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Are you living a “need to”, “gotta”, “have to” kind of life? Changing the way you think about work and other tasks can affect your level of success and make you a much happier person.
We live in a society where work is something we have to do, and many people hate what they do for a living. Some people have the ability and drive to choose what they do for income, and some don’t. One thing we all have though, is the ability to change the way we think about work and other tasks. I simple shift in our outlook and internal monologue can have a staggering effect on the way we view our work and how successful we are at it.
I’ll use a personal example to help you understand: I write for Associated Content, and this is how I make the majority of my income. For a long time I would think “I have to write today” or “I need to get caught up on my writing”. These thoughts create stress, because I’m making the task seem like a requirement. I do need to write to make money, but I don’t need to think of it like an axe hanging over my head. Every time I catch myself thinking “need to”, “gotta” or “have to” I give myself a mental kick and change my thinking to “want to” or “like to”. This simple shift changes how I feel about the task.
The truth is, I do want to write, and I do like to write. Writing is a form of creative expression that I enjoy, and I like feeling productive, and I love making money. So when I change my thinking from something stressful to something pleasing, it doesn’t seem so much like work anymore, and I can enjoy what needs to be done. I do this for other things in life, but it has the greatest impact when it comes to my work, whether that’s writing articles, writing books or working on art for my shops.
As you change your way of thinking and the words you say inside your mind, you can actually feel the shift from stress and worry to happiness and fulfillment. This subtle change affects everything you do, and how you feel about doing it. Even if you don’t like the job itself, you can tell yourself you want to do it, because you know that it will bring you income that you’ll enjoy.
If it’s at all possible, you should find work that you can actually enjoy so that you will want to do it, and you’ll enjoy it. When you are doing something you love, never let your mind turn it into something you hate. When I was creating art for my shops, I actually started to hate it, because I felt that I “had to” produce a certain number of designs each week, and I “needed to” get them into the shop by a certain date. I went from wanting to work on the store and enjoying creating art to treating it like work, and not liking it at all. I gave myself some serious writer’s and artist’s block from that.
If you can keep your mind in the right place when it comes to the tasks you need to complete, you’ll be a much happier person, and you’ll get a lot more done. When I start my day thinking “I want to write today” I can often do 4-6 articles. If I think “I need to write today” I may get one or two, if I can write anything at all. It’s difficult to change your way of thinking at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll notice that it comes automatically, and you’ll feel great. Try it for yourself, you’ll be glad you did.
