Anti-Procrastination Strategy #2 – Do What You Love or Love What You Do?
You are breathing. Ok, you should be. :p
You can perceive and experience the world around you using your five senses.
Unfortunately for you (and most of us), one day, your life will come to an end.
The important question therefore, is, from now till then, how are you going to live your life? Will it be a life of joy, bliss, accomplishments and fulfillment? Or will it be one filled with anxieties and worries, stress and depression?
Which do you want it to be?
As we talked about in the previous article on Take Charge of Your Attention!, you know that it is of utmost importance to be in charge of your attention.
But what happens if you’ve tried umpteen times, and yet you’re still unable to stay focused on your task?
Then it means 2 things :
1) You’re not doing what you love (many people like to believe this)
2) You’re not loving what you do (sounds familiar?)
This begs another question : Should I learn to do what I love, or should I learn to love what I do?
If you’re a little apathetic or nonchalant about your job, your studies or maybe even your life as a whole, this could be a question that strikes a chord in you. Interestingly, this can be a blessing in disguise if you’d learn to read the hidden message.
The message is simple – there are things that you’re deeply not satisfied about in your Life. It is Life’s way of telling you that you can’t find meaning and fulfillment in the situation you’re currently in. The adage “Circumstances do not make a man, they merely reveal him to himself” succinctly describes this point. So, if you’re not happy about about certain things in your life, don’t fret – these emotional signals are just your body’s way of communicating with your consciousness.
In the book “DaVinci Method”, Garret LoPorto makes a very powerful statement :
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Even Slyvester Stallone said “I’d rather do something I love badly than to do feel bad about not doing something I love.”
Think about it. What makes you excited? What drives you? What would make you eager to wake up in the morning? What is something that when you do, you feel that resonance within yourself?
You have to do something that you love to do. You need something that invigorates you every single day. Now, it might sound over-romanticized but that is the truth. We are not here to find the meaning of Life – we are here to create meaning for our lives. And so we have to find or decide on our Life’s purpose.
Some people believe that they’re trapped in unfulfilling work and have no recourse because of the monthly mountains of bills and possibly debts. And this is probably where people trap themselves since according to Parkinson’s Law, expenses always rise to meet incomes. I’m not going to pretend that Life is fair – there are people who have environmental disadvantages, family disadvantages, health disadvantages and so on. But we have also seen people with their fair share of disadvantages go on to achieve great things in their lives – look at Lance Armstrong, Honda, Slyvester Stallone, Nick Vuijic.
The point here is this – if you find yourself trapped and unable to be doing something you truly love, then learn to love what you do first. Because only when you begin to develop a passion for what you do can you begin to excel, and in doing so, climb out of the bottomless pit. Of course, if you’re just a pizza delivery boy, or a garbage collector, you might be going “are you nuts? what passion?”
Look higher up. Develop the passion not for the job, but for your higher values e.g. excellence, integrity, recognition, etc. Whatever job you are doing, you can always aim for excellence. Do the best with what you have. Continually read and upgrade yourself – improve your own personal productivity and become the best. In doing so, you’ll be cultivating the attitude of success. At the same time, you will attract the attention of people who can and will help you. When the opportunity comes, you will be ready for it.
Learn to love your Life as a whole. Bad things happen so that good things can happen. When failure and frustration keeps knocking you down, chin up and keep moving forward. Everything happens for a reason and when you learn to accept that, you can move on to find and do that which truly resonates within you.
Now, go do what you love and love what you do.
