Do what you love and love what you do

One of my greatest joys is helping people make their dreams come true. There's just something purely magical about the sparkle in their eyes when they are doing what they love. I think it resonates so loudly with me because I know how they feel. Only recently did I have the courage to work for myself and do what I love. Before then I was simply doing what was expected of me (and what I expected of myself), even if it meant staying in a job that I hated.

The thing is, we all have dreams. But we also all have responsibilities, bills to pay and mouths to feed. We put our big dreams on hold for a day when our kids are finished school, when we've made a lot of money or when we've retired and can finally do what we want to do. I don't know about you, but I was sick and tired of waiting for "one day". One day never comes - all you have is today.

Don't worry, I'm not about to suggest that you resign and start backpacking through Europe. Quite the contrary. You will probably need to stay in your current job for a while still. You may ask, "How can I start living my dreams now if most of my life is spent in a job that I hate?" I would like to suggest the following: Love what you do (even now). Because that will lead you to doing what you love.

You have the power to create the life you love right now. Dr John Demartini says in his book, 'Count your blessings': "We can either make excuses or we can make our dreams come true. The choice is ours, and the secret is to determine what we love to do and begin doing it!"

You are probably asking how you can love what you do right now if your days are filled with boring admin, a bitch of a boss or and endless string of phone calls to answer. Here is what Dr Demartini suggests:

List 30 things about your job that you like and 30 things that you don't like. Then, take a look at each item on your list and think about how that task helps you to prepare to do more about what you are inspired to do. For example, if you don't like making tea for your boss, think about how learning to serve will help you when you are following your dream. Or, if you don't like answering the phone, imagine how much better prepared you will be to deal with phone calls in your own business one day.

Once we start noticing how even the mundane tasks we do today can actually have an influence on our dream starting to come true, suddenly we start loving what we do. That attitude change alone makes our dreams come true that much faster. As Dr Demartini says, "When you link your daily actions to your purpose, you live the life you love. If you don't fill your life with what you do love, it becomes filled with what you don't."

I would also like to suggest that you start taking tangible steps toward reaching your dream each day. So, if you want to be an artist, start painting in the evenings after work or over weekends. If you dream of writing a book, start writing over your lunch break. Just start. A further piece of advice from Dr Demartini rings true: "Every dream has its price and reward. When you're inspired by your purpose, you're willing to pay the price and accept the pain and pleasure of self-discipline." You may need to work harder now, but that extra effort is far more rewarding than regret could ever be.

Write the first three action steps you would take to do what you love. Commit to doing the first step before the end of this week.

After that step, take another and another. Pretty soon you will be stepping right into the life of your dreams.

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however." - Richard Bach