It Seems to Be an Epidemic
I know I’ve been infected too.
Infected with the thought that I need to do something important. In fact, it not only needs to be important, but it has to be something that I love too, and it has to pay me well, and not work me too hard either.
I call it the dreamer’s job. Because that kind of “perfect” job is a rare commodity in this world. Probably about as rare as the “perfect” relationship.
When The Mind Gets Attached to the Dream, Watch Out!
It can zap your energy for living anything other than that dream vision.
I’ve had various versions of this throughout my career. For example, I was a wedding photographer where I did what I loved, made good money, but didn’t feel that my job was important enough. That always pulled me down, and eventually led to me quit that job.
Then I tried nature photography. It was even more what I loved, but made almost no money, and still wasn’t “important” enough for me.
So I Turned to Facilitation
That’s the closest match ever. It feels important to me, and it’s something I love. The only two drawbacks are that it pays only moderately well, and it’s a lot of work. So there you are: even the dream job is not perfect.
So what happens when you go to work believing on some level that your job is not perfect? What happens for me is there’s no rest. Try this. Now try this. I push myself to improve things. And a piece of me is never fully 100% on board. Always looking for an escape route, an easier way.
This Happened to a Client Recently Too
She is an entrepreneur helping small jewelers to sell their jewelry. She was feeling frustrated with her work. Not fully into it. And even thinking that it was not what she wanted to be doing.
We questioned several stressful thoughts but eventually questioned an underlying belief that she had, “Jewelry designers are not doing something important.”
This prejudice that jewelry was somehow superficial and unimportant in the scheme of things made her look down on her jewelry designers, and made it impossible to upsell her idea to venture capitalists.
But She Turned It Around
Through inquiry (answering the questions of The Work), she discovered a hidden depth and importance to jewelry making that she had never seen. And this turned her heart around.
After finding some genuine examples of this, she found that she is now proud of what she does. And sees it as a valuable service to the world. I bet this is going to make a significant difference in her effectiveness at her work, and in the satisfaction that she feels in doing it.
I invite you to question your stressful thoughts about your work. Where are you putting your job down, even subtly in your mind? Write your judgments and question them using The Work of Byron Katie.
Have a great weekend,
Todd
“The truth is that you really love the job you think you hate. Except for your beliefs, it’s the job for you. How do I know? It’s the one you have! You could own the company you’re working for if you just realized that you’re not there because you have to be at that job. If you drop all your beliefs around it, we want you, we’ll pay you anything, you’re irresistible, you’re love in action.” Byron Katie, Question Your Thinking, Change The World.
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