People sometimes challenge me when I suggest that they look for their “right fit” work – work they love to do, using their favorite skills and natural talents – work that fits them like a glove and that doesn’t feel like work.

“But I need to make money!” is the usual objection. My response: “who says you can’t make money doing what you love?” Here’s a video with The Donald saying the same thing:

[iframe width=”100%” height=”480″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/nx1SeQeRouo” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

As Mr. Trump says, there is great happiness and success to be found in doing what you love.  Two main points come to mind:

  1. I may be feeling pressure that doesn’t really exist. I’ve discovered in my career that most people who love me simply want me to be happy in my work.  Sure, they may have an opinion and try to steer me toward something. Yet, when shown that I am doing something I love, that fulfills me, that uses my best abilities, most people say “congratulations!” and “how did you figure out what you wanted to do?” So instead of trying to do what I think others want me to do, let me do what is right for me.  I might be a power of example for someone else.
  2. Doing what I love goes hand in hand with being successful. When I do what I love, I want to work. I love what I do, so it’s no hardship for me to do what it takes to be successful in it. And when I do what it takes, I get back enormous rewards.  Success generally doesn’t happen overnight, so I really would rather spend that time pleasurably instead of dreading getting up in the morning and developing various illnesses due to the stress of hating my work.

You can move gradually to doing what you love. It doesn’t mean quitting your job and giving up all income. It means starting to ask for and take on responsibilities that come easily to you, that may even seem like fun. Over time, you will get more and more of these responsibilities because others will recognize how good you are at them. So more and more of your work life will become filled with things you enjoy doing. And when you have a track record of doing things, you’re more likely to be able to find a new job doing even more of what you like.

Hey, if Donald Trump says we should love our work, who am I to argue with success?

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