Category: work to live

Pursue Something You Want

Whatever we desire, we can have. But, there is a catch. To do or have whatever we set our mind to, we must be willing to work it. We just need to figure out what we want to do. Plan our goals within the project, and set a timeline of when we would like to have that work accomplished. And then it’s just like walking a mile or climbing a ladder, one foot in front of the other, one hand over the other. And yes, you can do more than you could ever think you might.

If you like coming home to a lovely clean home, you need to start by trying to keep it clean. That doesn’t mean that you have to sit there on plastic cushions on your couch and never eat while watching TV. What it means is that when you have some snacks in the TV room, you clean up after yourself. You have a plan that sometime during the week you’re going to run the vacuum cleaner, dust and do laundry. And you’re going to do these things regularly.

Does it sound like I’m getting to be a little bit of the old Sarge? You’re saying you hear this much from your spouse? Well, if you’re going to do the things you like, you have to put a little elbow grease into getting them. That’s just one of her facts of life. Our constitution does not say that we get to be happy all the time.  It states we have the right of the pursuit of happiness.  We can work towards happiness, and if we get it, that is great.

The truth of most people in most places is that they will get what they work towards.  The idea is to stop every so often and look around to see if what you are actually working towards is what you want.  If not, you may want to make some adjustments in what you are doing. 

Remember one of my tenets, which is to try new things in small doses.  If it helps you to get towards your goals, try a little more.  If it has side effects which are bad for you, stop and try something else.  The idea is that there are 76+ ways to build a light bulb.  If you want to read at night, you keep trying until you have a winner.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Take Charge

Taking charge of your life is essential. The fact is if you don’t take charge of your life many others will try to co-opt you for their purposes. And they will use almost anything to do this.

The question used to be ‘do you work to live, or do you live to work?’ I would like to rephrase the thought just a little bit. Are we working to fulfill our dreams, or someone else’s?

We all need to live. And to exist in our economy, we must work. Even those with money must work not to lose it. And although we would all like to work for ourselves, it is not always realistic or feasible. Remember, no one comes up with an idea and automatically starts at the top of the heap. A great friend reminded me yesterday that the only people who start at the top are ditch diggers.

The best of ideas still requires support and funding. Many of the Impressionist painters whose works are worth tens of millions of dollars each today, had to have paying jobs working elsewhere so that they could live while they were painting them. Van Gogh whose works sell for hundreds of millions today, only sold one painting while he was alive for I believe about 150 francs.

If you have a good idea and are building a business, figure you’re income chart is going to be flying near the surface for 2 to 3 years and then you’ll see that curves start to accelerate up. And to make that climb happen there many parts of the business you will be feverishly working for those years until the success starts to pour in.

Remember it’s your business, and I am willing to bet you love the idea, or else you would not be working at selling your goods. Remember though, there is no vacation, no time off, no sick days and if any of these occur, the business work does not get accomplished. Because when you start, you are usually a one-person shop, mainly because you haven’t earned enough money yet to hire help. I am not telling you this to cause you apprehension, just to prepare you.

If you don’t give up and don’t give out, and if you have an idea that resonates with the public and can get the people to come and look at your venture, in time you just might make it. You need to keep your faith in yourself and your product and work harder than you’ve worked for anyone else. And there’s one more ingredient. Luck plays a part in all of this. I call it serendipity.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.