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“Different Day, Same ……..”
Have you ever found yourself saying that? I sure have! Over my 38 years on living on this rock of ours, I have learnt a lot of things. One of the things I have learnt is to take time out and enjoy yourself and also to cherish family and friends.
Take my friend, client and fellow blogger Ryan Biddulph for instance, He is living his dreams and travelling the world and he is paying for this by doing something he enjoys which is blogging and writing and promoting his eBooks. Hey he must be good if he has guys like Chris Brogan tweet endorsing him.
When you enjoy your work then it is not work. Over a decade ago I took the decision to quit my job and stop making other people rich by giving up my time for money.
“Stop living in fear, Have Courage”
Believe me giving up your job to work for your-self is a courageous thing to do and I can imagine that a lot of people bottle out of this thinking it’s too hard. Having the courage is not going to be without fear, Courage happens when you go and do it despite having the fear of doing it! Now I am not saying that you should give up your job first far from it, all I am saying is to build up a career that you enjoy first and then have the courage to quit the job you detest. We all have responsibilities so please don’t neglect them.
“Three thousand nine hundred Saturdays”
Now to the main story of this post pilgrim. I want to tell you a story! One that has been repeated many times over the years on this thing they call the World Wide Web where a lot of us now work and make a living out of! It is a story about a conversation between a young professional with a wife and kids who gives up time working for some fat cat in exchange for money so that he can provide for his family and another fellow in the later years of his life and for the past twenty years has lived a life that is happy and fulfilling! We shall call the young professional Alexander and the elder gentleman Harold.
“Coffee and Paper in Hand, Radio On”
So there I was with my morning paper and a big steaming mug of my favourite coffee sat in my back garden enjoying the great weather and my favourite radio station on. What happened next was one of those moments in life that you just have to sit up and take notice of. As I turned my radio on I could hear a conversation between our two heroes. I turned the volume up to hear Alexander talking about his lot in life with Harold. This was getting interesting so I moved closer to the radio to listen to Harold who in my opinion used to work as a radio presenter or an announcer, you know the type the type who speaks very clear Queens English with plenty of Gravitas.
“Well my dear Alexander, seems to me you have been dealt a very low hand here. I am sure the company pay’s you well for all the time and effort you put in, it is just a shame you have to spend so much time away from the people you care most for.
I find it saddening that you have to work 60 -70 hours a week just to make ends meet. What a shame you had to miss out on your son’s football final, I am sure you will get another opportunity some other time.”
Harold then went on to continue his story and his theory on how to make the most of our lives….
“Well Alexander I have a theory, a theory about one thousand little marble balls. Alexander this theory has enabled me to keep a good perspective on my priorities and the time I have left. Would you like to know how I come up with my one thousand marbles theory?”
“One day many years ago now, I sat down to do some little arithmetic. The average person lives to the age of seventy five. Now of course some live a lot longer and some live shorter lives, but on average most live to the age of seventy five”
“I then multiplied Seventy Five by Fifty Two which as you well know gives me Three Thousand Nine Hundred, this as you may have realized is the amount of Saturdays the average person encounters during his or her time given from cradle to grave”
“This is now the important part Alexander so do stick with me here. At the time of all this I was aged fifty five, fifty five to realize this theory, this also
It really makes you think does it not? Here I am sat hear aged nearly thirty nine which means I have just under one thousand nine hundred Saturdays left should I reach the age of seventy five. Really puts things into perspective. Anyway on to the rest of the story.
“I then decided that I really need to do something to remember this and I decided that I needed one thousand marbles. I visited 3 toy stores to get my marbles rounded up to one thousand. Once I got myself home I put all my marbles inside a large plastic container inside my workshop at the back of my garden. Every Saturday since then I would take out one marble and just throw it away”
Harold then went onto to explain to our young family man Alexander what it felt like watching his marbles diminish (please excuse the pun. none was intended. Saying that it is quite funny even for a small minded blogger like me.)
“Watching the marbles diminish every Saturday over these past years, I have found that I focus more on the really important things in my life like my family and my friends. This was also a reminder of my mortality but it also made me think. A thought popped into my head and it went like this….There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth of ours run out to help you get your priorities straight”
“Before I go Alexander and take my lovely wife out for breakfast I want to leave you a parting thought. Today I took out and thrown away my very last marble. It has took me twenty years to get rid of them marbles and if I see another one it will be too soon. However I figured that if I make it till next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. A little extra time is the one thing that we can all use”
“I was lovely speaking with you Alexander and I hope we can have another conversation soon. I hope you also get to spend more time with your family.”
“What a Head Trip of a Story”
What do you think of that pilgrim? It is a head trip of a story don’t you think? After coming across this story a few years ago it got me to thinking and I made a decision not to goto work that day and take my partner out for a meal. And maybe pay a visit to a toy store on the way!
How can this help my blogging business succeed, I hear you cry? Well for me this story has streamlined my days and I now have all the time in the world to do the important things in my life as well as the things that I enjoy doing like building websites and writing blog posts like this one my dear pilgrim. Building websites and blogging for me is a hobby and not a JOB at all but my Hobby is what keeps me going and pays the bills.
If you can do something that you consider a hobby and it earns you a happy and fullfilling lifestyle then you have not got a JOB. With your hobby you can organize your days the way you like and work on your hobby as well as do the things that are important like spending time with your family and friends.
“JOB”
There is something else you can take away from this pilgrim especially if you are in a JOB or what I call Just Over Broke. You see if you have a Job you are working for someone else and making them rich. In a way you are a slave to them as you need that JOB to make ends meet. If you hate your JOB then I am afraid to say that you are a slave to the system and remember at the beginning of this post I was discussing Courage.
My friend I feel for you if you are in this position you may be thinking about what you enjoy doing or if your hobby can become your business. DO IT, Have the courage and DO IT my friend. I love what I do and yes there are times I get stressed when I don’t have cold hard cash coming in but believe me dear reader working for yourself doing what you enjoy doing is the greatest feeling on earth and I now think that every day of my life is a Saturday as I had the courage to stop working for the man and life a lifestyle that I want to live by helping others and giving freely.
“Your Turn!”
What are your thought on this? Do you agree or disagree! Do you want to make that change and stop doing what you are doing? Have you got the Courage or will you succumb to fear?
Have an amazing day.
Phillip Dews
