Love your job?

Do you love what you do?

Do you love your job? If you answered yes, - well, great! Going by the statistics on this, you are in a blessed minority. Enjoy yourself.

If you answered no, then you are in plentiful company, and that means something’s gotta give! When there is a critical mass of people experiencing pain over an issue, enough inquiry and energy are going into it to make a turnaround possible.

Most people tell themselves, or are told by others, - if you don’t love what you do, well find what you do love, and just do it. That’s sound advice – it sounds nice. But it doesn’t really help the person very much. For how the heck does one find what one loves to do? And then there is the practical stuff to take care of. How long will the search take, and meanwhile, how does one earn enough money to keep oneself and the loved ones alive and well?

Those are legitimate questions. But they are glossed over by people who tell you that what’s wrong with you is that you lack the passion and the drive to really do what it takes. Then they point to the people who sacrificed it all to find what they loved.

When I used to be handed that advice, it made me feel at once, hopeful and hopeless – hopeful because some people did it and so I may be able to do it too, and hopeless because if I haven’t done it yet, then I must truly lack the passion to find what I love!

But then I began to notice something that bothered me even more. I began to notice how everyone who was an authority on ‘doing only what you love’ had already found what they loved and spoke from that place of certainty. Great! But how did they get there? How long did it take? What was the journey like? What hurt? What did not? How many times did they stop believing in the worth of the journey? How did they get back on track? Those are the kind of things I wanted to know.

Are these your questions too?
Almost 5 years after first asking these questions, I have something to share. Start with finding how to love what you do. Put slightly differently - find the love in what you do.

No matter how I put that, it’s going to sound trite. But remember that I am simply asking you to start this way, and not suggesting that this is the whole deal. And I speak from gut-wrenching experience. When you start this way, you achieve one thing right away - you open yourself to possibilities. So take the short cut. Instead of starting with trying to find what you love to do, find how to love what you do.

By now you’re saying, - "ok stupid, but I started by saying I don’t love what I do!". I know, and I’m asking you to jiggle that statement around just a bit.

Here are some questions you might ask of yourself:

• · Has anybody forced you to hold this job?
• · Are you choosing to hold this job?
• · What is it that you are getting from the job?
• · What is it that you are not getting from this job?
• · What possibilities exist for getting what you want from this job?

You might want to revisit the questions a few times, with enough time in between repeats, and notice if your answers change.

I’ll bet that each of you would have a slightly different experience. If you’d like, share your experience with me at ameetak@gmail.com. I’ll bet also, that each of you who attempts this with any seriousness at all, will be planting a seed. And this seed once planted, will find a way to grow against all odds, and in time you will find yourself doing what you love.

So, is that all that’s required? - I don't think so. But it’s a great first step. And if you’d like to consider a next step - stay tuned.

Ameeta

Copyright 2006 Ameeta Kaul