Who loves their work? This is a question I often wonder, and I often ask people. Usually they say, “Meh, it’s ok.” Once in a while, you get the refreshing response, “Yes, I Iove my job!” And here and there, their answer is a blunt, “I hate it”.
According to Gallup, a polling organization out of Washington D.C. “There are twice as many ‘actively disengaged’ workers in the world as there are ‘engaged’ workers who love their job”. Thirteen percent of workers feel engaged, translated into happy. Sixty three percent are not engaged, meaning unhappy. And twenty four percent are actively disengaged, meaning they hate their jobs. Ultimately, “eighty seven percent are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive”.
I jumped into the workforce at the ripe young age of twelve. I did janitorial work at the school I attended. Being paid was awesome. I spent a summer working alongside my sister at a bottle depot for a guy named Hazeem who always called me Kreeese. What a stinky, disgusting way to earn a buck that was!
From age fifteen to eighteen, I worked at bada-ba-ba-baaaa…Mcdo-ho-nalds. Demanding, greasy and kind of fun. I eventually was let go for illegally consuming a chicken mcnugget. I was framed! Next, I worked at gas stations and briefly at a liquor store. Without bringing too much “heat” upon myself, let’s just say I let friends come in and receive “five finger discounts”, all the time. Hey, I was at a bad place in my life. Stop judging!
Then a grocery store on a reserve. Then I got into operating family day homes and as well, ran a pre-school children’s program. If anything, this was my niche…hanging around people with higher IQ’s than me. I worked at an airport, I drove an appliance delivery truck and currently I have been in the landscaping business. For a guy who appreciates cleanliness, this is obviously not my calling in life.
Nearing my high school graduation, I remember feeling panicky and thinking, “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!”. Minus being a rock star, I had no idea. Luckily now, twenty years later, I realize that whatever I do, if it’s not writing or creating, I will fall into the twenty four percent of hating my job and looking at it as though it’s a prison sentence. I want to be inspired! I want to find joy in my work! Hearing someone say that they love the work they do doesn’t make me covet them, it just drives me to find and follow what makes me happy too.
Again, life is too short. Follow dreams. Create reality. Set goals and follow through on them. I am now preparing my future, instead of treating life as a ride and falling into whatever comes next. Do what makes you happy!
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