It’s a simple question, easy to answer, and if you have ummm and arrr about your answer, then it’s a straight no. Are you doing what you love?
But more to the point, is it reasonable to expect to be able to love what you do? Well, I suggest that if you can’t answer a straight yes to that one, then you may well not be doing something you love because you don’t even believe you deserve to.
Everyone deserves to be happy, and doing something that they love, in some way, shape or form.
The recent sudden and unexpected death of a fellow equine entrepreneur and friend, who was a much loved member of the horse community around me, made me reflect further on this idea than I was already reflecting on before that. A life cut too short, as often does, makes one ponder how long we ourselves will be here for and whether we are doing what we want to be doing.
One of my closest friends that I have been connected to for most of my life once reminded me that I deserved to be just as happy as the next person. She reminded me of that at a time I really, really needed to hear it. And I will be ever grateful to her for that (side plug – google the book ‘Love, Sweat and Tears by Zelie Bullen and do yourself a favour and read her book).
So, I ask again, are you doing what you love? And if not, why not? Now this is where you might get all practical on me and talk about bills, expectations, your fear of not being good enough, your lack of this, lack of that. And if you are the kind of person that thinks like that and thinks I am crazy for suggesting that you could be doing what you love, then you need to read this twice. Three times if that’s what it takes for it to sink in.
You deserve to be happy. Now. Fullstop.
Now, you are perhaps looking for the Equine Entrepreneurs link here, am I about to tell you that you should quit your job and start a business (and as a marketing lead I will offer to help you do that)? NO! I am not going to say that AT ALL!
In fact, you could easily be doing what you love for someone else, another business, or even doing something you don’t love part time so you can do something you love the rest of the time. My point here wont gain me clients, it’s not about that, it’s about me encouraging you to identify what you love, what you are ‘about’ if you like to call it that, and set about doing more of that. Whatever it is.
It may not be a work thing that is the thing that really ticks your box, let’s say it is travelling. Then you need to work your hardest to be in a situation, be it working for someone else, or yourself, where you can fund the kind of travel you want and have the time to do it. If I was selling some huge program here I would say I can help you discover your true meaning and unlock your potential and make a ton of money in a business that you can take weeks of at a time. Hey, that is all very possible, but I don’t have the big expensive program to sign you up on, because again, this blog isn’t about that. That’s just not my point.
If all you do is think about allowing yourself to do something that makes YOU happy, not the person next to you, not the people you want to like you, not your family, not your best friend but YOU, then I have achieved my goal.
Write yourself a list of things that make you happy. And then tick the ones that you do regularly enough to feel satisfied you are doing them. Is there anything you didn’t tick? Probably. So now, set yourself the task of working out how to get more of that thing into your life. I’m not saying it will be a simple task, but if you start looking for all the opportunities and not the roadblocks, then that is a good start.
So I ask, one more time, are you doing what you love?
Editors note. It would be remiss of me to plug the book of my friend and not my own…. So if you need a little reminding that you are already good enough, this book was created for you. It’s a coffee table book, a super gift, and holds a message that I am passionate about sharing. I’m offering free postage to all of my followers, just click this link to get your copy.