As the United States celebrates it’s Independence Day, as summer begins, and as we recently passed the 180th day of the year, it is a good time to reflect on what work freedom means to each one of us…to you.
Whether you are a work from home freelancer or have chosen a corporate career, it’s time to decide your factors of work satisfaction. Do you seek the security of a 9-5, a certain income? The time to travel and be with your family, or the freedom to work from coffee shops and co-working spaces?
How Can We Change Business For Good?
For the good of ourselves, our families, our communities, and beyond?!
“Most of our lives are spent at work. Those lives should be fun; they should be enjoyable and pleasant. Therefore it is worth striving to make sure that the time we all spend at work is satisfying and is some of the best hours we spend in our lives.” – Richard Branson
Do you agree with Branson?
I have to give kudos to companies that make people the important factor. For my freelancers and online entrepreneurs out there, we can think about how we can do this for ourselves. If we started freelancing to be in control and carve out more time but are being run by our businesses- instead of running them, it may be time to rethink things. It may be time to build some better processes and systems.
The Image Of Work Freedom
We see images often about work freedom meaning upward of 6-figures with you and your laptop strung out on a beach somewhere with a margarita in your hand. But, maybe that is not what work freedom means to you.
Allow me to set the stage for you on one of then most meaningful and happy work moments in my life….
I was in an African village, the sun gleaming off my orange cargo pants and grey t-shirt. I had slept on the ground, in a tent, the night before with a guard walking my camp to keep me and our team from being eaten by lions. I huddled closely with a couple of members of my group in a dung hut seriously lacking in light and ventilation. It was then that a group of school children broke out into one of the most beautiful a capella choruses that I have ever heard in my life. #PreciousMoments
I was volunteering, helping with some medical clinics and painting a new school. And not only making no money, but had paid for the experience. And an experience it was.
Work Can Be A Career, But Could Be More
You need to make a living, yes, and maybe we cannot all have dream jobs, but maybe..just maybe, we can add value to our lives and the lives of others through work we do even if it is in a side project, a hobby, or volunteer endeavor. Our work is not solely confined in a career.
[bctt tweet=”Our work is not solely confined in a career. ” username=”lorihil”]
Most of us are fine with the idea of work and even need it in our lives to grow and feel productive and valuable. Keith and Jon of KeithRhys, state that most people fall into two camps of freedom seeking,
— Some truly love what they do, but realize they are limited by the number of hours in the day and by the number of ways they can profit from their expertise. They are really searching for a way to leverage doing what they love. They don’t want freedom from work. They want freedom from constraints.
— Others have yet to find a vocation that they feel is interesting to them, a good fit for them, or work that really expresses their values and passions. They don’t want freedom from work. They want freedom from the wrong vocation. ~What Does Freedom Mean To You, Keep Reading Here
Hmmm…could it be that it’s possible for work to be a joyful expression of ourselves, a way to be creative and give back to the world?
As we head into summer, pursue vacations, spend time with family, let’s celebrate independence by thinking about how we can make work more fun, more fulfilling, and more valuable to the world.
I made the drastic move abroad to create more work freedom. But, that’s not for everyone. There may be little things you can change to make your every day work better for yourself and others. Think about the How and…
Tweet me your thoughts and ideas @lorihil
Quotes To Inspire You To Work With Passion
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” ~Steve Jobs
“A man should never neglect his family for business.” ~Walt Disney
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” ~Dr. Seuss
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” ~Seth Godin
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” ~Denis Waitley
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
And from one of my current reads The Art Of Work, Jeff Goins *affiliate link
“…this is the role of work in our lives- not only as a means to make a living, but as a tool to make us into who we were born to be.”
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