Can you be successful doing work you don’t love? If you define success in material terms, I think you can. But success is not just about money. To be truly successful, you have to be happy.
And here’s the thing. When you are happy, when you love your work, financial success is much easier to achieve.
You don’t have to push yourself to get up early. Mondays are your favorite day of the week. You can’t wait until your next speaking engagement, trial, or networking event.
When you love what you do, the work is almost effortless. Problems seem smaller and easier to resolve. You don’t have to work hard to find clients, you attract them, in droves.
When you love what you do, you are happy, and when you are happy, you love what you do.
What if you don’t love your work? What if it’s just okay?
You eliminate or marginalize the things you don’t like and do more of the things you enjoy.
You can delegate, outsource, and partner. You can change practice areas, client types, and target markets. You can get rid of the marketing techniques that make your stomach churn and replace them with things that come naturally.
You can also give it time. You may learn to love your work eventually. As you hear sad stories about friends who have lost their jobs and can’t find any work, for example, you might start appreciating things you previously took for granted.
Or you might see your current situation as a stepping stone to something else.
Whatever you do, make sure you don’t dwell on the negative aspects of your work. Focus on the things that make you feel good.
Think about the things that are going well and come easily to you. Think about your accomplishments and victories. Think about how good it is that you are paying your bills and that you have the time and space to turn an okay situation into something great.
Focus on the things that make you happy in your work because what you focus on grows.
Success is easier when you have a plan.Â
