I love to work.
Work is love made visible. -Kahlil Gibran
Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. -Thomas Carlyle
Why do we try to avoid work? Work is fun. Work is rewarding. Work gives us something to do with all these hours in all these days. A hard day at work provides this satisfied feeling that nothing else can.
I feel sorry for people who are independently wealthy and never work. There are lots of people who are independently wealthy because they’ve worked hard, and most of them keep right on working even when they don’t need more money. Why? It’s addictive. It’s fun. It’s challenging. It keeps you from turning into a soap opera addict. Be a work addict instead.
Work is an opportunity to bring something forth – to create something, complete something, invent something authentic and original. -Alexandra Stoddard
- Find the work you want, love, burn for, need, can’t wait to get to, would do in your spare time if it weren’t your work: then make it your work.
- Do whatever it takes to make the work you love your full-time work. Define it well. Label it. Look at every angle. Search for jobs. Start doing it in your spare time to establish yourself. Read books. Take classes. Talk about it. Don’t give up until the work is yours and you are living off what you make from it.
- Don’t feel like “love” is enough of a payment. “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” This is why people are afraid to make hobbies their full-time work, because they might “end up hating it.” The only reason you would end up hating it is if you cheat yourself out of a fair payment for doing good work. Just loving something while you do it is not enough to pay the bills. It is good, fine, great, and wonderful and should be that all of us work at what we love and make sufficient money from it. Don’t buy a guilt mentality.
- Be willing to start waaaaaaay down low on the totem pole, just don’t plan on staying there forever. You must start somewhere,and the beginning of great things is usually humble. Have a plan. Find your bottom point, your beginning. Work hard. Be willing to do humble things. Ask questions. Don’t act like an expert until you are one; you’ll probably find that once other people consider you an expert, you know enough to know that you’ll never be an expert. There is always more to learn.
- Network, network, network, talk about what you do, get business cards made, email people, set up a website, write a daily blog, give away related objects, have a party, make announcements, make commitments, keep them! Ask for help. Be persistent! As Alexandra Stoddard says, “put yourself in a position for good opportunities to happen to you.”
- Be professional.
- Be helpful to others: those who are just starting, like you; those who are established, those in different fields. You never know how, but it will all come back to you in ways you can’t imagine. Help people. Make it a habit. Share your connections, your tips, your ideas. There’s enough to go ’round.
- Set yourself up for success by learning to manage your time, organize your space, and maintain useful, simple systems to get work done and not neglect other responsibilities. Get your tools in hand. Supply yourself with knowledge, wisdom, and self-discipline. The world will fall before you if you keep chipping away.
- Stand out by recognizing beauty, creativity, and putting them into your work. Be a step above and beyond what everyone else holds as the standard. Set a new standard for yourself. Become known as someone whose work is always excellent, always dependable, always more than what was asked for. Go the extra mile. Take the initiative. Give a little more. Do more. Share more. Put in your own touch. Brand it with excellence.
It is not that men are ill fed, but that they have no pleasure in the work by which they make their bread, and therefore look to wealth as the only means of pleasure. -John Ruskin