Don't WAIT for Work You Love, CREATE Work You Love

"To do what you love and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?" - Katherine Graham

Well, the only thing that could be more fun is to do work we love, feel it matters, do it with people we enjoy and respect, and?get paid for it.

If that sounds good to you, here's how I've been fortunate enough to create a "Katherine Graham Career," and how you can too.

Years ago, I worked for Open University in Washington DC. Part of my job was keeping my antenna up for possible classes. I was reading?The Washington Post?one day and noticed that the word?concentration?was used six times on the front page of the sports section.

Tennis player Chrissie Evert said her ability to stay focused despite the planes flying overhead was why she’d been able to win the U.S. Open.

A golfer missed a gimme putt on a sudden death playoff hole because he was distracted by the clicking cameras of nearby photographers.

I was intrigued. And when we’re intrigued, opportunity is knocking on our mental door.

I thought, “We all wish we could concentrate better, but we're never taught how. It is the key to success in just about everything – business, relationships, sports and life – but I've never seen any workshops or books on this topic. And it?matters.”

I?developed a quiz with ten questions and started interviewing people to crowd-source content on how we can concentrate - no matter what.

Based on the research I did, I presented a public workshop on CONCENTRATION with a step-by-step approach on how to focus at work, at home, at school, in sports. At the end of the program,?16 people came up to ask if I would speak for their company or conference.

That launched a rewarding career that has given me opportunities to teach this at corporations and conventions, write a book that Dr. Stephen Covey, (7 Habits of Highly Effective People),?endorsed,?and been interview on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR.

What’s this got to do with you?

Author Kristin Hannah says, "Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money. It’s about finding your authentic self. The one buried under everyone’s else’s needs."

Do you have a current job that's not what you really want to be doing? Is there a passion you've buried or set aside? Do you have a skillset in something other people wish they had?

Want to see whether it has the potential to be transformed into a successful side hustle or satisfying full-time job?

Your goal is to create what doesn't exist - that deserves to exist.

That's all an entrepreneur is, really. Someone who innovates a new way, a better way.

Or, as the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda puts it, "MAKE what's MISSING."

One way to do this is to reverse-engineer how you got good at a skill. What short-cuts to success might you have that people would pay for you to do for them or teach to them?

The next step is to start interviewing people with the 10W quiz below to start building your IP - Intellectual Property - your methodology or process on HOW to do this.

You'll quickly discover people have different interpretations regarding your topic that never would have occurred to you. Plus, they'll have real-world examples and lessons-learned you can include in your work that make it real-life relatable to others who are in the same boat.

This diversity of input "fleshes out" your subject and gives it a valuable breadth and depth and relevancy because your insights are coming from a variety of people, not just you.

(Customize this quiz and replace "concentration" with YOUR topic.)

1.?WHAT?does concentration mean to you? How would you define it?

2.?WHO?taught you how to concentrate? Who's a good example of it?

3.?WHO?is not a good example of it? Who is someone who's the opposite of it?

4.?WHEN?is a time and place you concentrated well? What contributed to that?

5.?WHEN?is a time you did NOT concentrate well? What compromised it?

6.?WHY?do you think it's important to be able to concentrate? What are the benefits?

7.?WHY?can't we concentrate when we want to? What are the blocks?

8.?WHAT's?your advice about how to stay focused - no matter what?

9.?WHO?is someone you recommend I interview on this topic?

10.?WHAT?is something else you'd love to know about this topic?

Remember, waiting is not a strategy.

Print this 10W Quiz, and start asking people for a few minutes of their time and for their insights on your topic. Not only will this produce a mutually-rewarding conversation that yields epiphanies for both of you, it will make your life your lab.

Who knows, this can be the first step to you creating a business where you get paid to do this for others - our get paid to teach people how to do this for themselves.

And you will have a body of work you can roll out a series of blogs, You Tube videos, LinkedIn lives or social media posts that can be turned into a book, online course, business or career that makes a positive difference for others and a prosperous living for you.

Print this quiz and then adapt it to explore a problem, need or opportunity that has the potential to MAKE what's MISSING. Who knows, it could create a meaningful NEXT that lights you up. And that's time well spent, right?

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This is excerpted from Sam Horn's book?SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week, which has been featured on TED.com, HBR, CEO Reads and in many career book clubs.