Years ago I had a friend who sold life insurance.
He didn’t really like it and he only made enough money to pay his bills.
I suggested he find another kind of sales job; one he was better suited for and one he enjoyed.
He insisted he just needed to be more disciplined and focused—that, to him, was the way to succeed.
So he stayed in insurance for two more years and ended up depressed.
Eventually, he found another type of sales job.
At first, he felt bad about it because he didn’t think it was as honorable or meaningful as helping people protect themselves with insurance.
However, about three months into his new job selling advertising to small businesses, he discovered he really liked it.
And he was really good at it and made six figures his first year.
If we want to do succeed in something, it’s important to do what we really want to do, what we enjoy doing.
Willpower only goes so far before it gives out on us.
But if we enjoy doing something, we don’t have to resort to willpower often.
Albert Einstein knew this.
He loved what he did.
Here’s part of a letter he wrote to his son that illustrates the wisdom of doing what we enjoy.
My dear Albert,
“…I am very pleased that you find joy with the piano. This and carpentry are in my opinion for your age the best pursuits, better even than school. Because those are things which fit a young person such as you very well.
Mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those. That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes.
I am sometimes so wrapped up in my work that I forget about the noon meal.”
The more we figure out what we want and find ways to invest our time and energy in what we want, the happier and more successful we’ll be.
One of the hardest questions we can ask ourselves is, “What do I really want?”
It’s not really the hardest question in life to answer but it ranks up there—so I took some liberties with the title of this post.
“What do I really want?”
Too often we settle for surface answers to that question.
Let me know what you think—leave a comment, ask a question, and share what’s on your mind about this topic.
Categorized in: Articles, Career Success, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Life, Mastering Emotions, Mastering Stress & Overwhelm, Prosperity, Relationship Mastery, Self-Esteem/Self-Worth, Self-Improvement
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