Saturday, August 10, 2013

Do What You Love And Get Paid For It

We give 60% of our waking time to our jobs. 

If we’re unhappy with our jobs, that makes us unhappy in 60% of our life!  That’s why St. Thomas Aquinassaid, There can be no joy of life without joy of work.
      
To simplify your life, find what we love and get paid for it.
      
You need to find out what your passion is and connect it with your job…
      
As a writer, my research demands that I read hundreds of books a year.  But that’s fine by me because I love reading.  Even if my job was something else, I’d still read a horrendous lot because I enjoy it immensely.  Don’t laugh, but years ago, my insane fantasy is being a security guard assigned to protect a Light House in an isolated island—and there was nothing else to do there but read books all day.
      
Many years ago, I remember calling up Jun Fontecha, our Finance Director, at ten o’clock in the evening.  I asked him, “Am I disturbing you?” and he answered, “No problem.  I’m just relaxing.”
      
“Watching the TV?” I inquired.
      
“Nope, just balancing the accounting books of our community.”
      
I almost fell from my chair.  “That’s your way of relaxing?”
      
He said it was.  He said he felt most alive and happy holding a pencil, a calculator, and reams of paper filled with numbers and nothing else.  This was his passion, and it was his privilege that this was his job as well.  He’d do it even if he weren’t paid for it.  (I told him that we’re opposites in this regard.  If I’m left with nothing else to look at but numbers for even just an hour, I’d suffer a nervous breakdown.)

I am doing work which is worth doing.  It would still be worth doing if nobody paid for it.  But as I have no private means, and need to be fed and housed and clothed, I must be paid while I do it.
                      –C.S. Lewis, GOOD WORK AND GOOD WORKS

       But making your passion your job isn’t only enjoyable; it may be your best bet to earning handsomely.

According to one study of millionaires, an impressive majority eventually became wealthy not because they possessed a primary ambition to get rich, but because they found work about which they could be passionate.  Their “luck” arose from their dedication to an area they enjoyed.  The universe bends to those who are convinced that they are in the right place doing the right thing…
                             –Allan Loy Mcginnis, THE BALANCED LIFE


What is your passion?  What is the one thing that you love to do, where you feel most alive?

Can you turn this passion into your profession?  Can you visualize it?  If yes, write down the steps that you need to take to make this dream come true.

Connect Your Job To
Your Life-Mission

A friend of mine, Jodean Sola, was working with building maintenance in our community.  He spent most of his working hours with his screwdrivers, soldering irons, and hammers.  But after five o’clock, before proceeding home, he’d visit his “pals” in the seedy parts of the city.  Whenever he sees a group of street kids, he’d buy a loaf of bread, sit down with them in the sidewalk, and talk about life and love and God with them.

He had a passion to help street kids, a passion to see them become better human beings.  It didn’t take him long to realize this was his mission in life.  Could he make it his job as well?

The answer was yes.  Today, Jodean and his wife feeds 300+ street kids every week,.  And with his talent for making stuff with his own hands, he helps the children learn new skills.  He started livelihood programs and housing projects.  He writes his own fundraising letters, gets support from generous individuals, and helps the kids go to school.  It is a tough life, and there are days when finances are low, but he doesn’t regret his decision one bit.

I believe that you’re created for a mission, and that mission has been prepared for you beforehand.  It is waiting for you to fulfill it!

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
                                           –Ephesians 2:10

If you can connect your mission to your occupation, you may just be one of the happiest people on this planet.

May your dreams come true,


Bo Sanchez

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