Thursday, August 2, 2012

Loving What You Do

I came to a realization lately. Life is just too short to spend one-third (or more!) of your time doing something that you don't love.

I know. This is probably not new to many of you, but I guess I'm slower than some. Like most people, I had been going through life doing a job that I didn't really enjoy. Why?  It paid the bills.  I had responsibilities. I had no back up income. What I do for a living supports my family and that's it.  I don't have the luxury of taking time to "find myself" while someone else supports us.

Lots of people live their whole life like that, just putting one foot in front of the other, tolerating work that doesn't give them joy or feed their spirit because they think they have no other choice.  Maybe that's true in some cases. I certainly can't speak for everyone, but it turns out that I do have choices.

I remember a time when I felt like I was making a difference and I did it for that reason. Eventually, though, even that wasn't enough.

The day came when I decided that I didn't want to live that way anymore, so I made a decision to stop doing the part of my business that I didn't enjoy. The next part was decision to focus on doing what I love, on writing things I want to write, on helping people by doing what I love.

Is it scary?  Yes, absolutely. But you know what's even scarier?  The thought of spending another 25 years, 60 hours a week, doing something I can't stand and living with the stress and pressure of it all.

I used to describe leaving public education and going into consulting work like letting go of the side of the pool.  The water is the same, but you have to learn to swim on your own. Going into business for yourself is like getting out of the pool and swimming in the ocean. There are waves and sharks and more hazards than you can imagine, but it's still water, and it's still swimming. Making a shift in the nature of the business is like swimming in the ocean, but changing the stroke I'm using.

How long will it take me to swim as efficiently with the butterfly as I was with the breast stroke?  I don't know. 

Will I be able to do it?  Of course I will.

It's still swimming.

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I'll share more about this change over the next week in coming posts.

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