Guest Blog

When you finish a hard day or a hard week do you question why you do what you do? Do you still love what you do? Perhaps your job has simply become an ends to a means. It allows you to afford a life style. Do you go to work dreading what you have to do that day? At what point is the trade-off between the lifestyle and the grind become too much and something breaks?

What about the saying “Do what you love and you will never work a  day in your life?” Is it true that if you love what you do that each and every day is as rewarding as the prior day and you wake up ready to go to work? Perhaps for some but I suspect most of us have lost a bit of that passion we had when we started out, similar to losing the passion you had on your honeymoon. We take the same route, we drink from the same mug, we see the same people and our only excitement is when the snack cart salesmen comes by. Could it be that we have settled into our jobs just as most Americans settle into marriages and life. Why is it that when we get comfortable we settle in? Is the stress of life and the world so great that it wears us down to the point that we cannot fight any more and we just go along? Do we settle in marriage because it is easier than the alternatives?

What if you awake everyday with a  fresh commitment to yourself, to your family and to your job. Just as you have settled into your routine settle into making a fresh commitment. Decide that instead of being frustrated with your lot in life, take a moment and ask yourself “What do I want?” If you are like most of us you want something you do not have and getting it requires that you change. For single people wanting to get married, ask yourself “Would I marry me” If not, why? For those of you who are married, stop focusing on what your spouse does or doesn’t do and ask yourself “what do I do or don’t do.” When it comes to work be honest with yourself, do you work hard enough to deserve that promotion or raise?

I believe that Plato was onto something when he said “know thyself”. That can be a hard thing to do in this day and age but I challenge you to try. I am willing to bet that there was a time when you did. You tried to make your spouse happy not because it was expected or because you expected something in return but because you wanted to. You tried at work because it gave you personal pride. As you finish this week and head into the next take a moment and try, you might like the results.  

- Mike Ciletti