144: Challenging Your Beliefs: Why Do You Work

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Today I want to get you to think about why you are commuting in the first place.  Where are you going?  I mean in your life.  Are you off to a job that fulfills you or simply pays the bills.  Research says that the majority are doing it for the money.  In this episode of ZEN commuter I am going to challenge the undersanding of why you are going to work.

When I was younger the path was laid out before me.  It wasn't forced upon me it was gently hinted at.  Okay, maybe it wasn't hinted subtly, but the expectation was graduate, go to college and the get work.  That's where it stopped.  After that I think my parents believed that I would stay with a company for the rest of my life.  In that time start a retirement savings plan and then when 65 hit, quit and spend the rest of my days fishing or whatever floated my boat.

Suffice to say that is not how I envision my life now.  I did graduate from high school and went to college.  Once I was finished there I did get a job in my field.  It was a great job, counseling.  But the work was tough on a spirit and eventually I burnt out.  Then the next chapter began in the corporate world and lasted for 13 years.

One fateful day I just realized that there must be more to life and I quit my corporate life to pursue what meant a lot to me, writing.  It was so liberating.  It still is.  I decide what to do each day.  My income is limitless, determined by me and my efforts.  I follow a path of my own creation.  As scary as it is at times I could never go back to full time servitude.

I am an entrepreneur.  I say it with pride and a degree of amazement.  No one told me when I was in high school that there was another way to live your life.  I am glad I know now.  Thankfully so do many other people.

Today the idea of working for one company for most of your life is not an option.  Companies don't want to pay out pensions.  They want more for less.  The idea of a limited income has many people wondering if the current work structure is for them.  It doesn't need to be.  With the advent of the internet many people are creating their own careers with massive success.  These people don't have a salary cap.  They earn whatever value they provide. It can be thousands a month or even tens or hundreds of thousands.  Careers are flexible now.

But that initial belief is still strong.  The school, work and death model still weights down the majority of the work force.  In the United states it only engages 30% of the total workforce.  Studies show that 70% of people workng today would rather be doing something else.

Let's explore together what other options exist.

Quote of the Day:

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.” - Johnny Carson

Resources:

Topics Covered in this Episode

  • ZEN Book Club Is LIVE!! - 
  • November 20, 2014 - First Webinar for ZEN Commuter
  • Beliefs about Why Your Work
  • Is College Necessary for a Good Job
  • The Corporate Culture

 

Journal Question

If you had unlimited money in the bank yet had to "work", what would you do?  Are doing that now?  Why aren't you?  Are You happy at work?

Action of the Day

  • Spend 5 minutes reading about someone who is doing the work that you would like to do.

 

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Thom WaltersComment