…adapted from Believe. Do. And Follow Through!
Chapter 18
In the midst of working towards your goals and achieving your dreams, it’s important to enjoy what you do. Because, if you don’t enjoy it, what’s the point of even doing it, really? Sure, we all want to get things done and check them off our lists, but if we approach work from the attitude of rote action, we’re no good to anyone. Life is too short to simply go through it on “autopilot.”
Besides, there are already plenty of people who do jobs and work at things that they don’t enjoy. So, break the mold! Do something you enjoy, and enjoy what you do!
“One morning at ‘first breakfast’ (before going to milk the cows), my dad allowed me to see into his life a little more. We were talking about careers, work, etc.
Midway through starting to take a sip of coffee, he set his cup down on the table and semi-stared off into space. Then, he looked at me and said, ‘Do something you like, and you won’t wake up every day feeling like you’re running into a brick wall, head first, for forty years.’
Ironically, when I’ve run that idea by different people, I’ve gotten lots of different responses:
• ‘If I did what I love to do, I’d be broke.’
• ‘If you do what you love to do, then it’ll become work, and you won’t love it, anymore…’
• ‘Hobbies are for what you love to do. Work is called ‘work,’ because that’s what it is.’
• ‘If I did my hobby as work, then what would I have to look forward to on the weekends?’
…and finally…
• ‘Absolutely! I’ve done what I love to do for thirty years – and still love it!’
For a while, I thought that if I could match up people I asked with occupations that they didn’t like, then I would figure out a magic formula. It finally dawned on me that it still goes back to individuals and their personal likes and dislikes – how they were made – and what they were created to do. I started looking for the gleam in people’s eyes or the lack thereof.
Years later, I came across the book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. As I flipped through the pages, my dad’s comment to me at ‘o’dark-thirty,’ years before, came running back to the front of my mind, ‘Do something you like, and you won’t wake up every day feeling like you’re running into a brick wall, head first, for forty years.’” -Marty
Enjoy what you do!
Marty Reep 