Do you live to work, or just work to live?

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I'm all about working hard, but I'm more concerned about doing something I love.  Many have said that hard work never killed anyone, I disagree.  Working hard in a job that you hate will kill almost any chance of one ever discovering what life is really about, and the chance of finding the one thing that really will make you happy.

I have worked hard my entire life, but until now I was just working to live.  I now have the great blessing of doing what I love and loving every minute that I am doing it.  It is no effort at all, at least from an emotional stand point.  I never sit behind my computer and wish that I could be doing anything else for a profession.  This is the first time since I retired from the Air Force twenty years ago that I can confidently say that I am living to work and not just working to live.  My question to you this fine day is what category do you fall into.

If you get up on a Monday morning already wishing that it were Friday then I can pretty much bet that you are in the latter category of working to live.  There is such a dramatic difference between the two, and yet far too few people understand that, or are at least willing to admit it.   There was a poll that came out earlier in the year that showed that over seventy percent of those polled would say that they hate their current job.  I honestly believe the number is higher then that, but who in their right mind would publish a number that is almost 80 to 85 percent.  Even if you believe that the number is only seventy percent, that is still staggering, and that is sad beyond words.  How in the world can seven out of ten people claim to hate their job.  That tells me that seven out of ten people are simply working to live, and that is a travesty.

If I were to ask you what you would be doing right now if money, training, experience, were not a factor, what would you tell me?  Would you leave your current position and do something different?  Would you tell that life sucking boss of yours to go pound sand and high tail it out of there to do something you always dreamt of doing?  I will tell you one thing, until such time as you make the decision to let go of what does not serve you, and pick up on the one thing that does, then you will continue to work to live and not the other way around.

I am simply amazed when I talk to people about their current profession and I get the response that they have no other choice.  There are bills to be paid, retirement to consider, and all kinds of reasons why they cannot make a change.  I understand, really I do.  I have been there.  I have been trapped in a job that I could not get out of.  I had bills to pay just like many of you.  I had a mortgage, a car note, credit card debt, and acid in my stomach just to complicate issues.  I was on my way to an early grave, and it took a huge wake up call to wake me up and figure out that this was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my working life.

If you find yourself in this very same position then I implore you to listen to what I am about to say and take it to heart.  You can go round Robin Hood's barn ten thousand times and if you do not make a decision to change things up, you will continue to have that acid in your stomach, that knot in your throat, and that sickening feeling that life could not suck much more then it does right now.  If you cannot find a passion for what you are doing right now, then drop what you are doing and find your passion.  Until such time as you do this you will be trapped in your current situation and there will be nothing you can do to change what you are experiencing in the moment.  I would hate to think that had I not made some changes in my life that I would still be doing a job I hated.  There are so many people trapped in dead end jobs.  When I say dead end jobs I'm not talking about jobs that have no chance for promotion or upward mobility. I am talking about dead end jobs that will suck the life out of you and never provide you an opportunity to walk in your destiny.  If the job you have right now is doing nothing to help you achieve your goals, nothing to help you obtain your dreams, and nothing to make you feel as though you are the most important person on the face of the earth, then I would tell you to drop them like a hot potato and find someone or something that will do it for you.

I do believe that if things are worth having then they are worth working for.  I also believe that if you are going to do something you might as well do it right, and do it with all of your heart.  If you are not following your heart, walking in your destiny, then I will tell you that you will never be able to give everything you are to a job.  If you do not believe that your current job is the job of your dreams, then you will not be able to give it your all.  This is not to say that you do not have the talent, what I am saying is that your heart will not be in it, and if your heart is not in it, then it is impossible to give 100 percent.  You of course can challenge me on this assertion, but I do not think you will change my mind.  When you love what you do then it is so easy to give 100 percent.  When you love what you are doing, then there is hardly a day that goes by that you don't wish you could be working in this field right now.  When you love what you do you can hardly wait to get back to work because work is now your playground and you simply get to have fun the entire work day.  So let me ask you this:  are you enjoying your total work day now?  Do you hate to see Friday come, knowing that you don't get to do your job again until Monday?  Based on the polling numbers I saw, there aren't very many people that fall into this category.

It is time to live to work and not the other way around.  When you love what you do then in fact you will never look at things the same way again. That job that you used to have has now become a vocation and not just an occupation.  This can all be yours if you will look deep into yourself, be honest with yourself, and release any fear that says you must stay where you are right now.  Have faith to do the right thing, and that faith will guide you to the promised land.  This land is full of dreams, full of laughter and joy, and full of the one thing we need most: promise.  Start dreaming, and start putting your needs first.  Without your efforts this world will never move forward and we really need this world to move forward in a positive way.