Brian Tracy argues that choosing work you love is central to happiness, self-esteem, and financial success. He contrasts a common view (work as punishment) —which he says about 80% of people hold— with the alternative that top-paid, happiest people love their work, and offers two heuristics to test job fit: the "million-dollar" lottery question and the "clock test."
March 1, 2013
About 80%
Let's talk now about doing what you love. Author Marcia Sinotar wrote a top selling book a few years ago whose title says it all. Do what you love. The money will follow. Almost every really successful, happy man or woman will say that the reason for their success is that they are doing what they love to do. Whenever a person is unhappy for any reason, I always ask them how much they enjoy their work and would they choose to do this type of work if there were other options open to them. Invariably, when someone is generally unhappy with their life, especially a man, they are dissatisfied with their work for some reason. Ask this question yourself when you talk to people who aren't happy and see how they reply. Unfortunately, there's an old myth in our society that suggests that work is a penalty you pay during the day so that you can get your enjoyment from other things in the evenings and on the weekends. Unfortunately, about 80% of the population feel this way, that work is a punishment and that leisure is the reward that they get for it. Many people view work as a punishment that is unavoidable. They try to do it as well as they need to so they just don't get fired, but they never really think about whether they enjoy it. However, this attitude is not for you. Your life is too precious and too valuable to spend doing something that you don't enjoy. Every minute of your life should be spent doing things that you love and care about and that make you happy. Now the wonderful thing is that the highest paid people in America and worldwide are often working at jobs that they enjoy so much that they hate to go home at night. And the lowest paid people are invariably found at jobs they dislike in which they are just going through the motions, thinking about coffee breaks and lunch and when they can stop working. Now here are two simple tests to determine whether you are in the right job for you. The first question you should ask yourself to test job suitability is would you continue to work at your current job if you won a million dollars in the lottery tomorrow? If the first thing that you would do would be to quit your job if you had enough money, this simply means that you're in the wrong job for you. Just you're not doing the right thing. It's not that the job is bad or that the company is bad, it's just that the chemistry between you and it are not great. Another way to test job suitability is to use what I call the clock test. People who are in the wrong job watch the clock all the time. They're very aware of what time they start and what time they quit. People who are in the right job are seldom aware of the clock except to know how little time they have left to do the work they really enjoy before they have to go home. However you measure it, choosing the right work for you is central to your enjoying high feelings of self esteem and self confidence not only in your work, but in every other area of your life. I hope you enjoyed this video on the importance of finding a job you love. Please subscribe to my channel and click on the like button below.
