A few months ago I identified a belief within myself that work = bad. On reflection I realized that it came from all those Rich Dad Poor Dad books by Robert Kiyosaki and the belief they formed that I never wanted a job. Unfortunately I took this one step further where...
job = bad
job = work
therefore work = bad!
The truth is I've never been particularly good at maths so messing up this formula isn't much of a surprise!
The belief runs deeper
Since I do internet marketing there's been a lot of reinforcement of this belief by marketers trying to sell me products. While "sitting on the beach while you make money" sounds like a nice idea it really does a lot of damage to our lives. Because while you can make money while sitting on the beach or while you sleep... is that really how we want to live our lives?
I would say when it comes down to it most of us want more fulfilling lives... but that doesn't necessarily mean doing less work. It's a choice of how we spend or time and what "work" we actually apply ourselves too. It can come down to a simple definition of the word "work" which we'll get to in a second.
Have you ever fought against yourself?
The frustrating thing about our beliefs are how they can block us from what we really want. Personally I've found that most of the battles I've fought in my life haven't been with outside invaders... they've been with myself. I'm constantly amazed how I can reveal little blocks in my thinking that hold me back from the result I desire.
And - believe it or not - the result I desire is hardly ever sitting around doing nothing.
Poking holes in the fantasy
I think most people have this fantasy of not having to work and having plenty of money to spend. But the reality of the situation is if we really spent all day sitting on our butts we'd get bored very quickly. I don't know about you but I always find myself having to do something during holidays or I go a little crazy.
A month or so back my girlfriend and I went to the beach and I hadn't bought a book or anything to do. I did my best to sit there quietly and "relax" but I got bored very quickly. I ended up exploring the beach and building a sandcastle to pass the time.
Because who says relaxing has to be sitting there doing absolutely nothing. Maybe relaxing for me is doing some activity that isn't work related. But then if I enjoy my work activities who says I can't be "relaxing" all the time?
An interesting viewpoint
A friend mentioned to be today a belief of one of New Zealand's top NLP experts. He had said something to the effect of "NLP is my number one hobby." Just by changing the language associated with his "work" he's changed the game completely.
This leads back to doing what we're passionate about... what excites us. If we really focus on the work (or hobby) we enjoy then we can't help but be successful. Sure there's going to be some icky tasks along the way but if we look at the big picture our working lives become a lot more pleasant.
How does this affect you?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say if you're really honest with yourself you can find bad belief systems that are stopping you from attaining what you want in life. I know I've found them throughout my life (and continue to find them) even though I would be considered by many to be a fairly high achiever. The reality is that we're constantly fighting these battles with ourselves no matter what level we've reached.
So I suggest looking at your life and what beliefs may be holding you back. Then try some different strategies for removing them. From my own experience having a coach (actually multiple) has helped me face my inner mind much more quickly and effectively and I would recommend the same to anyone reading this.
Anyway... hope this all makes sense as my chain of thought meandered a little in the process of writing this. Another helpful (and therapeutic) tip can be to get your thoughts out on paper. If you do it without the usual internal censoring you might find out some useful stuff about what your beliefs really are.
Hope you enjoyed reading my dear diary moment... please share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
