by Will B. Happy,

an entreprenuer working his way back to normalcy, after a dot com blow up. His thoughts…

Your car trip

You wake up in the morning start your car and drive around until you hopefully spot something, that looks interesting. You figure this is a long trip and you want to get on the road early. So you drive around maybe with your family in the car as well. You are burning gas and getting a little anxious as things look familiar but nothing quite looks like what it should, so you drive faster, then slower or start to double back.

Occasionally you call up friends or family from the car and ask them if they know any interesting places you should visit.

“Hey I’m out here on route 12….somewhere. Lotta trees around me. Oh and a few cows in a field. You wouldn’t happen to know of something I would be interested in seeing would you?”

Startled relative, friend, or peer replies, “Um I am not really sure. What is interesting for you?”

This is how a lot of people go about a job search, just get out there and start firing resumes at the usual suspects. Burn up a little energy and effort and hope you get closer. Oh and if you are man don’t ask for directions until you or everyone in the car starts to notice the road signs are in a foreign language…

A career is the 8-10 hour a day relationship that you most likely will be thinking about for more than those 8-10 hours a day for years to come. It better make you happy or be getting you to place that will make you happy, and I don’t mean those couple of days vacation and holiday.

Notice I said career, not job. Jobs can be tools to get you to your career and personal goals. Being happy and fulfilled is vital.

Some people do horrible things to themselves. Many of us believe that “work” has to be hard. That isn’t always true. Some of the best work we do is easy, because it is aligned with our skills and passions. Value doesn’t always require struggle. On the contrary great things often come from passion and persistence, but not internal struggle. Find a challenge, yes, but find one you enjoy and that gives a sense of progress.

It is important to think about where you want to be and what that takes, then think career. I would recommend a book called, “the highest goal” for understanding that. The Five O’clock club books have good stuff in them as well about this.