"Blessed is he who has found his
work. Let him ask no other blessing."
If, as Thomas Carlyle says, work is the
key to a full life, how in this corporate, commercial,
material age do we unlock that door?
By finding work that offers us integrity,
service, enjoyment and excellence, says Laurence G. Boldt,
author of Zen and the Art of Making a Living and,
more recently, How to Find the Work You Love. It
is possible to find work that fulfills - and stay financially
sound at the same time, says Boldt.
Based in the San Francisco area, Boldt
has been able to follow his own dream through his work.
As a career counselor, he has developed the idea, over
time, that work is art and that "it's deeply linked
to our sense of who we are and our relationship to the
universe. For too long," he says, "work is something
that people have compartmentalized. They have their values,
their convictions, their ideas, and their work is often
something separate." His own work is helping people
integrate their spirituality or values with their everyday
work to create a life of abundance on many levels.
Boldt, speaking with NEXUS publisher
Ravi Dykema, told a story of meeting a man and asking
him if he was afraid to die. The man said, "No, death
isn't anything to be afraid of if you live first."
Through meaningful work, we can live, rather than just
survive.
RD: The argument that is so often
made by those who are not doing what they would like to
do is that they must provide for a family or a future
family. Then, too, their self-esteem, becomes wrapped
up in their income. And if they end up in a profession
that earns a lot, they can't conceive of making less to
do something they love. So many think that circumstances
require that their job be a practical, rather than heart
consideration. What do you say to such people?
LB: I think that people who find
something they love, typically, in the long run do come
out at least as well financially. In fact there was a
20-year-study that looked at how people succeed and it
turned out that people who made the most money were people
who found something they really loved to do and stuck
with it. That may not be the case in every field and it
may not be the case immediately for everyone, but I think
that everyone can take steps toward their dream. Most
people can find 10, 12 hours a week if they really want
to, to learn about something new or to take classes. The
first step is being clear about what you'd love to do
and then to make a strategy, a plan for making the transition.
People make those transitions all the time, and people
are doing the work they love all the time. There are hundreds
of thousands of people who do it every single day. And
I think that more and more people expect that of their
work.
RD: How do you translate your passion
for what you love into a profession?
LB: After identifying the thing
that you love to do and feeling that passion you need
to effectively market yourself. And a big part of marketing
themselves, for a lot of people, is just accepting that.
They have to. You might say, "I wish this wasn't
such a commercial culture." But it is the way it
is. And accepting that takes gumption. It takes fighting
for what you believe in because the marketplace in a sense
is a battle. You're fighting for what you believe in.
You're fighting for the passion. You're fighting for it
in the marketplace.
RD: You write in your book, "With
your own power the battle begins. You slay the dragons
of doubt, you vanquish the notion of settling for less
than your best, and then you fight for yourself in the
marketplace."
LB: In other words, the first battle
is within yourself. Do I think I can do this? Am I able
to make this work? Have I won that battle?
I write about the four voices of doubt.
One is the voice of gloom and doom. that's the idea that
I can't really do what I want to do and make a living
at it. Better not think about it. The next I call the
voice of conformity: Since so many people are unhappy
in their work, if someone says, "I would really love
to do this," they're likely to get a lot of negative
feedback. they're likely to hear, "Gee, you can't
do that. Who do you think you are? None of the rest of
us is that happy anyway. You might as well just forget
about that and stay in line." The next voice of doubt
I call the voice of self-diminishment that says, "Am
I good enough? Can I make it? Do I have the ability? If
I want to write. If I want to paint. If I want to act.
If I want to start a company, whatever. Do I have what
it takes? Do I believe that I am good enough to do that?"
RD: Could it be that voice that
would be comparing you viciously to all your competition?
LB: It would be. It is also helpful
to have a realistic sense of the competition because you
want to know where you are in the marketplace. But by
the same token you must stay focused on how you can make
your own work excellent. Finally, we have the voice of
idle complaint, the general sense that the deck is stacked
against me, the economy, society, Mercury in retrograde,
whatever it is. there's something out there that's stopping
me.
RD: The adversarial universe?
LB: Right.
RD: What's the antidote to those
four voices of doubt?
LB: In an archetypal sense, the
antidote is seeing yourself as the hero in respect to
work, the one who goes on the quest. In other words, seeking
what it is that you're looking for. You may not even be
clear yet, but you're on this quest in the game of life's
work. And I associate that with the magician, in other
words, understanding that it is a game. Part of this element
is seeing it as a game and being able to not take it so
seriously. Take what you do seriously, do it well, do
it with conviction, but have a certain perspective about
not identifying yourself with that career role. What you
want to do, what you want to express, what you want to
share, that's what your work is about. When marketing
yourself, your archetype is the lawyer, bringing in that
kind of energy. This is a fight. If I want to do this
thing that I love to do I'm going to have to fight for
it. I'm going to have to say, "I want it. "
I'm going to have to take the risks. A lot of people don't
want to take risks because it hasn't been something they've
ever done before. It hasn't become a habit for them. There
are studies that show that children who spend more time
playing end up with better survival skills and are more
likely to succeed because in that play they are constantly
taking risks. They are constantly creating things in their
own minds and seeing how you can go from an idea to reality.
If you look at your work and you say, " This is something
I really care about," I mean, think of a mother with
a child. If someone attacks or threatens her child, she
is going to defend her child with this kind of warrior
energy. It's the same when you have work you really love
and you really care about. You are, I think, ready to
fight for it and to work hard enough at it to make it
succeed, to take the risk.
RD: In your book you discuss urges
and passions that might bring people to different kinds
of work, like conscience and compassion and a call to
talent, a call to greatness. Tell me about those.
LB: I use the ISEE formula as an
acronym for how to find the work you love: integrity,
service, enjoyment and excellence. Integrity is the call
of conscience; listening to your own voice and honoring
it, listening to the inspiration that you get, the intuitions
you have. The Dalai Lama said that the nature of the world
today is that it's very difficult to be a good person.
It's very difficult to keep in touch with conscience,
to keep that channel open. But I think that's where your
creative power comes from, it's coming from you. If you're
hearing that inner voice telling you, "Do this, do
that, do this, do that," you'll move on that.
Then comes the call of compassion. It
is recognizing that we're all together on this planet.
What is your part to play in this human family? What suffering
do you want to serve? Or what aspirations are people having
but not fulfilling?
RD: So how do we act upon what
we hear from that inner voice?
LB: Encourage it! Too often people
aren't encouraged to listen to their ideals. Every career
has a game. In other words, it's going somewhere. You
can play in that game as a vehicle to accomplish your
goals. Say it's healing others. You may decide on the
role of doctor, because of how the world would see you,
and the healing skills you would learn. That's the difference
between taking a career role, and we use the word role
because it is one, and taking on that role to achieve
some purpose. You need to have a sense of your own purpose
and your own direction and not to lose yourself in your
career, in the role.
RD: Tell me about the call of talent.
LB: Aristotle said, "Where
your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies
your vocation." I think that's a good formula. Looking
at what the world needs and then at what talents I have.
What am I naturally good at? Each person has a different
set of natural abilities and the more that we can pay
attention to those, the less we will get lost in "what
are my skills, what have I learned how to do?" We
can be very competent in all kinds of things, but that's
not necessarily using our real talent. We need to get
in touch with what we as individuals are naturally good
at. The Chinese have a saying, "The strong man can
carry the heavy burden many miles without feeling tired.
The skillful man can juggle many things without dropping
the ball." Everybody likes to do things they're good
at, whether it's sports or work or anything else.
RD: But even when I have been good
at something and loved it, like my magazine in Wisconsin,
I needed to sweat, and fail, to find out that I have ink
in my blood, as we publishers say.
LB: I think that's a really important
point. If someone says, "I want to be a writer,"
does that mean that you envision some kind of life style?
You're going to write the best selling book and live in
the Bahamas for the rest of the year? Or is it because
you have to write because that's really you? Or do you
want to be an actor because you want to be hanging out
in Spago's or do you have to act? Is it in your blood?
Is it something that is just a part of you? When you have
that sort of commitment, something inside of you makes
you stick with it because it is so much a part of you
and you come back to it even though you are afraid. Something
says "I have to do it."
RD: Some people reading this will
say, "Yeah, I know what that is. I have this feeling.
I have to train dogs." But a lot of people will say,
"I wish I had such a passion about something."
What do they do? How do they find that for themselves?
Or is it absent in some people?
LB: If you've lost touch with that
altogether, then probably you're having a hard time wanting
anything passionately at all in life. It's not just in
your work life. Something is being blocked, there was
some kind of disappointment perhaps that the person experienced
so they stopped wanting things or they stopped believing
that they could have what they wanted. They think wanting
brings pain, perhaps.
RD: Do you think someone can get
their wanting back?
LB: Yes. I think it's surprising
how many times people can identify a specific incident
or a specific moment that's crystal clear in their minds,
when something inside of them sort of shut down or quit.
We're talking about getting back to that childlike, vulnerable
space, in which you say "This is what I really want
to do." For a lot of people that's scary because
it's so risky. Other people might criticize them, they
might put it out there and not be able to do it.
Some people can say, "Well, this
is just my job and it doesn't have that much to do with
me or my real life. It's just something I do every day."
But if it's coming out of your passion, what you care
about, it's much more vulnerable.
I think part of being an adult is determining
your own expectations for your life. For so many, the
expectations that we have for ourselves were given to
us by somebody else. Our parents, our teachers, our guidance
counselor, or whoever it was. We live someone else's expectations.
And it's hard to rise higher than your expectations. If
we want something but don't expect it, we probably aren't
going to get it.
So the first step is to become aware of
what your expectations are for your life. Then, if you
realize that the ones that were given to you by others
are not what you want, make your own and begin to associate
with people who have those kinds of more positive expectations
for their own lives. Perhaps you will need to disassociate
yourself to some extent from people who have a more bleak
outlook on things.
RD: So you're saying change your
friends.
LB: Yes. Look at your own expectations,
examine them and say, "Why don't I think I can do
it? So and so can do it. Is there some real reason why
or is this just a belief that I have about myself? Do
I believe it's possible for me to be doing something I
love and be supported by that? Because if I don't believe
it, it isn't going to be possible." Even if you do
believe it, it may be a whole lot of work. But if you
don't have that expectation, it's virtually impossible.
Then learn about or talk to people who
have made contributions in whatever field you are interested
in. All the things that you have to deal with, they had
to deal with, be they outer obstacles or inner ones, the
doubts, the fears, the unclarity at times. Develop a sense
of belongingness with those who have a sense of destiny
about their lives or who are aspiring for excellence in
whatever way.
RD: Give us a mini-course going
from, "Now I know what I am passionate about, now
I know what I can stay up all night and do," to "How
will I find a job in that profession?"
LB: The first thing that I would
do is to get a realistic sense of this passion of yours,
to start thinking about it in terms of a career. They
are not necessarily the same thing. That one passion could
take a number of different routes.
Begin to look at different careers that
will allow you to follow this path. Identify one that
seems like the best vehicle for you. Find out what that
career is really all about. Talk to people who are doing
it. Get some first-hand experience of what's involved.
Go to the library. Read about it. Learn about the kind
of skills that are important. In other words, get a realistic
sense of what this game is and then say, "Do I want
to play it? Is this the best vehicle for me to follow
in order to pursue my creative passion?"
If it is, look at what you need to learn.
Plan. How long will it take you to make this transition?
Are you in a position both emotionally, in terms of your
skills, and perhaps financially to jump right in? Or will
it take time? What do you have to do in the meantime?
And then how will you market yourself? You may need to
learn about starting your own business, working freelance,
or how to aggressively search for a job.
RD: Looking ahead, do you think
our society is moving toward work place fulfillment becoming
a higher priority?
LB: I think rising
expectations about work is a social movement. I think
it's something that will continue on into the next century.
Remember that there was a time when people didn't expect
to marry someone they loved. There were Romeo and Juliet.
Juliet was 13 years old. Her mother and father decided
who she was going to marry. And there was no expectation
that you would marry for love. And your profession was
decided by your father, by heredity. Now I think we have
a societal expectation that we can do something we love.
More and more people are picking up on that, and they
are paving the way for it to become in time a social norm,
or the ideal. All of us have at least the ideal of marrying
someone that we love. We may not do that, we may not live
up to that, but it is at least the norm. And doing what
you love in your work will be the same way.
