Find a job doing something you LIKE so you can do what you LOVE.

Recently I've been in discussions with my son, a 19 year old college freshman.  Like many other kids his age, he is struggling with pressure to decide his career path. He's always wanted to be a doctor, but as reality has set in and classes are underway, we are asking him, "Is really what you want to devote your life to?"

 As we have talked, one thing has become clear;  he somehow missed the talk from his dad on "Nobody on their death bed every said they wish they had worked more."

This sentiment is a major core value of my family. We like our jobs, and when we are at work we work hard. But our jobs are not who we are. Yet somehow this was missed when it was applied to his life and his future.

There is a whole camp out there that tells kids to find a job doing what they love. And wouldn't that be a great thing if we could all do that? Yes, this happens for a small percentage of people, and it usually comes with some inconveniences to say that least. If you are a pro athlete you may have to move around a lot. If you are a writer or artist, your income may be inconsistent. The goal is to find something that works with the lifestyle you want to have.

What if we could all get a job that we are truly passionate about? Think about what you truly love to do.  More than likely this is a hobby for you, but not your profession. We can't all be professioal athletes, photographers, writers, cooks, singers, artists, travelers, historians and the list goes on. Sure, I would love to be the next Travel Channel writer or get paid to ride my bike, but if we all did that then our world wouldn't work.

So how can we teach our children to find something they really like to do, that they are good at, and that will pay the bills so they can do what they love? Well, I think this has to start at home. Kids looks to their parents to first learn what life looks like. If you are working too many hours, working at home at night, disengaged with your family, too busy to do family outings then you have this all backwards. And why not talk about these things as a family? I promise that we did this, but clearly not enough!

I just read a blog post byAaron McHugh called Blowing Up My Life to Start Over. Look at what he says about his life before he made a big change:

• I work way too much and I Live my life way too little.
• I want words like “lingering” and “relaxed” to be used when my wife describes how her husband lives.
• My priorities are all wrong: 80%. 18%. 2%.
  • Work is always in first place with an 80% portion.
  • Life (family, friends, marriage, kids, community) in second place with an 18% sliver of the pie.
  • Play or Adventure is under portion control with a meager 2%
• My marriage was on the skids.
• I was taking a pocket full of medication every day just to keep it together.
• My day job was immensely stressful and consuming.
• I felt stuck, exhausted, and desperate.

Maybe some of you recognize these things in your life. It's scary because we have one life on earth. Why are we working so much? And obviously it may not just be your job that is sucking the time out of your day. There have been countless articles and studies about kids and families that are overscheduled.

Do you live to work or work to live?

To sum it up:  Live Life. Play. Eat. Rest. Love and fit in some work along the way. Repeat again tomorrow.