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Would you Do It for FREE?

Written by: Jim Bouchard

Article Overview: There’s a lot of talk about passion in business these days. The experts say that you dramatically increase your chances of success when your work is your passion. Of course, we also talk about balancing work with personal life. What’s the deal?

Would you Do It for FREE?

There’s a lot of talk about passion in business these days. The experts say that you dramatically increase your chances of success when your work is your passion. Of course, we also talk about balancing work with personal life.

What’s the deal?

Balance is critical to a healthy and successful life. What good are material rewards if you’re not around to enjoy them? What good are material rewards without someone to share them?

Still, it seems that most successful people are willing to log hours past the point of human endurance and sacrifice everything to accomplish their goals.

Seems…The fact is that people who always work past the point of endurance and sacrifice personal life for professional gains are usually obsessive, not necessarily successful! You decide what success means in your life. If you measure success by your tolerance for sacrificing all other areas of life for work, so be it! I, on the other hand, also want to play!

Most people consider me fairly obsessed with my work. I am not. Before the any amateur shrinks offer their textbook diagnosis, this is not denial: it’s a fact. I’ve learned to distinguish between focus and obsession. I know where my limits are and while I’ll push the envelope from time to time, I know when it’s time to restore balance and take a break.

The most important factor that helps me stay focused on my work is that much of my work IS play! At least that’s how it usually feels to me!

I sincerely enjoy writing, researching, speaking and teaching. I still enjoy practicing and teaching martial arts.

Many people are successful because they’ve turned their passion into their life’s work. The rest of the successful people I know found a way to love their work even though it may not have been their passion. They’ve created a sense of meaning so that they can enjoy the results of their work. To paraphrase one of my favorite songs from the 60’s, if you can’t find the job you love, love the job you’re with!

Success is not easy. It is simple; it’s the product of motivation and discipline over time applied with balance, focus and timing. However, if it were easy, everyone would do it!

Along the way you’ve got to make a conscious decision to find enjoyment in the hard work and long hours it takes to create your success. To me complete dedication to success in any endeavor is enjoyable. Before I start, part of my decision is whether or not I’d do it for free! This is critical to success, because any entrepreneur can tell you that somewhere along the way you will…do it for free!

You may as well enjoy it!

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Article Tags: denial, diagnosis, favorite songs, human endurance, job, material rewards, measure success, obsession, paraphrase, passion, personal life, sacrifice, teaching martial arts, textbook, tolerance



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Advertisement that sales - On the other hand you have to be careful with such terms. When we're surrounded by advertising we often shut down when we see certain words unless we're specifically looking for something, and sometimes a more unique add can be the ticket when there's eight other people offering FREE LIFETIME GUARENTEED UNLIMITED SPORKS or something.
Free Boxing Training Manual! - If you'd like to find out more about Brendan's invention, he is now offering a DIY manual FREE on his site. Why not download it and Donate $1 to the cause? You can also post a comment on his blog with a link back to your site. Cheers! DH


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