- The Guardian,
- Saturday January 15 2000
The celebrated Chinese philosopher Confucius once said: "Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life." With short-term contracts and flexible work opportunities an increasingly popular feature of today's job climate, there has never been a better time to live up to this ideal.
And if you genuinely have the passion for a particular vocation - not to mention patience and perseverance - there is no reason why desirable employers shouldn't sign you up.
In fact, with your passion and enthusiasm they'd be silly not to.
Capturing employees' hearts more than their minds is becoming crucial to an organisation's success, because the major reason customers take their business elsewhere and never return is indifferent and discourteous service, says Liz Simpson, author of Working from the heart: a practical guide to loving what you do for a living.
To find your true vocation start by asking yourself what you really enjoy doing and figure out what sort of career will enable you to indulge your passion. Think back to what your career aspirations were as a child, as this may be the very thing you would be doing now were it not for parents or teachers who encouraged you to be realistic.
Your favourite subjects or activities at university or school are also indicators of what you could transform into your dream career.
Gina, a fashion designer has wanted to work in fashion since she was 16.
"Needle work was my favourite subject at school and I really loved art and design," recalls Gina who, after doing a fashion degree at Middlesex University, worked as a fabric assistant, then left to design for Next and Warehouse before setting up her own business last year.
When it comes to pursuing a career, too often we drift into what others view as successful rather then what is in line with our true values. Elizabeth Wilkinson, of the University of Manchester and UMIST Careers Service, encourages graduates to look at their own values, assess the real risks but also consider their gut instincts.
"It's best to do something that you love, rather than doing something that is well paid but soul-destroying. And instead of seeing all the reasons why you can't change, creatively search for ways round the barriers and you will make it."
Anecdotal evidence suggests that people who love their work take fewer days off sick and look younger than their work hating counterparts. And doctors have found that people with life- threatening conditions do occasionally and "miraculously" get better once they have changed their jobs.
Fear of not having enough money to live on, often stops us from pursuing our passion. But as Simpson says: "When you find the work you truly love, you will be successful. You will enthuse co-workers and employers and that will lead to career and financial success."
Novelist Josie Lloyd left a relatively low-paid job in sales promotion to embark on her dream of becoming a novelist. Now she's reaping the rewards in terms of a better lifestyle and a better income.
The turning point came one evening at 11pm when she was still sitting in her office doing a Coca Cola promotion for service station toilets. "I suddenly wondered what I was doing," she remembers. "I decided then to write a novel. I think that happens to a lot of people. They suddenly wonder where their dream went," observes Lloyd, a graduate of Goldsmith's College.
Lloyd's second novel, a romantic offering entitled Come Again, was co-written by her husband Emlyn Rees. Much to her relief she no longer has to juggle waitressing with writing thanks to a substantial advance from publishers Heinemann.
"I now work much harder, but I don't regard this as work, because I love what I do."
