I’m always a fan of doing things that I enjoy. Who isn’t? But how do you get paid for doing something you enjoy?
When I was younger, I paid to go to the gym. It was not exactly something I enjoyed because I was trying to lose some weight, and I was not the athletic type. Anyway, I did work out for a few weeks. And then suddenly one morning a question came to me – what if I get paid to work out instead of paying? Wouldn’t that be nice? So I ended up with distributing flyers. Carrying the flyers is like carrying weights, and I jogged instead of walked on treatmills. That worked – I had the workout I need, and I got paid!
Now I enjoy talking to people, and I get a kick out of learning new concepts, solving a problem, getting inspired, and believe it or not – public speaking. I could choose to hang around on Queen Street in Auckland and talk to random passers-by. Or I could pick a profession that allow me to do all of those. You would have guessed what I did between those two. Find work that you enjoy doing, and you will never need to work again. There is a lot of truth in it.
The steps to getting paid for doing what you enjoy are to:
1. Understand what you actually love doing and why. It is important to understand both the attributes and the reason, not just knowing what tasks you like
2. Find a way to add value to others (and get paid) and at the same time will allow you to do what you like. Remember you have to add value to others and get rewarded for it. Otherwise, it’s just a hobby.
3. Get started!
Do you enjoy what you do everyday? If you aren’t, what do you enjoy doing? What are you going to do about it?