Passenger Or Driver?

Other than sleep, our work will likely occupy most of us for the largest number of hours over a lifetime of any single activity. We don't have a choice about whether to sleep or not but we do have a choice about what work we'll do. That is, in theory we have that choice.

What percentage of people have you known who have made purposeful choices about the work they do? Try asking as many people as you can what motivated them to choose their work. In my experience, well over 50% of the people I've asked say things like "I drifted into it...." or "It's a good way to make money..." or "I don't know, it just kind of happened". Most of my jobs after I had to give up playing music as my main source of income related to human development. Why? It surely was not purposeful. The main motivation was likely the fact my mother often told me when I was young that I was "born to be a teacher". Was she right? I don't know. But, my Bachelor's Degree was in Education, and after all this was my mother. So...teaching/human development it was.

How about you? A purposeful choice? With maybe 2 years excepted, I had a very satisfying work life. And I still enjoy the part time work I do, including yes, teaching guitar (thanks Mom). But for someone who has been purposeful to the point of selfish in other domains of my life, when I review my life's work choices I sometimes feel like I was a passenger nearly as much as I was a driver.