Do What You Love
Wednesday, June 8 2005Dear friend,
I hope this finds you well and I hope you enjoyed the recent Bank Holiday weekend. Most of us wish the break could last a little longer but many of us dread the idea of returning to work.
In fact, five million UK people "suffer extreme stress" in their jobs which puts them at risk of a breakdown. Last week's papers devoted pages to a new report from Mind, Britain's leading mental health charity, warning of an epidemic of mental problems in this country, with more than half of Britain's workers complaining of stress and taking almost 13 million days off sick as a consequence. We have the longest working hours in Europe with no greater productivity to show for it, working more but achieving less.
So, how do we make a success of our work lives and be happy? Self-help books down the years all agree on one thing – you must love what you do to be successful. Way back in 1936 Dale Carnegie wrote in his brilliant book "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living": "You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing." I would add happiness to that statement. It's very hard to be happy if your work life is grinding you down and this challenge is probably the most common one brought to myself and my team of coaches.
Sue Clarke is our brilliant career coach whose new book "Reinvent Your Career" (Hodder Mobius) was published last week. Sue is a genius in this area and she really does help people transform their lives. Just over a year ago a website member, Dave Shaw, asked for her help. Dave was utterly sick of his "secure" job that he had been in for 10 years but was terrified to leave.
Well, just over a year later, Dave has a completely new life. Soon after beginning to work with Sue, he resigned to follow his true passion of garden design. He has never felt happier, more fulfilled - or made more money. Now that's what I call success.
It gives me great pleasure to hand you over to Dave and Sue. Read and be inspired. If you aren't doing what you love, I urge you to do something about it. Either get Sue on board as your coach, read her book, take our Build Your Business course or one of our online courses. Do something. Don't stay stuck in a rut. There's always something you can do to improve your lot.
