LOVE WHAT YOU DO
There is something incredibly inspiring about watching someone doing something they love. When you show people that you love what you do and have a passion for it, you inspire people to want to be more, reach more, and achieve more. Unfortunately, a lot of managers and leaders are burned out in their jobs and it shows.
Life is way too short to be in a job you hate. You have been gifted with specific skills and talents that are intended to fulfill a specific purpose and calling. If you hate your job, I can assure you—you missed your calling. You don’t have to love every single aspect of your job. You certainly don’t have to love every person you work with (whew! that’s a relief, right?). But you at least need to get up every day and feel like what you are doing is making a difference somewhere and filling some purpose in this world. What you do should stir a passion in you and inspire others.
I owned a financial planning firm for nearly ten years. I taught classes at our local community college for five years on money management. At first I was completely terrified of public speaking. It took me years to realize that there was a calling there and a passion in me. After several years, I actually loved teaching those classes, knowing that people were walking away with information that could essentially change the course of their lives if they actually applied it. Even if just one person applied the information, it made a difference to me.
As the years passed, I started to realize how much I dreaded number crunching and the financial planning aspect of my business, but I loved the speaking and teaching component. I was in my office one day when someone asked me this question: “Ten years from now, what would you be doing if you could do anything for a living and money was no object?”
I didn’t even stop to think. I quickly responded, “I would be a full time author and public speaker.” The person proceeded to ask me why I wasn’t doing it now. I gave him a list of excuses that included my investment in my financial business, my investment in my education, the success of my business, the dependence of my clients on me, etc. He shook his head, smiled, and left the room.
That conversation filled my head for months and I could not shake the implications of what he was saying. I was letting my calling pass me by and I was using excuses to facilitate the process. I had started writing at the age of thirteen and always wanted to pursue that path. But life happened. I had children, I had bills to pay, I had job commitments, and I had other responsibilities pulling at me.
So I woke up one morning and made a decision. I was not going to let life happen to me anymore. Instead, I was going to follow my passion, my gifts, and my talents to see where they led me. I sold my financial planning practice and I went full time into writing and public speaking. It was the biggest career risk I had ever taken and certainly a huge financial risk. It was a long, arduous road to success, and it certainly did not come overnight. I spent many nights lying awake wondering if I had made a mistake. But I pressed on, day after day, doing what it took to build my business and create the opportunities to use my skills and talents to fulfill a purpose that I perceived I was made for. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I get up every day now knowing that this is what I was made to do. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my God-given purpose is being fulfilled as I write and speak. I have been fortunate enough to receive emails and letters from people telling me how much a book or a presentation changed the course of their thinking or the course of their lives. It is both humbling and incredibly fulfilling to know that even one person’s life has been changed just because I pursued my passion and purpose to do something I truly enjoy.
I absolutely love what I do. Having said that, I do not love every aspect of what I do. I travel nearly every week, and sometimes I have three to four speaking engagements in one week. It is tough to be on that many flights. It is hard to be away from my family (my kids are all grown up but live close by and I still miss them when I am gone). My husband is self-employed and has the freedom to travel with me on occasion (and is kind enough to do so once in awhile), but I am still away from him quite a bit and that gets tough at times. I encounter travel complications like lost luggage, delayed flights, and bad weather, all of which make my job much less glamorous. I have had flights cancelled only to have to rent a car and drive four hours to get into a city at 4:00 am where I have to set up at 7:00 am to speak at 8:00 am. I could dedicate an entire book to all the things that have gone wrong and made my life miserable when trying to get to a speaking event. The things I have to endure at times might make some people hate their jobs.
Not me. I hate those aspects of my job. But I don’t paint a brush of disdain over my entire career. Instead, I put up with those parts of the job to get to do what I love. I keep my focus on the positive elements of my job. I keep my focus on the people I reach and the lives I affect, even if in some small way.
I finished a presentation last week and a woman came up to me and said, “My husband and I have been trying to decide whether or not to renew our license as foster parents. After listening to your presentation, I called my husband right when it was over and said, ‘Honey, we’re doing it!’ I just know in my heart that this is what we are supposed to do.” That moment right there makes all of the nightmare travel worth it. and reminds me that the sacrifices I made are serving a purpose.
-Excerpt from Kimberly Alyn's book titled How to Inspire People to Achieve More
Life is way too short to be in a job you hate. You have been gifted with specific skills and talents that are intended to fulfill a specific purpose and calling. If you hate your job, I can assure you—you missed your calling. You don’t have to love every single aspect of your job. You certainly don’t have to love every person you work with (whew! that’s a relief, right?). But you at least need to get up every day and feel like what you are doing is making a difference somewhere and filling some purpose in this world. What you do should stir a passion in you and inspire others.
I owned a financial planning firm for nearly ten years. I taught classes at our local community college for five years on money management. At first I was completely terrified of public speaking. It took me years to realize that there was a calling there and a passion in me. After several years, I actually loved teaching those classes, knowing that people were walking away with information that could essentially change the course of their lives if they actually applied it. Even if just one person applied the information, it made a difference to me.
As the years passed, I started to realize how much I dreaded number crunching and the financial planning aspect of my business, but I loved the speaking and teaching component. I was in my office one day when someone asked me this question: “Ten years from now, what would you be doing if you could do anything for a living and money was no object?”
I didn’t even stop to think. I quickly responded, “I would be a full time author and public speaker.” The person proceeded to ask me why I wasn’t doing it now. I gave him a list of excuses that included my investment in my financial business, my investment in my education, the success of my business, the dependence of my clients on me, etc. He shook his head, smiled, and left the room.
That conversation filled my head for months and I could not shake the implications of what he was saying. I was letting my calling pass me by and I was using excuses to facilitate the process. I had started writing at the age of thirteen and always wanted to pursue that path. But life happened. I had children, I had bills to pay, I had job commitments, and I had other responsibilities pulling at me.
So I woke up one morning and made a decision. I was not going to let life happen to me anymore. Instead, I was going to follow my passion, my gifts, and my talents to see where they led me. I sold my financial planning practice and I went full time into writing and public speaking. It was the biggest career risk I had ever taken and certainly a huge financial risk. It was a long, arduous road to success, and it certainly did not come overnight. I spent many nights lying awake wondering if I had made a mistake. But I pressed on, day after day, doing what it took to build my business and create the opportunities to use my skills and talents to fulfill a purpose that I perceived I was made for. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I get up every day now knowing that this is what I was made to do. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my God-given purpose is being fulfilled as I write and speak. I have been fortunate enough to receive emails and letters from people telling me how much a book or a presentation changed the course of their thinking or the course of their lives. It is both humbling and incredibly fulfilling to know that even one person’s life has been changed just because I pursued my passion and purpose to do something I truly enjoy.
I absolutely love what I do. Having said that, I do not love every aspect of what I do. I travel nearly every week, and sometimes I have three to four speaking engagements in one week. It is tough to be on that many flights. It is hard to be away from my family (my kids are all grown up but live close by and I still miss them when I am gone). My husband is self-employed and has the freedom to travel with me on occasion (and is kind enough to do so once in awhile), but I am still away from him quite a bit and that gets tough at times. I encounter travel complications like lost luggage, delayed flights, and bad weather, all of which make my job much less glamorous. I have had flights cancelled only to have to rent a car and drive four hours to get into a city at 4:00 am where I have to set up at 7:00 am to speak at 8:00 am. I could dedicate an entire book to all the things that have gone wrong and made my life miserable when trying to get to a speaking event. The things I have to endure at times might make some people hate their jobs.
Not me. I hate those aspects of my job. But I don’t paint a brush of disdain over my entire career. Instead, I put up with those parts of the job to get to do what I love. I keep my focus on the positive elements of my job. I keep my focus on the people I reach and the lives I affect, even if in some small way.
I finished a presentation last week and a woman came up to me and said, “My husband and I have been trying to decide whether or not to renew our license as foster parents. After listening to your presentation, I called my husband right when it was over and said, ‘Honey, we’re doing it!’ I just know in my heart that this is what we are supposed to do.” That moment right there makes all of the nightmare travel worth it. and reminds me that the sacrifices I made are serving a purpose.
-Excerpt from Kimberly Alyn's book titled How to Inspire People to Achieve More
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