“It takes love over gold and mind over matter.” ~ Dire Straits
Yes, it’s one of the best albums ever created, a masterpiece given to us by Dire Straits in 1982, but it’s not what this post is all about.
It’s about how you earn your gold and whether or not you love it.
Everyone needs an income, that much is just a fact of modern life. There are more kinds of jobs out there than you could shake a stick at. What there aren’t as many of are careers. “Is there really a difference?”, you ask. Yes, there is.
On the surface, the two words seem to mean the same thing. A job is defined as “a person’s occupation, work or trade”, while a career is defined as “the particular occupation for which you are trained.” Not a lot of difference there. Now, if you look at the synonyms for each, you’ll see where I’m going. A ‘job’ can also mean occupation or line of work. A ‘career’ can also mean calling.
And there it is.
Your calling. That task, goal or drive that is motivated by something that speaks to you. It means something different to everyone. There are doctors who enter the profession with a need to heal. There are artists and musicians who are driven to create. Chefs who love to feed and engineers who love to build. Whatever your ‘calling’, it’s personal to you and speaks to something deeper than just ‘punching a clock’. There’s nothing wrong with the hourly wage, the day-in-day-out routine (those jobs do need to be filled by someone), but is it really right for you?
Take my wife, Amanda, as the example. She lives a healthy lifestyle – regular excercise, healthy eating and ongoing wellness education – and she loves seeing other people reap the same rewards she has through doing the same. For years, she’s endured the drudgery of a meaningless, dead-end job, one that offers good pay but little life reward and even less happiness. The solution? She earned her certifications, while still working that ‘job’, and created 4Core Fitness. Her first major client? Our local hospitals, leading the staff in various fitness programs.
This, then, is the start of her career. It’s meaningful, motivating and something she believes in. Is it easy? Hell no! She’s still working the ‘job’ while building the ‘career’. After all, the gold doesn’t come the moment you make the decision to switch over. It will, however, come in time – with hard work, determination and passion. Her love for what she does.
That, in itself, is gold.
Cheers!
