Monday, January 3, 2022 (Day 3)
Relaxing Music for the month: Healing Hands: Liquid Mind (12:01) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hdwGhA4l50
Today, our electricity went out in the middle of my indoor bike ride. Luckily, my Air Dyne is operated on “Bill” power (the console is operated by battery), so I could still pedal away for my hour and change workout. Anyway, as I was riding, I watch three different Philosopher’s Notes: (1) Born For This by Chris Guillebeau, (2) The Art of Work by Jeff Goins, and (3) The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau. I ‘ve watch The Happiness of Pursuit before; I haven’t watched the other two in the past.
(By the way, if you haven’t joined Brian Johnson’s Optimize.me web site, click here: https://www.optimize.me/. All of the stuff I’m sharing from his work if FREE!!!)
Anyway, ever since the LDC Training three weeks ago and the presentation at Unity Church yesterday, I’m realizing that there’s a desperate need for people to really find work that they enjoy – even in retirement. So, as I’m watching/listening to these notes, I noticed a theme…every author that talks about the “work” that you’re here to do focuses on what you love to do, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. And it makes me wonder why these principles are not addressed both at the high school and college level? The goal of getting an education (or at least a college degree) is to get a job, yet the process to identify the actual job is almost non-existent. I hear over and over and over again how people wish they had some type of Life Design Catalyst work when they were younger; I then get asked if we have workshops/trainings for their sons/daughters to attend. And as I think about it, I created this LDC work because it’s what I needed when I was younger. When I was younger, I wanted to be involved in sports; as much as I loved playing sports, I loved the statistics even more! Imagine that I was doing predictive analytics before they became a “thing.” Whether is was through our whiffle ball league, playing stickball, or playing Statis Pro Baseball, I kept stats on EVERYTHING! And I read the backs of every sports card I collected, where I would memorize stats for every athlete from ALL sports. And that was fun for me! But it wasn’t a thing in the 70’s and 80’s, so there wasn’t a process to do that work. Of course, if that was an opportunity back then, I wouldn’t be doing Life Design Catalyst work today! (Side note: When I go on ESPN, the first thing I do is check out the BOX SCORE for every game – still love the Stats!)
Anyway, I share all that because we really do need to help people get clear about doing work that matters. Yes, sometimes you need to take a job in order to pay the bills, which means the work you REALLY want to do may have to start out as a hobby or side hustle. But the key is to somehow keep the fire burning so it never dies. And I think it’s even worse for those trapped by the Golden Handcuffs, when they make SO, SO much money that they become afraid to take a leap because they can’t afford to leave. They stay stuck, stay miserable, and ultimately break down in some way (don’t want to go there). Whatever you decide, find a way to keep the fire burning bright inside you, doing things you love. If you have kids, make sure to stoke their fire because that’s what we need more of – those doing work that ignites the soul, not work that sucks the life out of them. If it’s too late for you, don’t make it too late for them!
I started on this because I read this article by Mark Manson:
- The Point Is to Stop – https://markmanson.net/the-point-is-to-stop
The subtitle says it all: “The best way to judge the usefulness of self-help advice is by how many people eventually leave it behind. It’s time to stop.” It’s an interesting take on self-help. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the article that really got me going!
The Dream Dean 