Don’t ask what the world needs; ask what makes you come alive then go and do it,
because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman
Last week I wrote a posting For Love AND Money in response to conversations I have had recently with people who feel torn between doing what they really love and doing what they think will pay the bills. I wrote it because I recognise that this dilemma is experienced by many people.
More recently, I came across the quote above by Howard Thurman and I thought, this is too good to miss. I thought I’d share it with you today along with just a few reading recommendations for anyone who wants to explore what it might be like to do the work you love and to get paid – handsomely, even – to do it.
And before I share these books I want to say a few words to those people I mainly coach: leaders in organisations. You can spend all your life as a leader doing work you’re good at and which you enjoy – sort of. You’ll be adding value and you’ll be paying the bills. Equally, you can seek out the opportunity to lead in an area about which you feel passionate. You’ll still be adding value and you’ll still be paying the bills. At the same time, the ease and joy with which you lead will be far greater and the positive impact you’ll have on those you lead long after you have ceased to lead them will make the hours you work worthwhile. You get to choose.
Here are just a few recommendations from my own bookshelf:
Richard N. Bolles: What Color Is your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. Bolles’ book, which he has updated and maintained over many years, is probably the book for anyone who wants to return to the question of calling and seek out the work they are yearning to do.
Gay Hendricks: The Big Leap. I’ve mentioned this book on my blog before. It’s worth reading just to understand the difference between working in your zone of excellence and working in your zone of genius.
Richard J. Leider and David A. Shapiro: Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life’s Calling. What do I want to be when I grow up? What was I born to do? These are the questions the authors set out to help you answer in this slim volume.
M. Scott Peck: The Road Less Travelled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth. I include this book in recognition that the journey towards finding the work we love to do is essentially a journey inwards – a journey of the spirit.
David Whyte: The Heart Aroused: Poetry and The Preservation of the Soul. It may be hard to find a new copy of this book, which offers a poet’s view of what it means to work in the corporate world. If you feel you need to reconnect with yourself or yearn to maintain connection whilst working in the corporate world this book is for you.
Nick Williams: The Work We Were Born To Do: Find the Work You Love, Love the Work You Do. Williams’ book sets out to help people discover purpose, meaning and passion in their work whilst still paying the bills. Williams offers twelve principles of the work we were born to do as well as exercises to support you in your explorations. You can also hear Williams speak by signing up at Alternatives where you’ll be able to access recordings of past speakers.
Is this list exhaustive? By no means. It does, though, provide a starting point. I wonder what this posting evokes in you: what thoughts and feelings come up when you think of doing the work that you were born to do?