Do What You Love and Love
What You Do
BY GLENN VAN EKEREN
The satisfaction, fun and fulfillment we experience in work are benefits we can
give ourselves.
It's time to rethink our approach to work, starting with three important
factors: ability, attitudes, and behavior.
Ability. Calvin Coolidge noted: "Few people are lacking in capacity, but
they fail because they are lacking in application."
Attitude. We can choose one of two attitudes. One, Thomas Edison's view
of work: "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun:' Edison believed
the purpose of work was productivity, joy, and fulfillment. Or secondly,
consider the experience of King Sisyphus, an evil king in Greek mythology who
was condemned to Hades for eternity. His daily duty was pushing a large rock up
a mountain, which at the end of the day, rolled down again. Each day was a
repeat of the last. Hordes of people view their daily responsibilities as
replicating the uninspired, fruitless experience of King Sisyphus. B.C.
Forbes wrote: "Whether we find pleasure in our work or whether we find it a bore
depends entirely on our mental attitude toward it, not on the task itself:'
Behaviors. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie said, "The average person puts
only 25 percent of their energy and ability into their work. The world takes off
its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity, and stands
on its head for those few-and-far-between souls who devote 100 percent:'
Whatever our chosen career, we need to stop looking at work as simply a means of
making a living and realize it is an essential ingredient in making a quality
life.
Will Rogers' Wisdom Will Rogers said, "In order to succeed, you must know
what you are doing, like what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing."
His suggestions deserve a closer look.
"Fall in love with what you are going to do for a
living," says George Burns.
"I'd rather be a failure in something that I love than be successful in
something that I hate."
1. Know what you are doing. Winners are willing to do the things
losers refuse to do. Winners work to become the best at what they do. They
develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities to rise above mediocre performance
to become masters at what they do. They are committed to a life of continual
learning and growing
2. Like what you are doing. I'm baffled by people who spend five days
a week doing something they don't like, so they can spend the other two days
doing what they enjoy. It's commonly called, living for the weekend, Sister Mary
Lauretta said, "To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with
your work:'
The secret to happiness, success, satisfaction, and fulfillment in our work
is not doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.
"Fall in love with what you are going to do for a living," says George Burns.
"I'd rather be a failure in something that I love than be successful in
something that I hate."
3. Believe in what you do. Successful people are not in a job for
something to do - they are in their work to do something, to make a difference.
Get beyond the job description, title, paycheck, or "TO do" list. See the end
result. Become absorbed with your organization's purpose and mission. Espouse a
set of values that demonstrate a conviction for what you do. Become
constructively obsessed with the value of your efforts.
The self-esteem, satisfaction, and fulfillment you experience at work depends
on you. To transform your daily "have-to's" into a lifestyle of "want-to's,"
consider these two questions: "What do I want out of my life's work?" And, "What
am I willing to do to make it happen?"
If you love what you do, you'll never have to work another day in your life,
@2004 Glenn Van Ekeren. All rights reserved. Glenn Van Ekeren
is the Executive Vice President of Better Health Services in Omaha, Nebraska. He
is also a frequent speaker on strategies for maximizing people and
organizational potential. Glenn is the author of 12 Simple Secrets of Happiness:
Finding Joy in Everyday Relationships.
