On the Job: Live the dream and do what you love

From USA Today

Years ago, Tama Kieves was a Harvard University graduate, working as a successful lawyer on the partnership track.

Big money and big success were on the horizon.

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"I was miserable," she says.

As someone who dreamed of being a writer when she was in high school, Kieves certainly was good at laboring as a lawyer. But she says she felt as if the job were sucking the life out of her.

She was depressed and didn't feel like herself anymore.

"I think like so many people who are doing well professionally, they discover they just feel so empty," she says. "I felt haunted."

That's when a friend said something that got her thinking: If she was so good at something she didn't like, imagine the success she might have doing something she loved.

The message resonated with Kieves who decided to chuck her lawyer gig and begin writing. Twelve years after beginning a book about finding your life's inspiration and doing something you love, she decided to self-publish.

For months her labor of love garnered little attention. Then a senior executive at a major publishing house picked up the book because she, too, was going through a major career transition and trying to find her inspired work.

What followed next was an offer from the publisher for Kieves's book and even more offers of speaking and coaching.

Kieves says what she's learned from her experience is that she wasn't alone in feeling trapped in a job she didn't like. Now she believes that anyone can turn life's labor into inspired work.

Her message appears to have an audience: AGallup survey finds that 70% of workers are not engaged or actively engaged at work.

But isn't that what we've come to expect with a struggling economy and challenging labor market? Aren't some workers destined to have jobs that they don't really like but that pay the mortgage?

Kieves hears that argument all the time but doesn't buy it.

"I think true passion is your greatest economic security," she says. "If you follow your genius and your talent, you're most likely to create and get a job."

Being in a job you don't like probably means you're not performing up to expectations, so you may be flirting with job loss anyway, she says.

In her job as a lawyer, she says: "I was so miserable. I knew at a certain point I just wasn't performing well."

When Kieves decided to walk away from her law career, it didn't take great courage. Instead she calls it a "matter of desperation."

"As terrified as I was of failure, I was more afraid of regret," she says.

Still, pursuing your inspiration doesn't always mean you have to quit your job, Kieves says.

"I'm talking about following your heart. For everyone, that's different," she says. "Maybe you start out on the side doing something you love, or you do it early in the morning before work. The point is to make it yours, part of your life. That may change everything for you."

As the author of Inspired & Unstoppable: Wildly Succeeding in Your Life's Work! Kieves says people also should realize that if their jobs are making them miserable, quitting may be necessary.

"Sometimes that will mean rearranging your lifestyle," she says. "Just remember it's never a step down to step aside."

But how does someone know the right path to take if they're looking to make a change? Kieves has this advice:

• Take your pulse. If you're energized by the path you're choosing — such as writing — then you know you're headed in the right direction.

• Don't try to define it right away. While Kieves knew she wanted to write, the speaking and coaching didn't evolve until later.

The first step is to look for something you love, then let your instincts guide you. Don't try to force a decision on what to do, but be willing to let it evolve.

• Stop planning. No one can plan an inspired life, and life will throw you plenty of curveballs along the way, she says.

"You will know when it's right," Kieves says. "It's like falling in love. It just feels so peaceful, so right."

• Stop listening to doubters. Fear will sound like practicality, she says.

You or others may say you can't follow your dream because you won't be successful or make any money.

"But if you follow the love, it will say, 'There's a reason you have this desire and why this dream is speaking to you,' " she says.

Anita Bruzzese is author of 45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy ... and How to Avoid Them, www.45things.com. Twitter: @AnitaBruzzese.