There is one fundamental truth or axiom, whatever you call it: your job should be something that you really really love to do, then you are guaranteed to have a happy life. So whatever time you’ve already spent on achieving in your current job, take a moment to stop, breath out, breath in again and ask yourself: is it really something I love to do? And there is a super easy way to check yourself on that. Read a story below.
«I’d started out in law, and I’d had a great experience. But when my clerkship with Justice O’Connor drew to a close, I couldn’t figure out what job I wanted next.
During this time, I visited the apartment of a friend who was in graduate school studying education, and I noticed several thick textbooks lying around her living room.
«Is this what they make you read for your program?» I asked, idly flipping through the dense, dull pages.
«Yes,» she said, «but that’s what I read in my spare time, anyhow».
For some reason, that casual answer shocked me to attention. What did I do in my spare time? I asked myself. As much as I liked clerking, I never spent one second more on legal subjects that I had to. For fun, I was writing a book, and it occurred to me that perhaps I could write books for a living. Over the next several months, I became convinced that that was what I wanted to do.
I’m a very ambitious, competitive person, and it was wrenching to walk away from my legal credentials and start my career over from the beginning. My ambition, however, was also a factor in leaving the law. I’d become convinced that passion was a critical factor in professional success. People who love their work bring an intensity and enthusiasm that’s impossible to match through sheer diligence. I could see that in my co-clerks at the Supreme Court: they read law journals for fun, they talked about cases during their lunch hours, they felt energized by their efforts. I didn’t.»
This story was told by Gretchen Rubin in her book The Happiness Project. But this is absolutely the same way I could tell my own story, how I decided to quit being a Brand Manager in Red Bull and become something else — writer, blogger, surfer, photographer and entrepreneur.
That (not easy at all!) decision was made almost 3 years ago and with every year I feel myself more & more happy about it. Now I am sure: your work should your passion, and not just a way to earn money. That’s the only possible way to be a happy person everyday.
