Boldness Has Genius, Magic and Power In It

I am paraphrasing from memory from the great German poet, Goethe: "Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. For boldness has genius, magic and power in it."

As most of you reading this know, I am working as a professional tarot reader weekends and evenings at all kinds of fairs, festivals special events, private parties and for individual clients in private. I also do reiki healing and past life sessions, and a variety of other things. I love this work and I am focused on making that my full time source of income.

During my life, I have had the opportunity to experience many different jobs and careers. Some I took when I was simply in need of cash flow, so it was a whatever job. That would be like my current day job at the computer company, or the factory jobs I had when I was just out of high school, working for a commercial printing company, as a file clerk for a big law firm, as a janitor for a school, as a shipping clerk in a warehouse, loading trucks on a loading dock, repairing surveyor's instruments.

Other times I took jobs out of sheer curiousity like when I was a security guard for the Chicago Cubs baseball team one season, when I worked at a picture framer for an art gallery, when I worked as a cab driver, when I delivered pizzas, delivering daily newspapers in the middle of the night or working at a retreat center in the mountains.

Some jobs I took on a lark, like bartending, were so much fun that they lasted for several years. Being a bartender and a waiter was a great part time gig and fallback position in a crunch, even years later. People will always drink, and they need someone who knows how to pour and mix. Then there were the years when I worked for the American Red Cross organizing blood drives. That was a curiosity that turned into a career for several years too, and moved me around the country.

I worked as an advertising salesman for trade publications, in turn led to working for an advertising agency, which in turn led to being an advertising copywriter, and a freelance writer. And that led into my career as a magazine editor, which again started on a whim and turned into another career move that spanned a number of years. And that ran in tandem with being a teacher of creative writing for a decade. I also self published two books of poetry and produced shows for a couple of years as a performance artist, and although I was unable to find a way to make those pursuits profitable, they were fun. There are probably a few other things that I forgot to mention, but we'll let that slide for now.

I have met people who have had one job or one career their entire life. I don't think I could have done that. It has been interesting to do all these different things, to meet all these different people.

As I was reflecting on all this, it came to me quite clearly that there is one simple, very powerful thread running through it all.

If you do not do what you need to do in order to make a living doing something you like, you will find yourself doing something you don't like for a living.

Yes, there is that gray zone in the middle where people don't really like or dislike what they do. They just clock in and do something in return for a paycheck and can't wait to get off work so that they can do something they enjoy.

For me, making a living doing something that you can get out of bed looking forward to doing is as good as it gets. Well, that part of your life anyway.

Don't pull out any stops. If there is something that gives you satisfaction to do and you get good feedback on what you do from customers or clients, do whatever it takes to organize that activity into something that can provide your income.

I am working diligently to get back to that place. You can too. It is worth every bit of the effort. Do whatever you need to do to get into a place that you like. That place where your efforts are rewarded and you have a smile on your face. It looks good on you.