My Father's Advice for a Happy Life
I was lucky.
I was chatting with my brother-in-law on his deck. It was a beautiful night. We are both retired. I told him my dad said, “No matter what you do, there will always be days when you don’t want to get out of bed and go to work. Find a job where you have the least number of those days.”
Joe said, “That’s good advice.”
I said, “I’ve been lucky. I’ve never had a day when I didn’t want to go to work.”
He said, “I haven’t either.”
Joe retired as a corporate attorney.
For a while I had a job at IBM. I enjoyed many aspects of it and didn’t enjoy others. I never had a day that I didn’t want to go to work.
Joe had a job as a young attorney doing research. He said that some couldn’t stand it. He didn’t mind. He enjoyed the library.
How do you decide what you enjoy? Watch your thoughts. Figure out how you can make money in the area that already draws your attention.
Maybe you enjoy your industry and just want to make more money. How can you be more productive? Can you use technology to help? Can you hire people to make you more productive. In my course, 20/20 Business Education for Healthcare Entrepreneurs, you learn that hiring the right person can help you make more money. It can also help you enjoy your work. It is wonderful to have an employee you enjoy being around. It is also wonderful to have someone else do the things you don’t enjoy doing.
You may find that a lot of what you like or don’t like is based on your frameworks. You have a set of beliefs that are controlling you. Challenge those beliefs and you open yourself to liking something you didn’t want to do.
Also remember, sometimes we do things we don’t want to do to get a result. You learned about that in the last post. I don’t like to exercise. I do enjoy the result.
I like to focus on the positive. When I find myself drifting into negative, I look for something to enjoy while doing my actions. I also enjoy the outcomes.