There are many ways to do fine work. One approach involves finding, following and fulfilling a labour of love. There are several definitions for this term.
A labour of love may be an activity that:
You love doing … You find rewarding in itself … You find yourself naturally drawn to doing … You become totally absorbed in doing … You find deeply fulfilling.
You feel in your element … You feel passionately about doing … You may do without thinking about financial rewards … You may go into a state of flow.
Imagine that you want to pursue your labour of love. This can involve focusing on the following themes.
You can find
your labour of love
Some people find their labour of love early in life. They may love painting, singing, acting on stage or other creative activities. They may love taking things apart and putting them back together.
Some people take longer to find their labour of love. Several years ago I worked with an osteopath who described their journey. They explained this in the following way.
“I have always like fixing things and making them work better. As a kid I spent many hours with my Dad when he was renovating cars. I enjoyed this, because it was one of the times I could be with my Dad.
“School was okay, but I preferred to do to physical things. I enjoyed playing rugby and also leading teams when we did outdoor activities. This led to me learning first aid to deal with medical emergencies.
“After college I considered going the doctor route, but instead chose to do physiotherapy. This eventually led to me studying osteopathy. This combined doing physical activity with my enjoyment of fixing things.
“During the first ten years I had many superb teachers and then eventually set up my own practice. I love helping people and, if possible, making things work even better.”
Different people follow different routes to finding their labour of love. Some focus on doing what they enjoy, some on the things that give them positive energy.
They may be helping people, teaching, acting, designing, solving technical problems, leading teams or doing another activity. Then one day, they may be doing something and say:
“This is where I feel at home. This is where I was meant to be.”
Imagine that you have found what you may believe can be a labour of love. It can then be time to move on to the next stage.
You can follow
your labour of love
Different people choose different ways to follow their labour of love. Much depends, of course, on the specific activity they want to pursue. They may aim, for example:
To help people by working as a counsellor, care worker, medic, educator, trusted advisor or in another role;
To create beautiful things by working as an artist, chef, designer, architect, film maker or in another role;
To make full use of their talents by working as a musician, athlete, scientist, leader or in another role.
Different may follow different paths when pursuing their passion. Such people often translate their labour of love into building on their strengths, however, and doing a specific project. They then aim:
To clarify the real results they want to achieve and translate these into a clear picture of success;
To clarify the key strategies they can follow to give themselves the greatest chance of achieving success;
To clarify their action plan, move into action and then do superb work on the way towards achieving the picture of success.
You will, of course, follow your labour of love in your own way. Sometimes this can lead to the next stage.
You can fulfil
your labour of love
Different people may have different views on what it means to fulfil their labour of love. Much depends, of course, on the kind of piece of work or project they are doing.
A medic in Accident and Emergency may find their daily work to be stretching but also deeply rewarding.
A writer may feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction after producing and publishing a specific article.
A lifeboat crew member may feel exhausted but happy after rescuing people and returning them to safety.
A technical specialist may feel fulfilled after solving a problem and enabling people to do superb work.
A singer may feel exhilarated after giving a performance that helped to give people positive memories for life.
You will fulfil your labour of love in your own way. One approach is to follow your successful pattern for finishing. Bearing in mind the work you aim to do, this involves going through the following steps. You can aim:
To clarify a specific situation in the past when you finished a similar piece of work – or tackled another challenge – successfully;
To clarify what you did right then – such as the principles you followed and how you translated these into action – to finish successfully;
To clarify how you can follow similar principles – plus maybe add other skills – to finish the present piece of work successfully.
You can then aim to keep following good habits, find solutions to challenges and do your best to finish successfully. This can then sometimes lead to a sense of fulfilment.
There are many ways to do fine work. One approach involves finding, following and fulfilling your labour of love. You will, of course, do this in your own way.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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