I was drinking a beer with a friend who told me he never wanted to retire. He explained the benefits of not retiring, from reducing your risk of cancer and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
A laugh popped out.
“Hey, don’t laugh. I’m serious,” he said.
“I’m not laughing at you. I feel the same way,” I told him.
“I just don’t want to be one of those old guys that is bored and watches day time game shows all day and sports all night.”
Passion is the reason we get up in the morning. Passion is why we try hard. Passion is a connection to something greater than ourselves.
That’s where the secret to happiness lives.
Doing work that matters lights us up inside.
More and more people are working past the usual retirement age. And why not? They live longer. As of this article, Warren Buffett is 83 years old, loves what he does, and gets amazing results.
Here are 10 Lessons to Excel Your Career
1. Know why you choose to do your work.
Take a step back and really understand why you choose to go to work. Be honest with yourself. Know that you have a choice. If you stop understanding why you should choose to do your work, then you may need a change in your career.
2. Share your career vision with your friends.
You have dreams that are inside of you. When you share them with a friend, you are more likely to follow through on them. You feel obligated to give it your best shot so you won’t let yourself and them down.
3. Live your core values.
In your 20’s, you were typically trying out different things outto see what sticks. You typically know yourself better in your 30’s, so now is the time to look at how you can live more of your core values at work. Does the work that you currently do fit with your core values? If not, then how can you adjust this to do work that is more in line with your core values and happiness?
4. Fight for what you believe in.
Your core values are one of the most important aspects of your work. When you can live your core values at work, you are more connected and happier. When you fight for what you believe in, you are staying true to your core beliefs, which also allows you to sleep better at night.
5. Do work you care about.
The work you do really does matter. It’s this purpose that can convince you to dig a little deeper than you might otherwise try. Because if you give up before you are able to achieve great results, then you won’t be helping as many people or enjoying the satisfaction of great results.
6. Ask for help more often.
Too often we feel like we need to do everything on our own. Great co-workers and bosses ask for help because they know that they can’t be good at everything. And the key to people saying yes to you freely and joyfully is in the next lesson.
7. Give help to others more often.
Helping others releases endorphins in your body and helps you live longer. The more we help others, the happier and longer we live. We are social beings that enjoy making other people’s lives better. Next time you see someone struggling at work, offer a hand and make them happier as well as yourself.
8. Make work more fun.
Your work should be fun. If it’s not fun, you lose interest. You stop engaging and making progress. Bring the fun back to your work. Here are 101 ideas to make work more fun. I’m working on a kit to help managers and team leaders create more fun at work. If you are leader and want your employees to be happier and get better results then let’s set-up a quick chat to see what tools you can use.
9. Find time to do work that gets you in the zone.
When you are getting lost in your work, you are doing work you care about and you are getting great results. Most people only have 2-4 hours of very focused work each day. You need to protect this like a Doberman protects his master’s house. You need blocks of focused time every single day. How can you find more time to get in the zone?
10. Push outside your comfort zone a bit more often to build internal strength.
The best way to strengthen your mind is to push outside your comfort zone, then take a break to allow yourself to relax and strengthen your mind. You can do this by creating a project that you are excited about and setting an easy goal. For example, if you want to write more, you can set an easy goal of writing at least 100 words every day from 6:30am to 7am. Then after one week, add another 50 then another 100 the next week. The key is to make it so easy that you meet your goals, then keep increasing just a little bit outside of a goal that you previously reached.
Are you ready to do work that lights you up inside? Then check out the free email course that walks you through the process of unlocking your passions in your career.