Over this past year, I've been devoting quite a good bit of time to trying to determine God’s purpose for my life, and how specifically this would pertain to a job. Some people seem perfectly happy to do a wide variety of jobs. Some people seem not to care, or simply seem resigned that wherever they are, that must be their lot in life. Some people are too afraid to dream because they think they will ultimately fail and be ridiculed and embarrassed.
Personally, I’ve always seemed to have had a strong opinion about where I worked. I either loved it or hated it. I’ve never really been afraid of failure, but I’ve never been equipped with the tools or skill set to take like by the horns, and make my lofty dreams become a reality.
Last march, my employer announced they were closing our office and plant in Wisconsin, and relocating to Detroit. It was then that I knew my days were numbered, and so I began to seriously explore the next stage in my life and career.
I started this quest by reading a workbook my dad gave me called 48 Days to the Job You Love which was later publishes as a book. The author is Dan Miller. I discovered he has a website and a podcast online with archives that go back for years, so I started poking around and listening to many of his podcasts. I’ve added a link to his site on my blog. He’s a real entrepreneur who's been highly successful by developing solid business practices; he has a good heart, and is quite generous with his knowledge and information.
Dan subscribes to the philosophy that the opportunities in life aren't analogous to a pie of fixed size. Many people believe if you take a slice, there's less pie for them, or if they help you too much, it's going to take opportunities away from me. He sees opportunities and relationships as organic, with the ability to grow and improve. So he freely gives lots of information beleiving the more successful you are, the more opportunites he will ultimatley have to success as well. He offers books and coaching you can purchase if you like, but you can learn plety from all the free stuff he provides.
After listening to many of his podcasts, and reading another one of his books "No More Mondays", my mindset started to shift. I began entertaining the possibility that I might actually be able to achieve my dreams. I have always been a dreamer and have been moderately successful at achieving my dreams, but when it comes to a full life transformation, that seemed a bit of a reach, even for me.
For instance, I managed to get time off of work for a 2 month honeymoon / mission trip when I was first married, something many people (even HR) said was crazy to ask for. The trip was totally amazing. So why not go every year? If money was no object our family would take 3 months out of every year and do mission work, but that's not practical in real life is it? What kind of job lets you take that kind of time off? How would you pay for a trip like that, and make enough money the rest of the year to live off of for those 3 months too? What about retirement, college education, a home, etc. etc?
Dan got me thinking that maybe, just maybe those sort of crazy notions could become a reality... somehow.
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