If money didn’t matter—you had enough and didn’t need to worry about a paycheck—what would you be doing right now? How would you spend your time?
You’ve probably heard stories of people who didn’t have money but quit their jobs to pursue their passion—and became happier and more financially successful. They took a leap of faith or trusted their intuition—and went for it.
While I admit that’s not always easy to do, the fact remains that the desire to have an income stops many of us from pursuing our passions and sharing our greatest gifts.
Granted, you may need your income to support your family or yourself. We all need money to live. But eeking out a living shouldn’t stop you or me from doing what we love or from sharing what we have to offer.
That’s why it’s an interesting question to answer. What would you do if you weren’t concerned about money? (You might journal about it.)
Pursue Art and Share Your Talents
If I didn’t need to worry about money, I’d stop fussing so much about my websites, my sales copy, and developing new ways to bring in readers, clients and customers. Instead, I’d write more.
I’d allow all the rest to fall into place—or hire someone to do it for me—and focus on creating my art. That’s my gift, I believe, and I’d spend my time sharing it.
I wouldn’t worry about getting published—which doesn’t mean I would stop wanting my work to end up as published books, articles or posts—and I’d produce manuscript after manuscript. I’d write all the books I’ve always said I wanted to write—one after the other. And I’d continue writing for my blogs and for magazines—whether I got paid or not.
What’s Your Gift?
What gift do you have to give the world that you aren’t giving because you are too caught up in earning a living? What would you produce or do if you didn’t feel you had to be paid. (Actually, it’s only a gift if you give it freely without the need for financial compensation.)
Once you’ve identified that gift, I challenge you to find a way to give it anyway.
That’s right. Free of charge.
Give Your Gift for Free
Don’t wait for the money to arrive or for someone to reassure you that you’ll be paid after the work is done. Just start producing it.
Your art might be watercolor paintings, quilts, or hand-made dolls. Your gift might be developing business plans for start-ups, creating native gardens, or providing health plans for those with health issues. Or maybe your unique talent is listening to others, cooking, or caring for children.
Don’t wait for money for these endeavors. Just do them. See what happens.
Act as if you have won the lottery and can do whatever you choose.
Don’t Wait
You don’t have to quit your job to offer your gifts to the world. Decide it’s more important to give your gifts now than to wait until the right time—the time when finances are not an issue.
That time might not come, and you will die without creating your art, sharing your gift or leaving a legacy. You won’t make an impact in anyone’s life by offering that unique talent or skill you possess.
Start sharing your gift and producing your art now. Then, watch what happens.
Let me know… Leave me a comment.
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Don’t wait! It’s your time…now…to level up so you can achieve your potential, fulfill your purpose and live your life fully.
Photo courtesy of Robert_z_Ziemi / Pixabay.com
Very interesting a life challenge you posit. I continue to enjoy business development (although I do less of that) as well as writing memoir (doing more). The two go well together. As a writer, I have always essentially given my writing away even when I was selling it at price. The price was always set at making it attractive to the buyer. The Memoir Network continued to be my bread and butter. I have been lucky in that regard as my memoir work is very meaningful to me and to the people who work with me.
I thought about this and the first thing that came up for me is that this may have something to do with my fear of writing for publication. I want to write for publication because I want to help others benefit from what I have learned. Also, I want to write about what is important to me so I can benefit personally from a deeper understanding of the material.
Because the writing is so important to me, it feels like it has to be perfect and, if it flops, it will be a bigger disappointment.
But writing this I realize that this really is a no-lose situation because I can’t avoid learning more deeply from my writing even if it’s not great. Also even if it is poor writing and only one person gets some value from it, that is still a win. And on top of that, I will get better by doing my best at writing regardless of the quality of the final product. The goal, after all, is progress not perfection.