DO YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU DO?

It is very disheartening to note that many people especially in their thirties and early forties are already thinking about early retirement. Many of them say that they are disgusted with their job,and want to quit as soon as they can pay their bills. The corporate politics, and the increasing employer disloyalty, and the disappearing job security along with the rise in automation cause the disgusting attitude towards one's job. Of course there is nothing wrong with planning for one's retirement, and the very thought of working only to pay one's bills is totally an unacceptable trend, and that should be discouraged.

It is said that hardly one per cent of the working population gets to do what they love to do. The remaining 99% have to learn to like what they have to do. Is it difficult to love what you do? Yes of course, it is very difficult to deprogram your mental attitude which is a sum total of your accumulated information, family background and education, along with all that influenced during the course of your formative years and adult life. Is it impossible to learn to like what you do, and what you have to do? Of course not, if you have the tenacity and willingness to change your attitude. A few baby steps you take on a daily basis can lay the foundation for a life changing transformation which can restore your mental clarity, and calmness in life in spite of the turbulences that rock your environment.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE : More than forty five years ago, after I landed in this country as a "green" immigrant, literally and figuratively as I came with a Green Card, I started looking for a job like any immigrant does. But unfortunately I did not have too many marketable skills that the American economy was looking for at that time. One of my friends asked me to go and take a life insurance license, and since I had nothing to lose I wrote my licensing examination and to my surprise I passed the test. Thus I became a Life Insurance Salesman in this country. Selling life insurance to the Indian immigrant community was not an easy task. Many people looked down upon me and even remarked why I could not get a decent job instead of selling life insurance.

This is the time I made a commitment to myself that regardless of other people's opinion I am going to pour my heart into whatever I do. This commitment is probably the best thing I did for myself, and it helped me to lay the foundation for my success in my Sales Career. During these earlier years I developed a sound work ethics and the more I loved what I did, the more I was able to work . My average work week consisted of fifty to sixty hours and even today I keep the same work schedule.

WORK IS WORSHIP": I heard this expression from my older brother late, Mr.K.Sivaraman Nair, who was an embodiment of hard work and impeccable integrity. He used to work hours together and I never heard him complaining about his work schedule. I am indeed indebted to my brother for my love of hard work, and based on my own experience, now I am convinced that many of our shortcomings can be cured with sheer hard work. When you work hard miracles do happen. Things that you seemed impossible, simply become possible, and achievements that you thought "belonged" to the brilliant and the smart ones, slowly come within your reach.

MIRACLE OF COMPOUND INTEREST!

I hear many people of my age group complaining about "the ungrateful employers". Because of these "ungrateful employers" many of my friends seemed disinterested in putting hard work. Yet my personal experience taught me otherwise. The work that you perform can not go unrewarded. Yet it is possible that in real life, many times rewards come very late. BUT THEY DO COME! I believe in the Universal Law of Reciprocity. The Law of Reciprocity simply says that whatever you give to the Universe, it will give back to you multiplied. That multiplication is nothing but the Miracle of Compound Interest in action. It is the farmer who experiences the wonders of the L:aw of Reciprocity in every day life. He sows a few seeds, and nurture them with water sunlight and fertilizers, and he reaps rich harvest several times greater than what he sowed.

Even in Bhagavad Gita, (_the sacred Book of the Hindus) Lord Krishna says that you have the right to work, but not to the fruit thereof. Some of us might think that Krishna was a Capitalist, who wanted to exploit the labor, the working class! But this is a very misconceived idea and it is farther from the truth. When you work, you should not think about the reward, as it can adversely affect the quality of work. IT IS THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK ALONE THAT DICTATES THE REWARD! It it takes more time to reward your work, the Divine Justice System will make sure that you are paid with compound interest. I personally benefited from the magic of compound interest all my working years. Thus I am totally convinced of Lord Krishnas teaching that "you have the right to work, but not to the fruit thereof".It means you demand work, but do not demand reward. The reward for work is like your mother's love. It is given to you, and you do not have to demand it! Once you understand the truth behind this Krishna's teaching, you will never have any hesitation to work hard, no matter how ungrateful your employer might be!

IT IS A HABIT! IT CAN BE CULTIVATED!

Enjoying whatver you do, can be reduced to a habit. Like any other habit it can be cultivated. Every habit has three pillars: THOUGHT: SPEECH:ACTION.(TSA).You think about what you want to do, you talk about what you want to do, and finally you DO what you have to do. It is easy to accomplish any task, when you have the TSA Alignment. Your Thought, Speech and Action pull you in the same direction. Your repeated thoughts, speech and action create repeated footprints in the grey matter of the brain, and a deep rooted HABIT is formed. I can share another personal example with you. I do not know about you. But I love to clean my toilet. After I use it every time, I want to clean and leave it clean for the next person. And I indeed enjoy every moment of it. While I am cleaning my toilet, I am thinking about the feeling of the next person who gets to use it. Anybody loves to use a very clean toilet. Basically it is one of the likable creature comforts of man. When you begin anything with the end in sight, the task becomes easy and enjoyable. This is the secret.

I have another personal reason to enjoy cleaning the toilet. I consider this world as a bath room. When you enter a bathroom you have three choices how you leave it after use. You can leave it the same way as you found it (very difficult most of the time). You can leave it dirtier than you found it (very easy, and most of us leave it that way). Or you can leave it cleaner than you found it (almost impossible unless you work on it). It is my utmost desire to make at least a tiny difference in this world before I kick the bucket. Thus cleaning the bathroom and leave it cleaner than I found it, is my training ground everyday to make a small difference in this world! This approach makes my task easy and enjoyable indeed!

Now that you know the secret of enjoying evrything that you do, start enjoying life. Life is too short to WASTE TIME THINKING ABOUT PETTY THINGS AND PETTY DIFFERENCES. It is a journey from the cradle to the graveyard! Many people join us on this journey, and many people get off the "bus" when their time comes, and other people get on board. Each one of us has to get off this bus, as dictated by time. Life is a journey without destination (nobody has told me about it if there is one). Joy is in the journey, and enjoy every moment of it. We are all chasing happiness. But from today onwards let happiness chase you!. Every day you make it a point to make a difference in other peoples life.. starting with your wife, husband, children, boss comrades and even strangers! Once you do that and enjoy everything you do (only a mindset), you will be amazed to see happiness chasing you wherever you go and whatever you do!

MAY THERE BE PEACE AND TRANQUILITY AMONG ALL BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE!OM!PEACE!PEACE!PEACE!