Much is written these days about how you can find purpose and meaning in your work. Everyone seems to be taking all kinds of personality and strengths tests to find their unique calling because “If you discover how you are shaped you can unlock your dream job, so you’ll never have to work another day in your life!”…or so the logic goes.
The problem is most of us still feel like we are “working,” so that must mean our current job is not our dream job.
I’m sure with a title like that is seems to be a bit of hype but I’ve found one simple practice to help me rest. I’ll give it to you right up front. Here it is: You must make a conscious decision to limit your work.
That means you have to decide how many hours a week you are going to work and stick to it. If you are self-employed this is really difficult. Trust me I understand. It is hard to stick to a schedule. There is never an end to my emails, FB messages, voicemail, and to-do lists, so I have to create an end. I have to make a conscious decision to end my work. So if you don’t get a response from me right away it isn’t because I don’t love you, it’s because I’m trying to put boundaries in my life.
Entrepreneurs, you have a tendency to never stop. You bring your work home, you work in the car, at the dinner table, even in bed. If you’re married there are a lot better things to do in bed than work.
Some of you are pushing back right now and thinking, “But if I take a break there is no one else who is going to do this. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.”
I’ve heard that more people die at 9am on Monday morning than any other time…because that’s when they have to head back to work. How do you feel about your job? We all enjoy work, maybe not your job, but we love some type of work. Whether you enjoy gardening, or cooking, or working on your car there is a real sense of enjoyment that comes from work. That’s one of the reasons why we feel sorry for people in nursing homes-their physical activity is limited.
Work isn’t the problem, for most of us it’s the job that’s the problem.
What if there was a way to instill passion into your job, the job you have right now? What if it was possible to find purpose in the midst of cubicles and spreadsheets? I think it is.
