one hour, every day. Take
a step and the Universe will conspire on your behalf to bring your vision to
you. The best part: the Universe tends to dream a bigger dream for you than you
could ever dream for yourself. Much bigger.
So let’s recap:
- Everyone has a purpose, a reason they are here at this time with their particular talents.
- The difference between a talent and a purpose is purpose is almost always in service to others.
- Finding your true passion will lead you to your calling.
- Envisioning fulfilling your purpose in detail will pull you forward.
- Think from the end and then take a step.
