I love that this was said…

“Work is love made visible.  

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”

from The Prophet (on work) by Kahlil Gibran

Translation – L.O.V.E. your work – Look Out Vigilantly for Everyone/Everything affected by your contributions.  Doing so also takes great care of you in return.  It introduces you every day to how you make a difference for others.  It also enlightens you to what brings you joy and makes you feel happy and fulfilled.  Happy contributors are those who are valued and enjoy all the materials rewards and markers of success.

If you just can’t find it within yourself to do that then you’re better off accepting charity from others who earn a living while practicing L.O.V.E. for their work.  I, however, don’t agree with this part – I don’t believe anyone should just throw in the towel and start accepting charity because they can’t perform their job with L.O.V.E.  Instead, I believe everyone has a contribution to make – one that they can easily L.O.V.E.  And they can find it if they stop approaching their job out of fear – with a strategy that might feel like L.O.V.E. at times – but it isn’t.  It’s an approach that only can lead to an experience of work that leaves them feeling undervalued, unfulfilled and exhausted – that version is Look Out Vigilantly for Ego.

Without L.O.V.E. your contribution is unfair to anyone impacted by your labor – including yourself.  Unfair because it is an incomplete contribution – one that leaves the recipient with a false perspective of how that service or object can make a difference in their lives or the lives of those they love.  In return, it leaves you with a small thinking and ultimately false perspective of the difference you can make for the world.  Taking wages for incomplete work is bad “job karma”.   You are going to keep noticing opportunities for (and settling for) jobs that can only feel like a drudgery – because you have not decided to be ready to perform at the same vibration as jobs that can bring you a sense of fulfillment.

Break this cycle!  For others and for yourself!

You may not like every aspect of your current job – you may not feel passionately about any aspect of your current job – but performing your current job with L.O.V.E. is the only path to discovering work that fulfills you.  This means holding careful concern for those you get to impact because of the job you have and you have that job because it offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself – to overcome something you fear or are confused by – to remove the fog that clouds your ability to clearly see your true talents and intentions for others.  This job you might hate right now gives you the opportunity to evolve and grow as a professional and as a person.  Don’t waste the opportunity.  Ask yourself…

Face that realization and watch how fast the job you hate turns into work you LOVE – either with the same employer or with a different employer.