Doing the Work you Want to Do
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by Jenny Ungless
Do you jump out of bed on Monday morning eager to face the day – or when the alarm goes off, do you groan, roll over and hide your head under the duvet? When you come back from holiday are you refreshed and raring to go, full of new ideas and enthusiasm for your work – or do you spend your first week back daydreaming about or planning your next holiday?
For many people, work is a necessary evil – it’s what we do to allow us to afford to do fun things in our leisure time. Sure, sometimes we get a buzz out of a busy workload or a successful presentation, but a lot of the time we probably wish we were somewhere else. In fact, most of us feel like this most of the time. Recent research found that 60% of us would have chosen a different career if we had our time again; 40% of people openly admit to having “drifted” into their job.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. Imagine the alternative – you enjoy your work just as much as you enjoy your leisure time, it gives you a buzz and you’d do it even if you weren’t being paid for it. Find the job you love, and you’ve effectively given yourself a 7-day weekend! Think about it – the average person will work 40 hours a week for the best part of 40 years – nearly 80,000 hours of your life. So doesn’t it make sense to spend your working time doing what you want to be doing?
And there’s the rub – most people don’t know what they really, really want to do. That’s partly because we are conditioned from an early age to aspire to what those around us – parents, teachers, peers, the media - define as a good job or career, and partly because most of us never take the time really to get to know our own talents and desires.
But it’s never too late to take control of your future and find your unique vocation.
