37. The 2 Types of Work You Want to Be Doing

You ever found there's some work that you like doing, but there's other types of work you don't like doing? If you've had a job or a career for any period of time and ever worked in more than one working situation, you've probably found some distinctions or some differences between them. One of the most important things I found that has made my career and my time more enjoyable is to get doing work I really enjoy. Now, years ago, I had a project I had to do for my master's degree in psychology. I was in a career counseling course, and the project I did was on retirement. I asked this gentleman, his name was Edwin, I said, Edwin, what is your definition of retirement and when do you think you'll get there? I'd ask this question to different people. Edwin at the time was a 35 year old financial investor and money manager for people. He said, Wait, I'm already retired. By my definition, I'm doing what I want with my time. I'm helping people manage their money, their funds, helping them create the finances for their goals and their kids' education and so on. Wait, as far as I'm concerned, I'm really already retired.

I don't yet financially have all the money set aside to where I could afford to pull the plug on working, but my goal is never to stop working. I might work a little less as I get older, but overall, his definition of work was a much higher evolved or more at least highly enjoyable vision of work and experience of work than a lot of people have. And over the years, I've looked at the different types of work I've been involved in and found that some of them I really enjoyed and some of them I didn't. I'm going to share with you seven different types of work, and the two that you eventually want to get most of your time in. The reason I want to show you all seven of them, though, is so you can get an appreciation for where you are and then realize that it's not just a matter of I do work I hate or I do work I love. There's gradations and there's a process that you might even go through. And as long as you're evolving, there should be hope for you. So the first type we're going to look at is just outright slave labor.

This is something that most of us think is the thing of the past. Unfortunately, it still goes on in some countries, and its nature is it's forced and it's abusive. An example of this might be a kidnapped slave worker. Hopefully, this is something that you're not having to experience or never had to experience. But sadly, that still goes on these days. Now, most of us, if you're watching this video, are probably not having to experience that. But that's a sad truth that sometimes happens, and again, obviously, really the lowest form of work. The second type of work I'm going to call subhuman. That's where it's abusive and it's the only option. In some parts of the world, the only job option a person might have might be something like working at a sweat shop or something like that. Most people around the world would agree that that's pretty subhuman, at least the working conditions and sweat shop being the concept of a person working 14, 16, 18 hours a day, poor working conditions, unhealthy, people getting injured, that stuff. Then there's what I like to call survival work. That's work that you might not like and you might not believe in, but it helps you pay the bills and so you figure, Wait, I got to pay the bills?

And it's something you do. Now, an example I use here might be somebody who works for the tobacco company but doesn't believe in what they're up to, believes that cigarettes are harmful for people, but they work for a tobacco company because, again, they need to pay the bills. Success is a different experience of work. This is where we start feeling like we have some control over what's going on. Maybe we like the pay or we like the benefits. We might dislike the work, but overall, we're at least feeling a little more powerful. We're able to earn some things. I think of the well paid corporate zombie, the person who says, Man, I can't stay on my work. I can't wait for happy hour. I really don't like it. But it helps pay for the things I enjoy, and so I work so that I can live. I certainly don't live to work, but I do this work. It pays the bills, so be it. I acknowledge it. There could be nice things, and truly, as we look at our definitions, there could be. But this person at least, they're making good job or good income financially, but it might not be the work they want to do.

Then there's something that I really had to come to terms with, and this is the concept of what I'm going to call sacred work. This is work that helps you fund a greater purpose. It might be the exact same job you had in that success situation, but maybe it's something that's helping you pay the bills while you start another business, while you start your second business. If you're already an entrepreneur and you ever jumped businesses, you might at least have had this thought process. Certainly, if you're an entrepreneur who started with one job and then started another job after hours and said, Okay, I'm going to start this side business. When this side business makes enough money, I'll quit my primary job, then you at least understand at least what I'm calling sacred work, something that funds a greater purpose. Now, you might say, Wait, my work is sacred. If it helps pay the bills and educate my kids, that's great. A lot of it's a perspective, and why it's so important is because if we believe the work is important, if we believe the work is funding what is most important to us and what we value, then it's a different experience of that work than even, let's say, the success version.

The success, maybe we don't know where we're going and so it feels like we're on a treadmill. On the sacred work, usually there's a sense that at least it's funding something or it's doing something, or it is perhaps leading to your freedom to do a different type of work. Significant work is really the ideal type of work to make money with. It's where you really feel like, and you know you're serving others and you're making money. Now, the interesting thing about this is the income levels for this can be all over the spectrum. You could be a teacher or a social worker and you're doing work that serves others and it's making money, but maybe it's not making enough money for you, but you still love the work. Or maybe you're an entrepreneur that's really helping other people. Some entrepreneurs and the work they do is certainly helpful, some maybe not as much. That might be something where you say, Wait, this is significant. I'm making an impact in the world positively. I'm helping people and I'm making money. Everybody's winning. Then the final type of work is what I'm going to call soul work.

This is your life work. This is something that you might or might not get paid for. That's a very critical distinction here. This might be something that you make lots of money at. It might be something you make no money at. So maybe you're a spiritual teacher or a life coach, or maybe you just volunteer. And so there's no income attached to that or associated with that. And I mention that because over the years, 20 plus years of reading books and seeing different people experiment with and myself playing with, okay, can I do work that I really love and make lots of money and all these different things? From my experience, it's been, if I can be in numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, that's at least a pretty good space. But some of the work I do might not be the most exciting, but it generates a good income. And to use the sacred work definition, it helps me fund some of the other things I do. So the books I write on spirituality, I'm not looking to make money for those, at least at this stage of my career and evolution. And I'm able to do that, though, because I make money in other areas.

And then in my case, and a lot of people's cases, I'm always trying to make my work more sacred, more significant, and more soul filled. But in the meanwhile, I still have obligations I've committed to, responsibilities, whatever word you want to call that. And so there is this sense of still being able to balance the reality that not everything is exactly the way we want it to be all the time, and yet we can still do a great job and enjoy work and know that we're evolving in this. So ideally, of course, each of the two areas would most like to be, would be in an area where we're getting paid to do work that we believe in, that's helping the world, and where we're doing what we feel we're called to do. So I just wanted to leave you with a thought on that last one of the soul work. Something I love that I heard Marian Williamson say once is she talked about how she was getting frustrated hearing people say that they wanted to be actors, but nobody would let them act. And what they were saying was nobody would pay them to act.

And she said, Look, if you want to be an actor, go act. Go to a community center. Go start somewhere. Perform for free. If that's truly your soul work, if that's your calling, do that. Again, maybe it'll pay the bills or maybe it won't, but start there. So very often the path to entrepreneurship and starting your own business or starting your own job outside of a job is just doing what you love and people saying, Wow, you're so awesome at this. I'd love to pay you to do this. Those are the seven types of work. A gain, the two that ideally you'd eventually like to get to, I hope you find that helpful, consider this as an evolution, not as something that you're going to just arrive at one day. Whatever stage you're at, I'd suggest you just write down some goals on what is it that you want to be your next stage? What would that look like? And what are some of the steps you need to get there? Hope you find that helpful. If you want more help specifically on creating your four day work week game plan so that you can start moving in the direction of working a four day work week, whether you're currently a business owner, an entrepreneur, an employee who wants to be an entrepreneur, regardless of where you're at, or if you're in school and you're just learning about jobs and how they work, overall, being able to create a plan to have the lifestyle you want and make income starts with you getting strategic about it.

The 4 day work week game plan will help you do that. You can go to 4day gameplan. Com and start creating your game plan there. Hope this serves you. If you have any questions in this, as always, let me know. I look forward to helping you make more money in less time. Do what you do best so you can create your 4 day Work Week lifestyle and enjoy your friends, your family, and your life. Thank you.