What you do for work matters, and you know it.A few months back, I was out to lunch with a friend who was talking about how much she disliked her job. She also told me she wasn’t looking for a new job.
‘What’s the point? They pay me OK. It’s easy, I have benefits and I’m comfortable. Work is called work for a reason. It’s not supposed to be fun. In the end, what you do doesn’t really matter.’
I listened to her and felt terrible because she honestly believed those things. She had been so beating down at her current job, she had convinced herself that living that way was OK, and she was sucking it up (for her kids, she admitted). I get it. I understand how overwhelming life can be when you are buried in work that is soul-sucking and not what you are actually passionate about.
‘Doing something I enjoy is fine for someone like you, but most of us are just fine working a mediocre job for a long time then retiring. I’ll be fine.’
Well, my sweet friend… she was simply dead wrong. Here’s why:
This is your one and only life
One of the most common ‘death bed regrets’ is that we worked too much. This illustrates something we obviously already know – most people don’t like their jobs. But, there are a lot of people working in jobs they love. Doing something you love can be hard to find, but it is an option. And you shouldn’t accept anything less. You should be doing something with your life that you love, and your job is part of your life. Your job is part of you. It’s an extension of hard work you put into something every day. You are allowed to love it. It’s possible. And when you do, something magical happens and it seems much less harder than it was when you hated it.
You’ll live longer
Another reason why what you do for work matters: all those people you are working yourself to death ‘for’? They need you right now and they will need you for as long as they can have you. Your kids, your spouse, your family and your friends are the fire inside of you that motivates you to understand why you exist. It is not easy to look for a new job, especially one you may have convinced yourself you don’t deserve, but simply living longer should be enough motivation in itself.
Do not give up. Do not settle for something that you do not love. Please, please keep looking for a job you have meaning and purpose in, because it’s absolutely, undeniably true that what you do for work matters.
What’s your motivation for finding work you love? Is it your kids, your wife, yourself? All of these things are wonderful motivators! Did I miss any reasons why what you do for work matters? Comment below!
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