The Key To Happiness

To me, there's no more interesting subject than what a person does, how his or her life is spent. The average working person today will spend an average of 50 years in the workforce. That's a long time and it's important! In fact 50 years is the average life expectancy for people living outside the North American continent.

But with a life expectancy of almost 80 years, the fortunate North American will spend at least 50 of his or her years holding down some kind of a job.

If he or she works 40 hours a week and averages 50 weeks a year, he or she will work about 100,000 hours during his or her lifetime. Quite a bit of time, so much time, in fact, that it becomes very important as to just how it's spent. It's too much time to waste and far too much time to be spent doing something we don't like to do.

But did you know that surveys have indicated that, an average of 60 percent of the working people today are not happy with their work? And the same surveys showed that an additional 20 percent are not sure, or don't particularly care one way or the other.

What makes matters worse is that studies show that the average non-professional college graduate today will have an average 12 to 14 different jobs in his or her working lifetime.

We've all been it work, at some time or another, that we didn't like. Even the work we do like has its own unpleasant parts. But it has always seemed to me to be an incalculable waste for someone to spend 50 years working at one particular job or going from job to job that he or she does not like, nor finds interesting.

I've said this many times before, but I think it bears repeating: The happiest people in the world are those who do for a living that which they'd be doing anyway, even if they didn't have to work. And they're not just the happiest, they're the most productive.

When you're happy and truly fulfilled with your work it spreads to all the other areas of your life; your family and friends. You want to share with others around you. Money is not a dominant issue in your life.

In this group you can list the world's best scientists, writers, teachers, accountants, lawyers, doctors and entrepreneurs. They find interest, enjoyment and fulfillment in their work and wouldn't trade places with any other person on earth. You'll find them in show business, in the world of sports; they are bus drivers, auto mechanics, plumbers and construction workers.

There's an easy way to spot them; they're good at what they do. You'll never find a person who likes what he or she is doing who isn't good at it. Or, if you'll give him or her enough time, he or she will become good at it.

Finding the right work for us is like finding the right shoes. They're wonderfully comfortable when the fit is right, and we're seldom unaware of the discomfort or pain if it isn't.