tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post890351727760338046..comments2024-02-26T18:04:01.857-05:00Comments on 2 Live Freely: #11 on the Top Ten List of Life Thieves – Your Job/Profession/BusinessEd Helveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11995821240780553373noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post-85249380026268014752015-09-18T07:52:02.271-04:002015-09-18T07:52:02.271-04:00There are times when being subjected to a miserabl...There are times when being subjected to a miserable work environment and job you dislike is needed for growth.<br /><br />Ed, you pointed out the value of what you learned from poor decisions. My mother would tell me to heed her experience so you don’t have to learn the hard way. Well, turns out some things must learned through unpleasant and even bitter experience. Provided the lessons are learned, don’t we all look back and see the benefit of and are grateful for such difficulties? <br /><br />I remember in my 20s working in a grey iron factory. I’d say a coal mine is the only environment worse. I asked God why he kept me here? (I would try every six months to get a different job without success.) He showed me that I had never learned the discipline of hard work. Well, after 18 months I did learn what it meant to be a “schwer arbeiter” (hard worker). And without me doing anything I was then offered different employment. Nice!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post-47860782735137962222015-09-17T19:49:25.522-04:002015-09-17T19:49:25.522-04:00Actually, Camilla --
I've had a fantastic pro...Actually, Camilla --<br /><br />I've had a fantastic professional career. While I didn't love a couple of my businesses, mainly because I chose to make them complicated, those businesses only consumed about 30% of my career. Some people are "slow learners" and I had some lessons to learn about business and myself. About 70% of my career I kept things much simpler. <br /><br />I worked from home for about 80% of my career. I got be with my son almost 100% of the time as he grew up during his first 18 years of life. He traveled with me all over the country whenever I could take him with me. My first wife was involved in the business and we, of course, traveled together a lot of the time, as well. <br /><br />If anyone would have predicted, when I was starting college, what I would ultimately end up doing and achieving during my lifetime, I would have been sure they were on an LSD trip or something. I have no serious regrets. The parts of my business life that weren't particularly enjoyable and fulfilling were limited to a relatively few years and I consider them part of the dues and "real life MBA" I had to earn through OJT. <br /><br />It wasn't until the last, roughly, ten years that I finally overcame my "Great Depression" era work ethic thinking. People of my age bracket "inherited" that from our parents who grew up during the Great Depression.<br /><br />LF&BH<br />Ed Ed Helveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11995821240780553373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post-80585709056027880622015-09-17T19:17:51.588-04:002015-09-17T19:17:51.588-04:00Ed,
It's really too bad that your work never ...Ed, <br />It's really too bad that your work never left you happy and fulfilled but I do know many people who love their jobs. I used to go in a few hours early and was happy as a clam. I miss it actually.<br />Camillanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post-63018303068095626852015-09-17T15:25:01.750-04:002015-09-17T15:25:01.750-04:00Good points, Richard,
I had a friend, now departe...Good points, Richard,<br /><br />I had a friend, now departed (your brother, Art, knew him, too), who was a lifelong salesman. I think his father was also a salesman, if I remember correctly. At any rate, Alan would tell people when he was doing sales training seminars that "sell" was a "four-letter word." But, he liked to use a different four letter word for what he did for his work - his word was "Help." That goes along with what you said. <br /><br />Thanks for the movie tip. I'll have to keep my eyes open for it. <br /><br />LF&BH<br />EdEd Helveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11995821240780553373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5614053223603560475.post-54509613746604209502015-09-17T15:09:06.227-04:002015-09-17T15:09:06.227-04:00Excellent perspective Ed, to reverse thinking firs...Excellent perspective Ed, to reverse thinking first determine what you want from life and then figure out work that will help you achieve it. <br /><br />I like to think of work as service or providing a product that others need and appreciate you providing. My example is the West in the 19th century America when a dry goods store opens in a sparsely, but growing area. How the residents rejoice not to take their wagons once a month on a long trek to stock up. By contrast, working in the tobacco industry is conscience destroying as a person progressively lies to himself about the great harm he is abetting; or the guilt he cannot rid himself of.<br /><br />Does the work we do provide genuine benefit to others? Then it is more likely to be fulfilling and enjoyable. Eve and I just saw the movie, The War Room (caveat for those secularists among you: it’s a Christian produced move). In it the husband elected, after his highly paid and travel intensive pharmaceutical sales job ended, to take employment with the community center overseeing one of its youth programs – at half pay. He and his wife made the decision to align work with a lifestyle more worthy of their values. A recipe for what work ought to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com