DO WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO

I don't know of many people that I feel honestly love what they do as their full-time job. Now I have known some people, over the years, where that seemed to be the case. But these days, I don't see it as much. Why do you think that's so?

Well, I feel one major reason is because we're not taught to seek out what we love to do. Formal education teaches us, for the most part, to be good employees. It doesn't teach us to pursue having our own business or to be steadfast in finding a job where we get paid doing what we really enjoy. One reason why I love iLearning www.ILearningGlobal.biz/maximo3 so much is because I am learning while I'm earning.

I think back to when I worked for a food store. The store, Giant, is a major food chain, in northern Virginia and elsewhere. To work for Giant, back in the '80, was a really big deal. It was good money, great benefits, and for a young, single guy, like I was then, it was a place that was always filled with pretty ladies. Everyone has to eat, right?

I was a cashier, at Giant, and I loved it. I would usually have 4 to 6-hour shifts and the time always went by quickly. I got to meet all kinds of interesting people, work with some real characters, and learn a lot about working retail, which taught me a lot about human nature. Bottom line, that job was fun.

Do you have fun on your job? Do you wake up excited about what awaits you? Or do you dread what lies ahead? Please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to say that if everything isn't peaches and cream at your job that you need to get another one. What I am suggesting is that you at least look for something that really captures your interest.

I fully understand the current economic climate and that a lot of people are getting laid off. I feel blessed to have a nice job, especially one that is close to wear I live. However, I feel even more blessed to have a second job, teaching ESL (English as a Second Language), that I've done for the last 10 years and that I never get tired of. For me, if I had no bills, I'd teach ESL for free. One day, I'll be able to do that. Or better yet, I'll open up an ESL school.

You'd be amazed at some of the things people do and get paid for. While a researcher and assistant-editor, at Time-Life, in the early 90's, I worked on section of a book, called "Odd Jobs." It was about people that had some truly bizarre employment. The criteria was it had to be their fullt-time and primary income. I had some wonderful stories.

From a professional mosquito breeder, to a specimen (i.e., spiders, leeches, vampire bats, snake venom) collector. We even had a professional ice-cream taster, who had his taste buds insured, by the way, come to talk to us. Another lady I interviewed, that made the book, had a job to check the tatoos under the lips of horses who were lined up to run in races. This was done to ensure the right horse was the one actually racing, and this was her full-time job. Another guy that made the book was a bull semen collector, but I'll spare you the details of that job.

What I noticed with almost all of these professionals with these so-called "odd jobs," is that they really loved what they did. They loved talking about it. They got great joy out of their work, and they also saw how it benefitted others. For example, my favorite odd-jober was the specimen collector. He was quite a character. A big, burly guy, full of life and always on the go. He told me that the specimens he traveled the world to collect, like scorpions and vampire bats, were used by pharmaceutical companies to create antedotes for such poisons. Here was a guy who told me that he dropped out of medical school, much to his parents dismay, to pursue this dream. Can you imagine the flack he got from people. But he held true to his passion. I'm so glad to see that Terry is still doing the same thing. He calls himself the true-life Indiana Jones and my Google search turned up a site for him. Check it out. http://www.fredeking.com/index.php

If you're not doing something you love, full-time, at least make an attempt to do something you love part-time. Trust me, it will pay off in ways that far exceed any monetary gain.