Many of us get locked into a routine of traveling to and from work in order to do something we dislike or even despise. We buy ourselves travel tickets or pick up transport costs in order to get to this place, where we are often surrounded by people we care little for, and produce output we may have no connection with or little pride in. There is so much more to life than this.
You know that you have talents. It is just that you are often the very last person on the planet who will acknowledge that you have them, cautious and in denial as you can sometimes be. Hobbies, intellectual skills, passionate interest, technical curiosity or just a willingness to learn a new skill set. It does not matter what the skill set or special ability is so much as you being willing to spot it and acknowledge it for what it is - the seed of new potential.
Consider that there are people making a living from every single possible profession and occupation, and many of them do very well. If in doubt pick up a commercial phone directory or look at a Local Pages website showing you the businesses in your own area. From Antiques to Zoology people are making a good living or a decent income for themselves in activities they enjoy.
Through the expression of ourselves in our work, we also find connection to others. Maybe you achieve this through your job networks, or perhaps though the people you meet via the place you work and the associations you can make indirectly.
And many of them don't go to a distant work place in order to be successful. Thousands of people in your area work from home doing something that pays its way. This may be via email, a web page, a mail-order operation, broking deals by telephone, or liaising between people wanting their skills. It does not matter what they do so much as it matters that they do something they are motivated by.
Identify your own skills and passions and look to create a revenue for yourself that you can build from home, or that you can sell with confidence to a prospective employer who would rather have excited and motivated people on their staff team.
In encouraging you to explore the enjoyment of your work, I also want you to get closer to that place of attaining financial freedom. This is the freedom that you have when you never omit doing something for lack of money and that you never do anything that you don't want simply to get the money that is being offered.
If I put this another way, financial and emotional freedom is putting money to work for you instead of you having to work for money.
In order to make your own financial success it will help you greatly to build yourself an affluent mindset, a prosperity consciousness. This means that you can operate successfully and easily in the material world whether you have money or not. This is what a prosperity consciousness does for you.
A simple exercise to identifying work that can be enjoyable and which can sometimes lead to a new self-employed career was shared with me by my friend and mentor Jim Leonard. You simply take a piece of paper and a pen and spend a few minutes writing down your ten favourite pleasures.
An Exercise!
This is the simplest of exercises and yet it can be worth enormous value to you in terms of both fun, and money!
First, write down the ten things you most enjoy doing.
Next, have a look at these ten activities and underline the one which you enjoy most of all - and the one which you are the most willing to receive money for doing!
Now, looking at that same list and at the very favourite activity which you have chosen from among the ten, work out how you can provide a service with that activity. Write down ten ways in which you can receive money from providing this service.
Choose one that you enjoy and have a go at it for a few weeks. Once you have developed money from the idea move onto another manifestation of money with a different idea or service. You will then find it is very easy to produce money when you want it. Once you can produce money at a sufficient rate for your needs, you will begin to develop the ability to create funds flowing in while you are asleep, or when money is the last thing on your mind.
I would ask you to consider this point, that putting time and focus into developing and creating worthwhile work is one of the highest callings you can follow.