"Things
turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn
out."
Someone
sent me that saying in an email; I liked it so much I put it up on the bulletin
board by my desk. People who find ways to view their circumstances positively
tend to be happier than those who complain about the way things are. We are
human, of course, and it is natural to dislike when we have to do things that
are unpleasant. We all must work to earn an income, however, and we all have
the power to choose how we view whatever we have to do in our lives.
How you
live your life is a choice. When you look for a job, make sure the work is
something you enjoy. You don't have to love every aspect of a job, but
certainly you can find some things to like about practically anything. After
all, this is your life, and if you are totally miserable, well, what is the
point of that?
Let's look
at the job of a waiter as an example. Some of the obvious drawbacks of this
kind of job are that you get covered with food, customers can sometimes be rude
or otherwise unpleasant, and sometimes those rude customers don't leave a tip.
All those things may be true, but there are also things to enjoy from this same
job: the flexibility of a waiter's job means you are free to pursue your
acting, you can make good money in tips if you are good at the job, and you can
meet so many people, which may appeal to those of you who excel at hospitality
skills. Waiters who like what they do end up making more tips than those who
whine and complain and just do the bare minimum.
Beware of
the "I don't care about this job because I'm really an actor"
syndrome. I was guilty of this when I was just starting out. I thought my
waiter job was so unimportant, and I barely could contain my contempt for it.
As I continued to complain about every little thing I had to do, I started to
notice that the waiters who came to work smiling at everyone and
enthusiastically going about their duties were the people whom everyone -
fellow workers and customers alike - enjoyed being around, and they seemed
happier in general, and made better tips than I was making while I was waiting
for my "real life" to begin. I figured out quickly that this WAS my
real life, and I made a point to become one of those happier people I admired.
As Stephen
Sondheim so aptly wrote in a lyric from "Sunday in the Park with
George", "It's not 'Do as You Like' as it is that you ‘Like What You
Do’". Try to like what you do. It really is your choice!
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