I recently talked with a great friend of mine who loves what she does. A music gal, she plays the clarinet like no one else can. In fact, she played in my wedding. During the day she teaches school-music, of course-and at night and on the weekends from time to time she plays in an orchestra. She does this for fun-no pay involved-because she loves to hone her skills, and music relaxes her.
I think it is great that she does something that she loves for fun, and I find it even more interesting that she does something for fun that is also what she does for a job!
To me, if you can leave work behind and then go do something else that is totally related to work, this must mean that you love your job.
When I talk to her about her music, she glows. Literally. She enjoys playing so much that she does it whenever she can-in her house, in an orchestra, at work. And when she talks about her music and her job, she talks about it with passion.
Does your job make you glow?
If not, perhaps it is time to consider changing it up a little so that it does.
This doesn’t mean that every day is going to be a bowl of roses. We all have bad days, even if we love what we do. we deal with unhappy clients or large difficult issues. We go in when we are sick, or we get tired of doing the same old same old and we have to make some changes. But overall, if you love what you do, for most of the time your ‘glow’ will show that.
At one point in my life I did something that I didn’t like. Going to work was a chore, and I dreaded each day, so much so in fact that i counted down the days until my next day off, or the next vacation, or the next time that I would spend out of that office and somewhere else, even if it was in a seminar or workshop.
Work was not just a chore, which work can always be even if we love what we do, but it was something that I dreaded with such a passion that I would wish the time away so I could have another day off.
I was lucky that I could get out of that and follow a passion. My job now makes me glow.
Had I not been able to do this, I know that I would have spent the rest of my working life pretty unhappy.
If your job doesn’t make you glow, sit down and make a list of things that you could do to get to a place where you were happy with what you are doing. Can you ask for different tasks in your current position? Can you move to a new department? Would more or less pay make a difference? Do you need to take a few courses and brush up on your skills?
At the end of the day, it’s a beautiful thing to say that your job makes you happy.