…is that for most people it is just a job. I don’t think the problem is a fear of hard work. In fact, I think most all of us want to demonstrate our strong work ethic and to derive value out of accomplishing things that are hard and challenging. But when the expectations for hard work come from “above” for tasks and accomplishments that really don’t matter to us personally, I think the gap between our interest level and the pressure to perform as-if we care is the reason why people feel stressed in their jobs, and is the reason why most people yearn and pine for their 65th birthday!
I’ve had a job before and I didn’t like it. I liked the company and I liked the people I worked with, but I didn’t subscribe to the importance of the mission that would have been required to feel “wowed” by going to the office every day. So I left and started my own business. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t instantly a moment of joy and happiness, but I never went to work not caring about my own performance because I cared very deeply about the work I was doing (and still do).
One of my favorite current-day thinkers is Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ ) who wrote this on his blog today:
The people who successfully start independent businesses do it because we have no real choice in the matter. The voice in our heads won't shut up until we discover if we're right, if we can do it, if we can make something happen. This is an art, our art, and to leave it bottled up is a crime.
If starting your own business doesn’t speak to your sense of passion, then find work that does. Just because you work for someone else’s ownership doesn’t mean your work can’t be a passion. And if you get to work and feel energized by what you do, then you truly have a career and not just a job!
