femalenetwork.com

Picture yourself behind the counter of a fastfood joint, wearing a uniform, slinging burgers, earning only a few pesos more than minimum wage. You’re going nowhere fast, right? But what if your lifelong goal is to own a restaurant? This seemingly dead-end job suddenly sounds like an invaluable educational opportunity.

Now imagine you’re a corporate lawyer dressed in Armani, negotiating deals, making seven figures a year. Sounds pretty good? Not if you’re in the office past ten every night, lunch is usually a tuna sandwich devoured between meetings, and a frantic schedule has sidelined your social life.

The true measure of success is not status or money—neither will it suffice if you’re downright miserable—but the ability to feel absolutely terrific about what you do for a living. Adore your job and you’re likely to be an office star.

Redirect Your Energies
Four years ago, Nicky’s* film industry career was in high gear. As an assistant producer for the country’s largest film outfit, she was doing lunch, inking deals, making enough money to live in her own high-rise in Makati. But she loathed the pretentiousness that seemed rampant in show business and regretted that her position afforded little opportunity for creative input. So she took a risk: She quit her job and, along with a friend, focused her drive and enthusiasm on launching an underground rock magazine. After perusing a few issues, one reader was so impressed, he hired Nicky to create CD-ROMs for his visionary company. Soon, competitors were trying to steal her away. Today, as an independent multimedia consultant, Nicky is still on a career fast track, but now she wakes up each morning eager to begin her day.

Karen decided to become a fitness instructor because she’s always loved sports and exercise. Straight out of college, she landed a coveted position with a giant firm that designs corporate wellness programs, but only after six months, she was already burned out. With the help of a career counselor, Karen realized she had no patience for office politics. She left the company, became a personal trainer, and developed a client list so long she may have to hire a staff of her own.

The right work “has a hum to it,” says Sherrie Connelly, president of the Strategy Foundation in Washington, D.C. “You lack the desire to be anywhere else.” In studies of what she calls work spirit, Connelly discovered there’s a definite connection between positive attitude and job performance. If you enjoy your chosen field, you set high personal goals and stretch to attain them. In the end, you’re duly rewarded. She’s also found that a sense of fulfillment depends not on a job itself but on the work involved. The work you love often expresses your values and what you care to give to the world.”

“I remember sitting in a meeting listening to my coworkers argue for thirty minutes about whether we had a twenty-seven or twenty-eight percent share of our target market,” says Kathy Chua, a former administrative assistant. “Suddenly I realized…I couldn’t care less.” She saved for a year, then went back to school for a master’s degree in public health. Now, Kathy works for a nonprofit group that helps teach HIV-infected people about safe sex. “I make less than I used to, but I feel as if I’m truly helping to make the world a better place. It’s exhilarating.”

Leave an Unhappy Situation
No matter how many stories we hear about people who derive enormous pleasure from their professional pursuits, some of us have a hard time believing such an attitude is even possible. We’ve been taught to believe that if it was supposed to be fun, they wouldn’t call it work.

“My job is exhausting, with tons of responsibility but not much authority,” groans Marissa Guerrero, who toils fifty hours a week as traffic manager for a Manila-based ad agency. “The pay is decent, though, so I’d feel greedy saying I want to enjoy myself too.” Although Marissa excels at her duties—making such projects flow smoothly and stay on schedule—these tasks give her zero satisfaction. “Sometimes, I think, The economy is so tight, I should be grateful just to be employed.”

Plugging away at a career you dislike might earn you a merit raise, brownie points, your mother’s pride—but definitely not self-esteem. “People often hit the fast track in something they don’t love, then feel trapped,” says career expert Barbara Sher, author of Live the Life Your Love: In Ten Easy Step-by-Step Lessons. “And then, no matter how much money they make, they spend it all and go into debt buying consolation prizes for a lousy life.”

Even worse is the tendency to linger for years at a job you loathe—the boss is a monster, work is tedious—simply because you can’t do without the health benefits or pension plan. The best way to liberate yourself from a gold-plated ball and chain? Do some intensive soul-searching, figure out exactly what type of work can inspire you.

Define Your Lifework
Is your job energizing? Does it boost your confidence? Bring you closer to a goal? Do you love it? Career searching, says Connelly, is like husband hunting: “In order to make a good match, you must explore all options, not settle for the first thing that comes along. And if you have to ask if it’s right for you, it isn’t.” Here are four ways to make an enduring work-love connection:

1. Discover the point at which what you love to do and what someone will pay you to do intersect. We all have talents, things about which we’re passionate. Are you ever so immersed in an activity, you lose track of time? Is there something—reading, solving math problems, playing with kids—that gives you a major kick?

Sometimes favorite activities don’t translate into income-producing endeavors. If that’s true for you, ask yourself what aspect of your hobby is stimulating, then find a pursuit that’s similar. Say you love hiking through the woods. Consider becoming a park ranger. Perhaps you’re an actress at heart. Are you excited by the prospect of performing in front of a crowd? Do you have an uncanny ability to memorize lines? Maybe you should look for a position that will require you to speak before large groups. Each night after work, Veronica enjoyed going online to chat with members of an electronic discussion group. When she left her tedious job in publishing, she was able to parlay her technical skills into a position as general manager of a small Internet access provider. “I’m at the office for ten hours,” she says, “then I go back home and inevitably get back on the computer. I love that I turned my hobby into a career in a fast-growing field where there are few women.”

2. Do what you care about. More than a means to a paycheck, work can be a way to express values. Melissa Everett, author of Making a Living While Making a Difference, recalls that she accepted her first job as a computer programmer and analyst because she thought it would be safe, sensible, and secure. “I couldn’t stand it,” she recalls. “It didn’t mean anything to me beyond a paycheck, and I wasn’t good at it because I didn’t care enough to try.” As a career counselor in Woodstock, New York, she now helps people find satisfying ways to be self-sufficient—a pursuit that generates an enormous sense of purpose, power, and pride.

“You have to go beyond preference to passion,” advises Everett. “Don’t just ask yourself if you’d rather work in a big or small company. Ask what the world needs and what you’d like to achieve.”

3. Devise a plan. Once you’ve decided to follow your dream, better not ditch your current job unless you’re able to support yourself—emotionally and financially—during the transition period. Use every resource available: consult a career counselor, talk to your friends, family, strangers. Barbara Sher advises taking your time, scrimping for a year or two while accumulating your escape fund; you may need to further your education or accept a low-paying apprenticeship, but the bills still must be paid.

4. Understand that no matter how happy you are right now, you may eventually long for a change…and if you do outgrow a job, it doesn’t mean you’ve wasted time or become a failure. Dissatisfaction is healthy and could simply be a signal that you’re once again ready to begin the long and arduous—but ultimately rewarding—search for work you absolutely love.

* Some names have been changed.