Dream On

Only 26% of Americans say that they love their jobs

For the past few months, I have been looking for a full time job.  A career, hopefully.  Obviously, this has been a less than successful quest thus far.  However, it has given me plenty of time to think about my life and my career path. 

It seems most of us often have to weigh the balance between doing what we love, what we’re passionate about, and paying the bills.  (Of course there are a select few who get to do both, but I would hardly say that constitutes the majority of us)  It seems a monumental task to take what we find interesting and make it a career from which we can derive both joy and money.  But it is possible. 

So what does it take to combine these two factors?  First of all, it takes guts.  For those of us not blessed with family wealth, connected friends, or freakish intelligence and/or physical prowess, we need a purpose.  We need that something deep inside of us to say do it now, or don’t do it at all.  If we constantly put it off until “later”, we most likely won’t succeed. 

But unfortunately, doing what we love doesn’t just take passion.  It also takes hard work.  You’ll probably work harder following your dream than you ever did just going to your job.  In the end, however, the reward will undoubtedly be so much sweeter than just a paycheck.  It will be a feeling deep in your soul that you accomplished something.  You didn’t just make a big company more money, or complete the same monotonous task day after day.  You did what your heart told you to do, and other people found it so moving that they supported you.  They helped you become what you always wanted to be. 

You might be saying that you can’t start a business.  Or maybe just not now.  Maybe there’s nothing you’re especially passionate about at this point in your life.  And that’s fine. (I know plenty of good people who do a great job, even if it’s not what they’re totally passionate about)  I’m 25 and don’t have a clue as to what my future entails.  But, as Baz Luhrmann says in his famous song, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”, ‘The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.’  Try not to get discouraged when you can’t get to (or even find) your career goals yet.  Just keep planning.  Don’t give up.

Now you may be asking what qualifications I have to be giving this advice.  Honestly, none.  But I observe.  And while maybe the majority of us don’t follow our true dreams, there are still plenty of positive examples all around us.  Teachers, business owners, soldiers, businessmen and women, musicians, police officers, fire fighters…I could go on and on.  If you look at these people, they take such pride in what they do it makes everyone around them feel a little bit happier.  I hope they are as inspiring to you as they are to me. 

Half of all new businesses fail within five years.  Moreover, the average job only lasts 7 years.  The average retirement age in America is around 63 years old and rising.  These are scary statistics.  It makes me nervous just thinking about starting a business someday.  Nevertheless, it won’t prevent me from following my dreams.  You? 

“Like most everything in life, you have to work hard at it, and do it until it turns into routine, and then second nature. When you can set goals as second nature, even if it's the smallest, most infinitesimal (You like that word? It's your word of the day. But I'm actually not sure I'm using it right.) thing, you're going to find out that you're quickly becoming, what they like to refer to in the biz, as ‘productive.’”

--Bobby Pulte, on being disciplined and setting goals (www.bobbypulte.com)