Monday, August 6, 2007

How to Retire Young

I heard a phrase on the radio today. "Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life."

It's easy to scoff at something like that as ivory-tower nonsense. The world needs ditch-diggers too.

I think there's a better meaning though. Everything we do has a downside, if you look hard enough (believe me, I've tested this daily!). And conversely, every task can be loved. That's because love or hate is a choice. As one woman said about her mother, "She wasn't passionate about dish washing, she brought passion to dish washing." If you don't like what your hands are obligated to do at the moment, then perhaps you can busy your mind doing something else, whether that be enjoying the day, or your health, or how much worse things could be.

So why not invest in an early retirement, by trying to fall in love with at least one aspect of your job?

2 comments:

Jason Woolever said...

Hey Joe, I liked this post. I reposted your post at my blog.

Joe McDonald said...

Thanks Jason, good to hear from you. Plagiarize at will! Hope all's well down in Mascoutah. I know you'll let them down gently when they nominate you for mayor.