There is a well-known quote that goes like this:
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
When I started working on my own as a landscape designer I would reference this quote regularly. I was doing something I absolutely loved, and having a great time doing it. I had solid projects, wonderful clients, and I was my own boss. And because I was doing what I loved for my job, according to Confucius, I must not be working. Which, apparently, was a good and definitely, a cool thing.
That was 2007. Now it's 2015 and I have decided that this famous quote isn't such a great way for me to live nor view my life.
Work is a wonderful opportunity and a choice we all can make. Work is a positive thing. Work builds character and causes personal growth, especially when we push through a difficult task and see it to the end - even, and especially when we don't want to.
For me, when I work well, I feel a great sense of accomplishment - this in turn makes me happy. Sometimes I love my work. Other times I don't love it as much. But I am always grateful for it. It's a means of living a productive and fruitful life, and contributing to the greater good in this world.
“It is the working man who is the happy man.”
“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.”
“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”
“Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.”