The Top 10 Tips for Earning Your Living Doing What You Love

Originally Submitted on 10/21/2003.

Millions of people spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, doing work they dislike, are bored by or do not believe in. A few take control of their lives and begin doing somethng which they feel passionate about and which makes them leap out of bed in the morning. How do you take that giant step? I've done it - and I've never been happier. Read my Top Ten tips for a working life which has 'smile' written all over it.

1. Write down ten things that are important to you about your working life.

What do you need to feel on a Monday morning as you anticipate the week ahead? What do you need to feel on a Friday evening as the working week ends? Do you want to work with people in a team, or independently? Where will your satisfaction come from? Do you have any skills you want to use? Do you have any skills you want to learn? How much do you need to earn? What sort of working environment do you want? Do you want scope for creativity and innovation? Or do you prefer to follow routines?

2. Write down the one thing that stands out from the other nine as the most important.

What really fires you up? What would get you really excited about going to work? These are the things you need to focus on: they are what will give you the inner satisfaction and fulfilment you are looking for in your working life, and what will give you a positive, confident approach to the whole of the rest of your life.

3. Score each of your ten points from 1 (least important) to 10 (most important).

By the time you've scored each of your points, you'll be able to draw a picture of the things that are most important to you in the work you want to do. Draw a graph marked 1-10 on one axis and with your 10 points on the other axis. Mark a dot to score each point, then join the dots.

4. Now go through the same process for the work you're doing at the moment, and compare the two results.

This will help to show you how fulfilled you are at the moment. If there's a big difference, sit down and ask yourself how satisfied you would be to continue your current work. How will you feel to be doing the same work in ten years' time? If you get a feeling, or a little voice saying to you, that what you're doing at the moment isn't enough, you need to listen to it. If, on the other hand, you feel totally fulfilled at the moment, great!

5. Go back to the feeling you wrote down in point 1: summon up again what it feels like to be totally fulfilled in your work.

Keep hold of that feeling. How would it be to feel like that all the time, to be suffused with that feeling? How much do you want that feeling?

6. Decide whether you really want to change. Are you prepared to take a risk?

You may be completely fulfilled at the moment. On the other hand, you may not. Remember that if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Is what you have now what you really want? Unless you are prepared to make changes, nothing new will happen. No one else can do this for you. It won't necessarily be easy and it may be risky. You need to understand the risks and whether they are worth taking.

7. Research.

Unless you're exceptionally lucky, your ideal job isn't going to come knocking on your door. You may know from point 1 what the job is that you want. If you can only see its characteristics, but not its title, you'll need to do some research to find out jobs that match what is important to you. Your local library, career books and the Internet can all help you.

8. List your options.

Write a list of up to ten jobs that match what is important to you.

9. Work out the costs and benefits of each option.

What would each option bring you? Include not only monetary rewards, but job satisfaction, the impact on your family and social life, career prospects, working environment and any other benefit you can think of. Similarly what would each option cost you? What would you have to give up, what extra resources would it take, how much time would you have to put in? Include the risks and the worst-case scenario – both of staying where you are and of changing career direction.

10. Take action.

So, are you going to take control and design the life you want rather than waiting for things to happen to you? Your first action might be to make sure you have someone to talk to whom you trust and who only wants what's best for you. That might be a parent, a spouse, a brother or sister, a best friend or a coach. Someone who will share your enthusiasm for fulfillment. Use them as much as you need or as much as your relationship will allow (!).

When you've completed point 9, write down a goal. Make it specific, timed and realistic. Write down what you're going to do to reach that goal. Do it. And keep in your mind and your soul the feeling of joy that you're aiming for. Only you can make it happen.

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