Doing What You Love

Does anybody really ever do what they love? I mean, is anyone out there totally in love with their job and feeling at their complete and utmost fulfilled satisfaction? I don't know of many people who do or who are. I feel like most people I know, including myself, just do what they know, what they're skilled in, and what they have the most experience with. But, I'm finding it very rare that in one person that all adds up to what they love to do.

Take my aunt, for example. She owns a roofing business that was passed down to her from a generation ago, which she now owns and runs. I have no doubt that she is an outstanding CEO and is on top of her game like no other. But, is it really what she loves doing? Maybe it is. I have never really asked her.

Or, how about my sister? She started working at a movie theater when she was in her teens running the concession stand. She is now 32 and the General Manager of a theater of her own in Arlington, and has been working in the business ever since. Did she really think she'd be doing this 13, 14, 15 years later and is she totally happy excited with it?

Maybe we grow to love what we do.

Or, maybe, we do what we have to do to earn our paychecks, even if we don't love what we're doing. Then, on the side do what we love indefinitely, or until we can leave our regular jobs and make a decent living off of that alone.

My mother-in-law is a success story of someone who is doing what she loves. I never knew she wanted to make wine (I have been with her son since 10th grade), but apparently she did. She has been through a myriad of jobs over the years, mostly law enforcement related, but after much hard work and preparation has just begun launching her own career as a Winemaker while working at a lab as her full time job. I'm sure it took (and still takes) lots of long hours and extra hard work to get where she is, but she is enjoying it and goes to work excited about what she's doing every day. It is, indeed, a rare success story.

I don't do what I love. Of course, I didn't know what I loved until I was done educating myself. I guess that's part of discovering who you are by trying different things. As life goes on I think we tend to discover ourselves. And by the time we take some jobs learning what we're good at, it almost seems to be too late, or too expensive, to go back to school. So, we start side jobs or side hobbies doing what really like to do and hope for the best as we watch it grow in what we believe will be something great.

I think we all struggle, because most of the time what we love doing is a career longshot: educating people with your own curriculum, flipping houses, selling homes, launching your own practice, or becoming a professional fisher. All of these things require money, business savvy, knowledge, and time. If you're an average civilian, you most likely don't have that much MONEY and you've never started your own BUSINESS before so you must take the TIME to become KNOWELDGABLE about it. This might not be about starting your own business. It could be just a matter of finding a job that already exists that provides an opportunity to do what you enjoy. We all have to put in our "dues" to get where we want to go.

Maybe doing what you love on the side for a while, until you can make it on your own, is a step towards success.