“My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Everyone has work that they do
Some people might be an accountant that crunches numbers; others might be an artist who splatters paint on a canvas
Even if you don’t have a typical “job” everyone has their work and puts a ample amount of time into it
I recently was being giving a lift by a friend of mine when we started talking about work and why people work the jobs they do
Let me first begin by saying that this friend’s job is that of an enterprise rent a car driver
His job is to drive customers to and from the enterprise rental location
He does this 40 hours a week
Now some people might look at this job and ask, “why? Isn’t there some other job that pays more/has more perks/is more distinguished?”
(In fact most people would look down on his job, which is simply misplaced anger and a person’s attempt to gain significance by putting another person down)
He said that even before he got his driver license, he always knew that he wanted to be a driver
Whether he was driving cars for a company, being a chauffeur, or even a truck driver
He said he couldn’t think of anything more satisfying
He said that he is planning on getting a truck and driving from the east coast to the west, living on the road
The look of joy on his face when he described his road trip, showed that he had true love and passion for his work
He then said, “Its better to work a job for less money than to wake up to a high paying job you can’t stand”
I laughed and agreed with him, and it got me thinking
“How many people work jobs they don’t love simply because they are led to believe it is safe option, or the only option they have”
A good portion of my friends who just graduated college are about to enter the workforce
My friends have backgrounds in marketing, finance, management, psychology, culinary arts, and many other fields
While I support tall of them in their endeavors into the workforce, the interesting fact is that about 80 percent of them hate the field they work in
Not dislike or it could be better, but hate
The vast majority of college grads are trying to get into the hot career pathways that will lead them to bigger salaries, bigger perk packages, larger expense account s and ultimately more money
They are in the belief that money is part of the key to happiness
So in that belief they get jobs so they can
“I can make enough money to start a family”
“I can make enough money to get the Hollywood wannabes to want to fuck me”
“So I can work in the field for 10 years then have enough money to do what I really want”
“So I can have enough money to travel”
“So I can retire in 20 years”
These are all quotes directly from friends I have at school
They are not mislead, in fact they have been guided in this direction nearly their whole lives by everyone and everything they interacted with
What they do not realize is that all the money in the world will not offer you happiness in life
It’s important to recognize what kind of work you enjoy doing, whether that is a hobby, activity, sport, anything
You need to ask yourself
“If I could do any job in the world, what would that be?”
Assume you would get paid nothing, and there are no perk packages, and there are no qualifications of any kind
What would you do?
Write it down, and post it on your wall
That is what you should be striving for in life, and any other job is simply a waste of your time unless it falls in alignment with your dream work life
If you want to work for PETA then it’s probably not a good idea to view McDonalds as a platform for your future career 😉
Work jobs that interest you, and have direct connections to what you want to do in life
Want to travel the world?
Take a job as tour guide in the country of your choice
Want to own your own business?
Work directly for a small business owner and learn the ropes of running your own company
Want to be a basketball player in the NBA?
Get outside and start shooting hoops
Nothing is unattainable, people will throw all sorts of statistics at you and tell you that whatever you want is not possible
Ignore them
The human potential is limitless and this means you can work in any career you choose
Don’t let someone else dictate how your suppose to live your life, and guide you towards the “safe” jobs
Take a risk; work the jobs they may not pan out, that may not have the great starting salary, that does not have a 401k
Take a chance, that’s what life is all about
Take the reins of your life and work in something that truly moves you, and makes a difference for yourself and others
That will give you joy in life
Not money from a safe job that you doesn’t make you happy
Something to think about
-Gabriel
I also just graduated, and I don’t really know what I want to do in the next few months
Your article defiantly gave me some perspective, I’m going to seek out lots of opportunities. Thanks Gabriel
Hey this is a great article!
Thanks for your support Nick
Hello Gabriel
Hi from Singapore. Chanced across your website and found your articles really interesting; especially this one and the one about finding love.
I would say, in relation to this article, that working for a job that pays less, etc, or following your heart, taking a risk, needs so much courage!
You write like someone who speaks from experience…I believed you have gone through the experiences of what you write about? I ask this because, I read alot of books, but am beginning to get a nagging feel recently, that while I did learn alot from what I read, sometimes inspired by it, in the end, I think that, getting out there and out of the books is equally, if not more, important. It’s the experiences we really learn from isn’t it? I think that nagging feeling is asking me to ‘get out there’ more…. 😛
@Angela
Getting out there is the most important thing you can do in life
The idea of staying home all the time can be good for downtime and reading books, but if you want to expand the notion of who you are as a person, then you need to get out there more all the time
I would be happy to talk to you this more, shoot me an email
Thanks Anglea