We often pursue the wrong things in life, for the wrong reasons.
We follow careers we don’t want to because our parents think we should.
We stay in careers we don’t feel passionate about because the pay is good, or there’s a good pension plan, or we are just waiting for the exit strategy to emerge.
We stay in jobs we hate because of misplaced loyalty to a boss that doesn’t care about us and sometimes doesn’t even know we exist.
We stay in jobs that pay badly because jobs are scarce and we’re afraid we won’t get a better one.
We think there is no other way than to keep on doing what we’re doing.
We often work for 8 hours a day, 5, or even 6 days a week at something that makes us miserable: that is no way to live your life.
Many of us love what we do and we wouldn’t do anything else. We do it because we believe in what we do, we do it out of a passion for helping others, we do it for many reasons.
Come Monday will you be doing something you really want to do with your day?
What about the Monday after that, or the one after that?
Very few of us to do exactly what we want in life; ‘life and work’ or, in most cases, ‘work and life’ get in the way. Things have not changed much since our parents and grandparents were young and we still ‘live to work to live’.
Most of us long for Fridays hate Mondays and, as the years go by, slowly commute our way to retirement.
The other day my daughter came into my studio and sat down on the sofa for a chat, she is eighteen years old and just a few weeks away from starting university and although she has been coming into my studio nearly every day since she could walk, on this particular day, she was in a reflective mood.
After a few minutes she said, ‘I hope I have as interesting a life as you have had’. ‘In what way’ I asked. ‘Well you have done so many different things, you have lots of stories, you do what you want and you don’t work for someone else’.
I realised that for her entire life I have not had a ‘conventional’ day job. During that time I have never been a commuter, every project and business idea I had has been completely different to the last and no two days have been the same.
What impressed me about what she had just said was that she is obviously interested in the richness of life, and not about how much money I had made, whether I had a cool job title or if I would have a comfortable pension to rely on.
Hopefully this means that when she does come to make her own way in life, she won’t be afraid to step out of her comfort zone.
Are you doing what you have always wanted to do?
Why do you do what you do?
- For the money?
- Because it inspires you?
- Because you’re good at it?
- To help others?
- As a stepping-stone to something better?
- Because you think you would be no good at anything else?
- Because you don’t know what you want to do?
- Or, is it because to do something else would risk the lifestyle you’re used to and have come to depend on?
Not everyone hates his or her job and you may well love yours.
Many people out there are passionate about what they do. I know I am.
For some people it’s a vocation, a calling, or something that speaks to them from the heart and money doesn’t come into it.
But what about the rest?
According to a recent national newspaper survey most people are miserable at work. Well, working for someone else is full of compromise, which usually involves you compromising.
If I’m preaching to the converted please bear with me.
What’s the answer?
Well you could change your job
You might get more money
You might have a better chance of promotion
You might get more job satisfaction
You might even get a better work/life balance (see more of the family)
You might – but you might not: It depends on a lot of variables all of which are mostly out of your control.
Or you could try something different. If you’re always wishing it were Friday then perhaps it’s time for a change. Don’t be just a step on your boss’s ladder.
I’ve had many jobs in my life I did not like and a couple I have hated, but that was never a good enough reason to start my own business. If you simply hate your job, get another one!
Now we have all heard other people say that there is never a good time to start your own business. You will never be experienced enough; you will never have enough money behind you, your idea has been done before, bla, bla, bla. Well I am here to tell you that is BS!
Being an entrepreneur does require passion (lots of it), hard work (lots of it), enthusiasm (lots of it), a clear vision of what you want to change in the world and a burning desire to be in control of your own destiny. It’s is not for everyone.
If you have had an idea or a dream that you’ve been too afraid to do, it may be big, it may be small, don’t let YOU keep YOU from giving it a try.
I love Mondays.
Full of possibilities and a whole week to try them out 🙂
