In our pursuit of happiness and joy, we oftentimes do our best to try to stop doing things that do not bring us happiness and joy. In fact, I frequently speak with my students who are discontent with what they do for a living, even though what they do blesses them greatly.
There are certain parts of what they do that they enjoy, and there are certain parts of what they do that they almost despise doing. Everyone is trying to figure out how to do less of what they do not like doing.
Hey Moguls, Shaun McCloskey here to share an interesting story that I hope gives you some good perspective…
Go Back to the Beginning
Years ago, one of my students was complaining about doing the things that he doesn’t like doing… the feeling of things never being enough… and the thought of having to do the same thing over and over forever just did not set well with him.
He always jumped from one thing to another when we spoke – and during one of our conversations, my wife was in the background, she knew this student and she kept saying: “Read Genesis and get over it.” She was referring to the account of Adam and the fall:
“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it.’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken…”
After the fall, the curse of man was that we would toil to make a living and to provide for ourselves. And it says that it will be “all the days of your life.” It’s not just for a season, it’s not something we can get away from, it is a part of life – a real part of life.
But I want to take a deeper look at this idea…
It’s Because We Have To
We can love doing something…
I love helping people, and then find myself dreading doing a day’s worth of phone calls to help people.
I had a student bring up this exact same issue – and he was asking for help. He had a day of calls coming up and he didn’t like it. His calls were good, at the end of the day it was gratifying to have helped so many people, but he dreaded the day.
Why do we find ourselves in that spot?
After having considered this time and time again, I have come to the conclusion that we dread such things because we have to do it.
We’ve committed to it, and in the moment, there is something else that we would rather do. We have other plans, other things that we want to accomplish and we want to take steps in those other areas… but the things that we MUST do - because they are on our schedule and we made the commitment - are now getting in the way.
As human beings, we do not like being told what to do, and our schedule is now telling us what we must do, and in the moment, it may be contrary to what we want to do.
Does dreading doing calls mean that I do not like doing them?
I think so in the moment – but at the end of the day, I get this gratification and feel rewarded by all of the great things that come of it. However, it is toilsome.
The definition of toil is – ‘hard and continuous work.’ It doesn’t stop, we must continue to do it and there is no way around it.
Passion Play
Some of us think that there is a way around it... we take the things that we are passionate about, and then we turn it into the way that we make our living. It’s amazing to see someone so passionate about something suddenly lose the passion when it becomes something that they have to do, continuously.
I have dealt with people on many different levels, and I don’t care where you are on the ladder of success, (financially) - no one ever avoids toil. You can’t. Some do a better job of hiding it than others, but it is there.
So, is there a way around it?
I believe that there is no way around it, but there is a way to make it better.
While we may experience some seasons of rest, joy and happiness with our work, ultimately, it will become toilsome. The way to make it better is to accept that it is going to happen.
Don’t try to avoid it.
Accept it and change your perspective.
Be thankful for the toilsome but rewarding work. Be thankful for the provision that comes from your work and recognize that the toil is what enables you to experience times without toil.
Share
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this lesson in the comments section below.
Accept the fact that parts of your career will come with toil.
Relax by remembering there will also be joy and rewards in addition to toil.
Change your perspective. Be thankful that there are challenging times so you can learn and grow from them and better appreciate the times when things are great.
Shaun McCloskey
is considered to be a very successful real estate investor, author and real estate coach by world standards, but he realized that he was working far too much and was too consumed by his real estate investing business. By implementing Lifeonaire life coaching into his own personal life and business, this is now a thing of the past. He currently teaches others to do the same.