Perhaps that is why, throughout my short 22 years, I have only seen a handful of people who are actually enthusiastic when they have to go to work.

I always wondered as a kid if I would be one of those rare enthusiastic people or instead if I’d be one of those people who constantly complains about their job without ever doing anything to change it.

The problem that I’ve noticed is that people have begun to expect that their jobs are supposed to suck. It’s become an attitude that has been conditioned into our society, and I believe it needs to be fixed. I often see people openly accept their misery and justify it by saying things like:

• A job’s a job.
• Whatever helps pay the bills.
• I’m supposed to work hard and follow the rules.
• Life’s a bitch.
• Etc…

The problem with this kind of language is that we begin to welcome miserable jobs into our life because we think that’s the norm. And when we think we are supposed to hate our jobs then we often settle for a job we hate. Go figure…

I decided before I ever graduated high school that I wasn’t going to fall victim to this attitude. And I knew before I ever started blogging that I was going to find ways to make a living doing things that I was passionate about and actually cared for.

The Zero Hour Workweek
Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

The definition of “work” is a matter of perspective. If you love what you do, and you are intrinsically motivated to do your work, then it’s really no different than being dedicated to having fun or enjoying life.

If you’re a baseball player who loves playing baseball everyday, is that really comparable to what we usually mean when we say “job?” No, yet it is a job, and baseball players often get paid exorbitant salaries to do what they love.

What if you’re a musician who loves making music? Or a teacher who loves teaching? Or a doctor who loves taking care of his or her patients?

Everyone has a slightly different path, but if you do what you love, then it’s a lot less likely to feel like “work,” and a helluva lot more likely to feel like something that actually motivates you and makes you happy in the long-term.

In Jonathan Mead’s free life-changing guide, The Zero Hour Workweek, he describes this same attitude and why it is so important to a fulfilling job or career. He then gives you a step-by-step process on how to discover what makes you passionate and begin channeling that passion in productive ways. In it he shares a great quote by author James A. Michener that I believe really hits at the heart of the matter:

“The master in the art of living
draws no sharp distinction between
his labor and his leisure,
his mind and his body,
his work and his play,
his education and his recreation.

He hardly knows which is which.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence
through whatever he is doing
and leaves others to determine
whether his is working or playing.

To himself, he is always doing both.”

- James A. Michener

Re-defining Work
I’m not working I’m…playing, exploring, and creating.

I think if we want to be “productive” but still live a satisfying life then we need to re-define what we usually think of as work. There is nothing inherent in the definition that says we can’t have fun or that we can’t enjoy ourselves while doing it.

In previous posts I have advocated that we blur the line between work and play, by doing things like:

• Discovering productive activities that align with our core values.
• Focusing on aspects of our work that we enjoy.
• Trying to see the bigger picture of our actions.
• Making a game out of certain aspects of work we may not enjoy as much.
• Working with friends and like-minded people.
• Taking frequent breaks and leisure-time to avoid work overload.
• Being intrinsically motivated to push boundaries and be more creative.
• Etc…

If you have a job that doesn’t allow you to fulfill these kinds of requirements, then you may want to start making a change (not all at once, but at least in small doses). At least start looking for better alternatives, as I see no point in spending 40+ years at a job you absolutely can’t stand. None at all. That is simply too much time being wasted. You’re better than that.

The best part about Jonathan Mead’s The Zero Hour Workweek (besides the fact that it is free) is that it begins to give you a detailed view on some of the things you can start doing to build a venture that aligns with your interests, values, and passions.

Keep in mind, making any change is going to be difficult. For the time being, you may be dependent on your old ways, your old job, and your old way of viewing the world. This isn’t a shift that is going to happen overnight, but it’s a shift that may be worth making in the long-run. You shouldn’t ever stop fighting for your values, whatever they may be, so take advantage of this one shot you have at life while you’re still here.

Questions

1) Are you happy with your job right now?

2) If not, what do you imagine that you’d rather be doing?

3) In general, what activities in life are you most passionate about?

Please use the comment section and share your answers and thoughts!

Researchers found that in families where both spouses work, individuals who spent more time doing housework reported higher evening cortisol levels (a biochemical correlated with stress) and poorer afternoon-to-evening recovery.

While husbands often spent more time on leisure activities than their wives, the study also indicated that when husbands help out with housework this can lead to lower stress levels for wives (although slightly higher stress levels for husbands). In addition, husbands whose wives spent less time on leisure activities had better after-work recovery times.

There a couple lessons here. One is that a cooperative household where both husbands and wives share housework is better for overall reduction of stress rather than an uncooperative household (where one spouse has a significant more amount of work than the other). The second lessons is one that I frequently mention on this blog: leisure time is important for life satisfaction (and, my guess, probably overall productivity as well).

But here’s the thing. People always say they are too busy to enjoy themselves. They come home from a rough day at work to find more and more chores to do: pick up kids from school, help with homework, cook, clean, pay bills, etc. But I believe that however busy you may be, it is absolutely necessary that you find time for leisure and relaxation. Here are some suggestions to help get work done and still find time for relaxation:

• Find ways to divvy up the work (have kids do small chores, carpool, etc.)
• Try to only focus on tasks that are absolutely necessary.
• Don’t let your inner clean freak get the best of you. Cleaning the house once a week should be fine.
• Make a schedule and leave time to actually enjoy yourself.
• The kinds of breaks you take are important: 20 minutes of meditation may be more rejuvenating to you than watching 2 hours of TV. Try new things and find what works best.
• Conscious practice over time can build a stable routine.
• Try to see if you can make some chores more fun by blurring the line between work and play.
• Also lower stress levels by taking more quality breaks during your workday (start by checking out this list of 50 Stress Relievers That Take 5 Minutes or Less).
• Don’t be afraid to take a 30-60 minute nap (when done right, it can boost alertness and productivity).

Again, these are just suggestions. And I realize some of this stuff is commonsense, but it’s worth reminding people about. I find people often underestimate the importance of leisure, but it’s something that – in my mind – is crucial to both productivity and life satisfaction. We need to know how to recharge our batteries. I’ve seen people just try to “push through” ridiculous work schedules; maybe sometimes it’s necessary, but it shouldn’t become the norm. Focus on smart work, not hard work, and part of that intelligence definitely includes well-spent leisure time. Enjoy yourself.

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2. Start with the most important task first, so you can get it out of the way early and while your mind is most fresh.

3. Believe your will-power is in your control, and you can often motivate yourself to do more (study).

4. Bring work to do when you know you will have time to kill (such as in the waiting room at a doctor’s office).

5. Practice mindfulness meditation to increase your focus. (see 100 Breaths meditation).

6. Exercise periodically to keep your energy levels high.

7. Learn from your time management mistakes. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

8. Know the uses and abuses of setting deadlines (see here).

9. Define your values in life. Avoid meaningless tasks that don’t fit into your value hierarchy.

10. Be willing to take suggestions from friends, family, or experts.

11. Visualize process, not results. Imagine yourself doing the things you need to do to in order to accomplish your goals. This can often prime you to actually do those activities.

12. Know when you need to take a break. A well-timed break can be a healthy re-boost between activities.

13. Collaborate with the strengths of others to help you complete a task.

14. Learn that happiness is a more productive state than depression (see here).

15. Decorate your workplace or change your environment. (recent research shows it improves health, happiness and productivity).

16. Entice yourself with a reward (although incentives work best for routine tasks, not creative problem-solving: Dan Pink on motivation).

17. Focus on aspects of the activity you enjoy.

18. Be creative with aspects of the activity you don’t yet enjoy.

19. Listen to music, as long as it’s not distracting (for example, music makes us exercise harder).

20. Be more mindful of negative self-talk while working (“I don’t want to do this. This is lame. Why is Timmy such an a-hole?”). Replace these with something more inspiring (for more see quick tips for reframing).

21. Blur the line between work and play.

22. The presence of plants can increase attention and productivity (see here).

23. At the end of the day, reflect on your actions and how you can improve. Reflection has been shown to improve learning (see here).

24. Find a support group to hold you accountable.

25. Identify role models to motivate you and inspire you.

26. Keep a personal diary or blog to keep track of your progress.

27. Identify what activities put you in a state of flow.

28. Find stress relievers to help you re-energize yourself throughout the day.

29. Focus your complete attention on one task at a time. Multi-tasking can often be mentally taxing and deplete our cognitive resources quicker.

30. Prepare and cook dinner in a slow cooker. Set it and then go do something else.

31. Try going to the library, moving to another room in the house, or going somewhere else to maybe spark some new energy and creativity.

32. Try to dedicate one day toward all shopping errands (this also tends to be easier on gas use).

33. Create a schedule with other parents for carpooling to school.

34. Use a calendar (digital or paper) to track important events.

35. Call in refills for the pharmacy ahead of time so they can be ready by the time you get there.

36. Confirm your appointments before going.

37. Get chores done while watching TV or listening to music.

38. Do business meetings online over Skype (for convenience).

39. Do something while waiting on hold (on the phone).

40. Always have a pen and paper handy to write down things that come to mind (or leave voice memos on an MP3 recorder/iPhone/etc.)

41. Eat right and keep your body nourished. Without proper nutrition, cognitive sources will deplete much quicker. You need to feed your brain!

42. See your work in the context of a “bigger picture” and be proud and motivated by it.

43. Remember you only live once so make the most of your time here.

44. Find an encouraging quote to put up on your wall or read as a daily affirmation.

45. Try talking to yourself out loud when solving a difficult task. Or explain the problem to someone else. Making a problem understandable in words can often help us solve it better. (for example, see rubber duck debugging, a technique used by computer programmers).

46. Ignore the little things that don’t matter, but always seem to wrack up our brains. Don’t waste your attention and energy on things that you can’t change. If it is out of your control, it isn’t worth worrying about.

47. Re-visit your long term goals and aspirations.

48. Remember that money isn’t the only measure of productivity.

49. Pay attention to key signs of failure such as low self-esteem and only looking for a quick fix.

50. Consider keeping your goals to yourself to avoid a false sense of accomplishment.

51. Stop reading tips on how to maximize productivity and start doing things.

What tips do you find work best for you?

Stay updated on new articles here.

But let’s face it – I’m a realist, I can be practical – sometimes putting food on the table and paying the bills is more important than following your quote-unquote “dreams.” Thus, we sacrifice. And in many circumstances perhaps this is the better or more secure choice.

But this is also the 21st century, and most people around the world have the ability to exercise more freedoms today than they have ever been able to exercise in the past. The internet alone is changing the landscape. No, it’s already changed the landscape – and it’s only 17 years old. To paraphrase Gary Vaynerchuk in The Thank You Economy, “the internet is just starting to hit puberty and have sex.” The social changes that lay in our future are going to be mind-blowing. When you talk to your grandparents today they recall how much the world has changed since inventions like radio and television. When the young generation of today gets to that age, we are going to be even more shocked by the changes that occur. The internet is social evolution on steroids. For perhaps the first time there is a worldwide feeling of “global community.” Any individual with an internet connection can sign on and join it. Just a couple weeks ago I had an hour-long conversation with a young political activist from Egypt. Now I think of him as a friend.

The crucial point here is that the social sands are shifting and they are shifting largely in our favor – “the people.” Today, we don’t need to go through the gatekeepers (corporations, bureaucrats, or even governments) to get permission to act on our passions. Individuals just need the internet, YouTube, WordPress, Facebook or Twitter, and a really powerful message that others to.

That’s it. The ball is in our hands for once. And that makes acting on our passions much more possible than ever before. For example, as of April 2011, I get about 700-900 visits a day on this blog. Why me? I have no special credentials, so why do people care what I write about or what I think? The short answer is: I’m passionate about what I do. The long answer is: when you are passionate about what you do, you are willing to go the extra mile, and people will notice it.

I’ve been writing this blog for almost two years now with little immediate payoff. And if I wasn’t dedicated to it – if I didn’t love it in some slightly obsessed way – then I would’ve quit a long time ago. That’s the plain truth.

But I’m still here and I’ve improved along the way – because of passion.

To be honest, when I first started writing a lot of my posts were garbage (and I still write garbage posts from time to time). But in the long-run, I began to discover my voice and I learned how to do things slightly better each time. Sure, it takes a lot of experimentation, effort, pain, and learning – but when you have the passion you can persist.

I believe passion doesn’t just help us, but it helps everyone. If we all acted on our passions more, by seeking what we value and improving it, the world would be a better (and much more valuable) place. That, in a nutshell, is why I find passion of all strides so important.

5 Identifiers of Passion.

How do you know when you’ve found a passion of yours? Maybe you just feel it, or maybe it’s not always apparent. Sometimes you need to dig in a little, try it out, and see if it fits. Other times you know immediately. Here are some identifiers I find consistent with many of my own passions (not just blogging, but other things too).

1. You can do it for an extended periods of time without getting bored, distracted, or tired.

If I can remain engaged in the activity for a long time without getting bored or fatigued, then that’s a good indication to me that this is something I can turn into a passion. Go figure, even those with ADHD have an easier time staying focused and engaged in activities that they find more stimulating and interesting (like video games or sports). Often when we find an activity we see as valuable, our brains are much more willing to access the mental resources needed to improve or excel. That is a huge indicator that you have a passion for something and also a huge advantage of following your passion.

2. You find yourself always discovering and exploring new boundaries.

Similarly, when we are engaged with an activity we are much more aware of the details and nuances of what we are doing. Compared to those who aren’t as passionate, a passionate person can usually distinguish smaller details of what they are doing, discovering new boundaries, and finding ways to overcome those boundaries and get to the next plateau. Passion often makes us better learners because we are driven to understand as much as we can about what interests us. And when we are presented with an obstacle, we don’t get discouraged, but motivated to improve.

3. Your passion aligns with your values.

Often we do activities to fulfill some kind of subjective value: entertainment, meaning, happiness, money, better relationships, etc. – sometimes more than one at a time. These factors can all motivate our passions to different degrees.

It is important to identify the values we have in life and determine whether or not an activity satisfies that value. If we are doing something only for money, but we value happiness more, than that activity isn’t very conducive to what we want. Passions are always conducive to our values and interests, that is a big reason we are so intrinsically motivated to do them.

4. You couldn’t care less about what people think.

Everyone has slightly different values, so often when we pursue our values at full force we are bound to find some haters. This is why when you pursue your passion you better have a tough skin about it and not budge so easily when others talk you down. Science fiction author Ray Bradbury shared an interesting story about a passion he had when he was 9:

“Most important decision I ever made came when I was 9…I was collecting Buck Rogers comic strips, 1929, when my 5th grade classmates made fun of me. I tore up the strips. A week later, broke into tears. “Why was I crying?” I wondered. Who died? Me, was the answer. I had torn up the future. What to do about it? Start collecting Buck Rogers all over again. Fall in love with the future. I did just that. And after that I never listened to one damnfool idiot classmate who doubted me.

What did I learn? To be myself and only myself and never let others interfere with my life. Kids, do the same. Be your own self. Love what you love.”

If you truly have a deep-seated passion for something, you won’t be easily swayed by the social pressures of others.

5. It puts you in a state of flow.

Flow is a concept in positive psychology where a person’s awareness is fully immersed in an activity. If you find yourself so involved in what you do that you lose track of time, then that is a good indicator that you have a strong passion for that hobby. Passion can put us into a state where our consciousness and action seem to become one – we become what we do, fully involved in the activity, whatever it may be. Psychologist Csíkszentmihályi believes flow is a useful state for concentration, problem-solving, and creativity. As I’ve mentioned above, passion tends to drive all of these things, and thus goes hand-in-hand with our experience of flow. Imagine what such a state would be like if you were in it during your 8-10 hour workday. Heaven!

More than one passion.

In truth, most of us are not driven by one sole purpose or passion. Instead, we share many, and at times we are even forced to balance these passions as we switch from one to the other. That’s a choice we all have to face throughout different moments of our lives. What’s important for me, however, is to weed out those tedious chores and tasks that don’t align with my passions. Those are the activities that I feel waste my time and diminish my quality of life. By replacing those mundane activities with activities I feel a greater passion for, I often find improvements in my well-being, productivity, and success.

However, this isn’t something many of us can do overnight. You can’t just quit your day job and dive into your passion full swing. The process needs to be gradual and realistic, but ultimately it can lead to an exponentially better life. Start making small steps today!