Doing What You Love

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My daughter recently asked me what I saw myself doing when I retire.  ”Retire?” I said.  ”I have no plans to retire.  I want to work until I die.”

And I mean it.  I’m not trying to re-enter the workforce just to bring in a pay check.  I want to do something I love.  I’m passionate about journalism.  I’m passionate about writing and producing and telling stories.  I intend to find a way to do the things I love for the rest of my life.  And I believe following my passions will prove profitable.  You know that line from Field of Dreams — “If you build it, he will come.”

I’m not alone in this belief.  Patricia DiVecchio is a personal coach, author, and founder of International Purpose.  She believes the very definition of “work” is evolving into something we as individuals define for ourselves and will be less about what we do but more about who we are.

“Work is no longer about jobs, unemployment or retirement.”  DiVecchio writes in her book Evolutionary Work:  Unleashing Your Potential in Extraordinary Times.  ”If work is actually about innate purpose, then how can we retire from our very selves?  The traditional work/business structure keeps us chained to an unhealthy reality that hardly cultivates ourselves.”

Intrigued, I met with DiVecchio over tea a couple months ago, and we talked about her ideas.  She believes strongly that each of us can find meaningful, satisfying work that not only makes us happy but supports us financially.

She helps clients discover their true passions through a seven step process she has developed and fine-tuned over the past 15 years.  And she claims to have helped hundreds of people find truly meaningful work.

The biggest hurdle many people face, however, is their own fear.  But DiVecchio says that fear itself can be an important tool in the process of re-inventing ourselves.  The trick, says DiVecchio, is to make fear an ally, a motivator.  ”Fear,” she says, “can lead us to a solution.”

I know my fear that my creative talents would wither and die as I tended solely to the needs of others — cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, fixing, helping, serving — has propelled me to re-invent myself.  And will continue to do so.  I don’t want to be an empty nester with nothing to do.  I want to acknowledge and nurture those other parts of myself that I’ve ignored too much over the course of raising my children.

So I get what DiVecchio is saying.  And you may, too.  Her seven steps may just unlock your potential.

“I always say give it a chance,” says DiVecchio.  ”It can’t hurt, and it may help.”

Check out her book.  And listen to more of DiViecchio’s ideas in this interview with DiVecchio on Back in Force on BlogTalkRadio.