If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.

If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time. – Billy Joel

Do you love photography and taking pictures? Some people actually make a living taking photos. Have you got what it takes? The cat seems to be satisfied with the arrangement.

What does that mean?
Face it, you’re either doing something you love, or you aren’t. Actually, for most of us, it’s a mix, and some days are better than others. For those who aren’t loving what they are doing, most of their days are solidly in the “don’t love” category.

Some of us are doing something we kind of love. There is some aspect of our jobs which we love, and other parts we don’t love. We suffer through the less fun parts as a duty. It is the price of admission for getting to the parts we do love. Nobody loves paperwork, right?

The quote ends by saying that you are wasting your time if you don’t love what you’re doing. From a personal fulfillment viewpoint, it’s spot on. However, I imagine even the author of the quote finds some aspects of his job to be extraordinarily hard to love.

Why is satisfaction important?  
The Rolling Stones sang about it (or their inability to attain it). To me, this quote is about one of the thousands of flavors of the word ‘love’ In particular, this use of love seems to most closely match satisfaction or contentedness with what you are doing.

Job satisfaction can come from doing something well, or doing the absolute best you can manage, or exceeding the customer’s expectations. These are just a few of the reasons why people will say they love what they do, even if there are less pleasant tasks from time to time.

Now try to imagine a life without satisfaction. No satisfactory conclusions to relationships, movies, books, or shows. No satisfying meals. No satisfying relationships. No satisfaction doing what you do. That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, does it? Sometimes the absence of something points out it’s importance in a most forceful manner.

Where can I apply this in my life?
I enjoy solving problems. Whether it’s beating a computer (or person) playing chess, Risk, or Civilization, it’s a problem to solve. Whether it’s building a wooden storage box, a book case, or a CD rack, there’s a problem to solve. Whether it’s software, hardware, firmware, or a project that crosses the boundaries, there are always problems to solve.

I am so solution oriented, my wife has to be careful how she complains, or I will stop her half way through her rant with a list of solutions or options to work around whatever is annoying her (besides me). What do you love to do? What are you unable to stop yourself from doing? Keep it clean!

I am fortunate that I can get paid to solve other people’s problems, but not everyone has a ‘thing’ that is easily adapted for commercial exploitation (that is, getting paid to do what you ‘love’ to do). I have known musicians who have ‘day jobs’ so they can afford the upkeep and upgrades for their equipment or pay for studio time.

There are plenty of people with jobs for the sole point of paying the bills, and spend their free time doing what they love to do. Grab some paper and write down some of the things you really love to do. See if you can’t find, as I did, a common thread between some of them (like my problem solving).

What of those things you love to do might earn you a living? Sometimes artists get a job in graphic design, because it’s a field that’s close to what they truly love, and can get both practice and some satisfaction on the job. What can you do that is close in nature or similar in practice?

What can you do that gives some of the satisfaction from your favorite, or perhaps from a couple of the other items on your list? If you’re still stuck for an idea, perhaps you could hit your favorite search engine and see if anything comes up that catches your eye.

If nothing else, you may end up like countless musicians and artists before you, struggling with a ‘day job’ and getting your satisfaction in your free time. Like the lyrics to a different Rolling Stones song : “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, you might find, you get what you need.”

From: Twitter, @ChillyBillys
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/billyjoel383140.html
Photo by Claire L. Evans

Happy Birthday to Billy Joel, aka The Piano Man, born 9 May, 1949.