Do What You Love

“Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Marsha Sinetar

I’m not sure when we decided that our work needed to be our fulfillment. I am definitely of the mindset that you should try to discover your “why” – the reason we get out of bed every morning – (and your “hows” and “whats”). What is the at the core of why you do what you do? How does that passion express itself? However, maybe we are thinking about living out those passions in ways that are too limited.

What if what you love is baking cookies? Will the money necessarily follow? How many cookies do you have to bake to make money? What kinds of other things do you have to do to make money from your cookie baking (in other words, turn it into a business)? At what point does cookie baking cease to be what you love and merely become “work”?

Yesterday I sat with a group of talented, dedicated, overwhelmed university faculty. Given that they are in the performing arts, one might think that everything they do is “play.” Not so. What you and I might do for play was serious work for them. Furthermore, some of them were working 3 and 4 jobs to make ends meet. (Note: At many schools, faculty and staff are seriously underpaid.)

I think it’s time to look at our “why” and generate some ideas of how else that might play out in our lives. Does it have to be what puts bread on the table? It might be, but maybe not. If you need or want the accoutrements of daily life (housing, food, computers, and cell phones), there may be some trade-offs. If you have the option of a simpler lifestyle, you have more latitude for your work life.

Almost everything in our life economy involves trade-offs. You will have to choose yours.

#lifedesign #everydaycreative