Research Paper: Get a JOB!

Research Paper By Lisa Liljeberg
(Career Coach, ITALY)

I  have an aversion to the word JOB. Wikipedia defines JOB as:

an activity, often regular, and often performed in exchange for payment. A person usually begins a job by becoming an employee, volunteering, or starting a business. The duration of a job may range from an hour (in the case of odd jobs) to a lifetime (in the case of some judges). The activity that requires a person’s mental or physical effort is work (as in “a day’s work”). If a person is trained for a certain type of job, they may have a profession. The series of jobs a person holds in their life is their career.

How do you feel when you read this? I know how I feel – BORED!

I have a different definition for JOB :

Joy Of Being

If you are expressing yourself freely, without placing limits on yourself, you are most likely JOYFUL.

Can you remember a time when you were so involved in what you were doing that you lost all track of time? What were you doing? Were you having fun? Were you excited? Enthused? Full of great ideas? Looking forward to doing more of it?

When did you stop doing that? For what reasons? Did someone tell you (or insinuate) that you “shouldn’t” do that? It was “below” you in some way? Or “what would people think?” Or did they say something like “you can’t make any money doing that.” And BAM! Back you came, crashing down to “earth” and the “real world”.

This has happened to me many times over the years.

It is actually more than ironic that I should be a “Career” coach because I’ve never really had a career. In fact, my therapist used to call me an “unguided missile” in the career department. He also used to jokingly ask me “So, what’s the career of the week?” Funny now. Not so funny then – and for many years after that.