
05 Mar The Beginner’s Guide to Doing Work that Makes You Happy
“Sure that might work for them, but my situation is different.”
It’s a very dangerous script. And sadly, the world hears it a lot.
So do I.
It’s probably the most common defeatist and negative response I get from people who hear about the work we do at Live Your Legend.
And as it turns out, it’s the real reason most people don’t go through with the things they care about. They find some way of convincing themselves that they’re special.
But the reality is that we all have the same problems…
- I don’t have time to start looking for that new career.
- I don’t have the money to shop and eat in a healthier way.
- I don’t have the discipline to keep working through the uncertainty.
- I have a family to support and mortgage to pay, so we can’t take the risk.
- I’m too old.
- I’m too young.
- I have no idea where to start…
As much as people would like to think differently, none of our situations are that unique. That’s the beauty of it.
And no matter how challenging, scary or impossible your story may seem, there is almost always someone out there who’s been in a worse spot than you who somehow found a way to be victorious. The first step is finding one of those examples to prove what’s actually possible – we all need our own Roger Bannister.
That’s why we’re always profiling stories about people making magnificent change against what seem like all odds.
Because I’ve noticed everyone falls into two camps: You have a compelling reason to do what matters to you – or you don’t.
That’s it.
Live Your Legend exists for two reasons:
1. First to show you proof of what’s possible, from our tens of thousands of Living Legends around the world.
2. And then to provide you the community and roadmap to make the seemingly impossible your new normal.
So today I want to lay out a list of some of our most powerful free tools. I spent the last few hours going through hundreds of our articles from the past few years to cherry-pick the ones that have made the most difference so you can use them as a guide to making real change – both for you and those close to you.
My real goal is to remove the excuses.
Plus, a couple of weeks ago I got an email from a seemingly-frustrated reader saying something to the effect of, “I don’t just want to buy some expensive product. I wish you’d offer more for free…”
Emails like this always blow me away. My first response is to read it five more times to be sure I’m hearing it right.
My hope is that they’re new to the community and haven’t yet realized how we do things around here…
This community is free to you – all we ask is that you do something with it!
I pour my heart and soul into the articles and workbooks we create. So does our team. And 95% of everything we produce is totally free. Yes, this Revolution is also a business, which allows us to create the free communities, tools and resources we do. We have a couple uber in-depth paid courses for those who want more specific help, but the majority of you will probably never purchase them. And that’s totally fine by me. If you’re motivated and dedicated enough, you can make unbelievable progress on your own. Either way, we’re a family and we’re in this together.
But what I’m NOT ok with is you refusing to take action.
My #1 goal is to always provide you with the most useful people and tools for finding and doing the work that actually matters – to you and to the world.
What I care about is that you DO something with it. That’s our deal. We promise to do our part as long as you do something, anything, that gets you closer to what matters.
So here’s a reminder for all of you to have at your fingertips – begging to be used. It’s only valuable if you decide to do something with it…
Here’s what I ask you to do with the below:
- Send this article and list to one person you know could use a change but doesn’t know where to start – or believes it’s impossible.
- Pick one article that’s most relevant for your current situation and get started taking some action.
Enjoy!
The Beginner’s Guide for Doing Work You Love
#1 – If you haven’t already, the first step is to watch our TEDx talk on How to Find & Do Work Your Love. That sets the stage for everything. Then dig into the rest…
1. Making Difficult Decisions and What do Do Before You Quit
Immediately jumping ship is rarely the smart thing to do. There’s plenty you can (and should do) to prepare before you have to drop everything and run…
- How to Hate Your Job (or 16 Things Not to Do)
- The Beginner’s Guide to Enjoying a Job You Hate
- Does What You’re Doing Actually Matter? (+ free workbook)
- Do You Want to Be Your Boss? (or How to Know When It’s Time to Quit…)
- How to Fund a Passion: 5 Not So Obvious Ways Anyone Can Make an Extra $1,000 a Month
- How Business School Killed the Entrepreneur (and some worthy alternatives)
- The Death of Job Security & How to Raise Yourself (and Your Child) to Be an Entrepreneur
- The One Thing You Must Do the Moment You Quit or Get Fired (Purpose Finding 101)
- Take the 5-Minute “Should I Quit” Test
2. Understanding Fear, Realizing What’s Actually at Risk & Making it Fun:
Everyone’s inaction ultimately comes down to some type of fear. We must get a handle on it…
- Never Fail Again: 13 Ways to Turn Fear and Doubt Into Fuel for Brilliance
- Rejection Therapy: How to Build Overnight Courage or Guarantee Failure
- The Most Dangerous (& Unfounded) Risk of Attempting to Do Work You Love
3. Discovering Untapped Motivation & Seeing the Proof of What’s Possible:
The more people we can see others doing the seemingly impossible, the more it becomes normal. We have to ‘brainwash the impossible’.
- From Doctor & Lawyer to Musician & Revolutionary: Making Extreme Career Transitions & Why It’s Never Too Late
- You Can Have a Bigger Impact than You Think
- How to Stop Failing (or How to Live a Dream)
- How to Build a Passion Business While Supporting a Family of 8 (the post to kill excuses)
- 10 Surprising Case Studies of Ordinary People Doing the Impossible
- 10 More Case Studies of Normal People Doing the Extraordinary
- How to Change Careers long before Quitting Your Job: The 18 Most Inspiring LYL Transitions of 2013
- The 9 Most Inspiring Transitions of 2012
4. How to Find and Do Work You Love
Once we have our foundation, we’re ready to follow the steps that get results. Here’s your roadmap…
- The 15 Rules of OUR Revolution (Are You In or Are You Out?)
- The Passionate Work Framework: 3 Rare Requirements that Make Passionate Work Possible
- 11 Quick Actions You Can Do Today to Successfully Start Doing Work You Love (or Anything)
- The 14 Most Powerful TED Talks for Disruptive Career Change & Making a Difference
- Become a Writer, Transform Your Career, Change the World + Video Tutorial: How to Start a Blog in Under 10 Minutes w/ Zero Tech Experience
- 27 Questions to Find Your Passion Workbook (free Download)
- Simon Sinek Shares the #1 Business Principle that Changes Everything (Video Interview)
- Our Most Challenging Choice: 6 Steps to Ensure You Don’t Pick the Wrong Path
- How Living Legends Ensure Success: Do this Daily & Guarantee You’ll Do Work You Love
5. Building Your Brand and Creating a Movement
You are your own most powerful brand. It’s on you to position it in a way the world can understand – and maybe even build a movement or revolution around it…
- How An Average Person Becomes Famous: The Path from Ordinary to Extraordinary (in 2 sacred steps)
- Behind the Curtain: The 3-Step System to Becoming a Highly-Paid Expert
- On Modeling the Impossible and How to Do Anything
- 18 Field-Tested Steps to Launching a Non-Violent Revolution for a Cause You Deeply Believe In
6. Firing Toxic Friends and How to Surround Yourself with the World-Changing People Who Make Failure Impossible:
I believe changing environments is the first step of any type of meaningful transition. It’s also the last. The right friends will transform who you are. So this should round out today’s framework…
- The 31 Habits of the World’s Best Connectors
- Mastering The Art of Social Facilitation: The Only Truly Instantaneous Performance Hack
- Firing Toxic Friends & What To Do If Your Community Won’t Support Your ‘Crazy’ Ideas
- How to Add Real Value to Very Successful People (even if you have ‘nothing’ to offer)
- 5 Steps to Find & Befriend Your ‘Dream Connections’: Deciding Who You Actually Want In Your Corner
- Tapping Brilliance: The Ultimate Mastermind Workbook is Live! (Download your totally free 56-page guide)
- A Beginner’s Guide to Anti-Networking: 13 Tools & Articles for Building Real Relationships
7. Clearing Space and Figuring Out How to Create the Time to Get it All Done
And in case you’re having trouble figuring out how to find the extra time, especially while you might be juggling a full-time job or even fuller-time family, here are my top tools. I use them constantly…
- 11 Steps to Insane Focus: Do More of What Matters
- The Day the World Came Together + Download Our Free 2014 Goal Setting & Action Workbook!
- How I Plan My Week (My 5-Step Process + free workbook download)
*****
The tools are all here…
And I’m to happy to provide them. I love the fact that anyone can stumble upon our community and put them to use. The only price you have to pay is a little time and dedication. Consider them a thank you for being a part of this Revolution – and my friendly urge to get you to actually live your own legend as opposed to just reading about it.
The action comes from the doing. Always has.
You just have to decide to use them.
Start with one of these today. Then think of one person close to you who you know is in need of the same friendly nudge. Send them a short and sincere email with this link: The Beginner’s Guide to Doing Work that Makes You Happy. Help them start to roll the snowball. We all know that’s the hardest part.
Once it’s rolling, we’re here to ensure it doesn’t stop.
Much love,
– Scott
P.S. A full list of our articles can always be found on the Archives page.
—-
Image Credit: The above photo was taken by me while on a run across the Golden Gate Bridge. You can follow my ongoing adventure on Instagram.
Pip D
Posted at 10:11h, 05 MarchScott – this list of articles is amazing. Thank you so much for everything you put out into the world!
Scott
Posted at 11:43h, 05 MarchGlad you like it Pip! And thanks for being a part of it! Can’t wait to see what you do as a result 🙂
Med student
Posted at 10:23h, 05 MarchYou’re totally right. I find a little difficult to apply every situation you describe to mine because I don’t have a job I hate, I have a university career that may not be ideal for me. If it were possible in my country – Italy – I would definitely be a med student and a physics student at the same time. I’d love to be an astrophysicist and at the same time I find neuroscience fascinating.
That is not legally possible in Italy due to a law which was made in the fascist era. I’ve been struggling with this decision – whether to change faculty or not – for the past two years. I’m currently at my second year of medicine and I’m 20.
I would love to have in my corner people like you – I mean in my city. People who went through what I am going through. I admire Edwin Hubble, who started his life as a lawyer and then became an astronomer. I do know about some people who changed faculty (from Medicine to Physics) at their third or second year: that’s considered insane in my country (by the way they’re not my friends. Should I try to make friends with them? That would be embarrassing but I could try).
Italian physicist leave Italy in order to learn more faster. This country doesn’t have much to offer to young people interested in science and it is not smart enough to understand how beautiful and important astrophysics is. They just think it’s so far from their daily life. It couldn’t be more wrong. Physics makes you smarter and capable of solving any kind of daily-life problem through logic thinking and math and it is really The Subject which can make any human being as close as humanly possible to understanding the mystery of life and to answering to The Big Questions – where did the universe come from, how everything came to existence and how will it all end.
Med student
Posted at 10:31h, 05 MarchBy the way, sorry for my poor English and thank you so much for every single article.
Joe
Posted at 15:38h, 05 MarchGreat advice and information on here. Life is far too short to spend it doing a job that you dislike. Since you spend probably over 50% of your time in work and for a very long time it is worth working out what you need to do to have the job you want.
Nancy Collamer
Posted at 16:31h, 05 MarchScott:
Once again, you have hit it out of the ballpark by providing another list of amazing resources (although I am still shaking my head in disbelief that anyone would suggest that you need to give away more for free – yikes!). Your generosity, professionalism and spirit of service shines through everything you do.
FYI, I’ve included your site in this list of 100 Great Second-Act Career Resources: http://www.mylifestylecareer.com/recommended-resources/recommended-sites/100-great-second-act-career-sites/
Thanks again for all you do Scott!
Just in time
Posted at 19:34h, 05 MarchDear Scott,
I am so very grateful that you took the time to put together this list of resourceful & motivational links & info for us – it has found me at a point when I seriously looking for strategies for how to take my next steps. Thanks for reminding me to keep on keeping on 🙂
Dubem Menakaya
Posted at 05:26h, 06 MarchHi Scott
I’ve been reading you’re articles for about a month and I LOVE this community. I love what you’ve built, the help you give and the fact that I can see your heart and soul in it.
I’m so inspired by this movement. I’ve had this feeling that this is a REVOLUTION and we’re all participants in it. You’ve inspired me and provided awesome resources for me to play my part and continuing the inspiration movement.
I’m going to a Live Your Legend event in London on Sunday and hope to meet more awesome soldiers of the revolution!
Just felt that I should really say how grateful I am for all you’ve done and are doing.
Thanks again!
Viva La Revolucion!
Diana
Posted at 06:44h, 06 MarchThe article is incredible. It is like a free course. Thank you so much:) of course forwarded to people who hopefully will make good use of it. As recently I am more and more convinced that you can complain as much as you want and have hundreds of excellent excuses, everything depends on how badly you want it.
Matt Kress
Posted at 07:47h, 06 MarchGreat resource Scott.
It goes to show that you can add so much value by repackaging what you have already written in a way that it hasn’t been put together before.
This resource opened me up to new posts that I haven’t seen in the past, but found value in.
Doing Work that Make You Happy | Vagabond Lifestyles
Posted at 10:56h, 06 March[…] Scott Dinsmore wrote a totally awesome blog post about getting started in finding your purpose and acting upon it. I want to share this blog post with the Vagabond Lifestyles Community, the titled The Beginner’s Guide to Doing Work that Makes You Happy. […]
Gina
Posted at 11:14h, 12 MarchWhat! LYL is full of free resources! And your passion and energy comes through in every post, article and video. I came across LYL a little over a month ago and have already used so many of the tools available. I have also recommended the site to friends, colleagues and my nephews (one in college and one in high school – why wait?) Thank you Scott for the gift that LYL is to the world.
Mallie Rydzik
Posted at 14:24h, 17 MarchGreat stuff, Scott! I’ve been following you for awhile now and I’m still finding new (and *free*) information. Bookmarking this post, as these resources are amazing as I’m finally narrowing in on a life/career direction!
Bethany
Posted at 20:20h, 23 MarchScott,
I have only just recently found your blog. I stumbled onto it after doing a Google search on how to become the person I’ve always wanted to be. This website has already helped me SO much, so thanks for that.
I’ve noticed that in many of the articles that you have written, you mention how helpful it is to have a mentor and to surround yourself with people who are already DOING what you see your future (Legendary) self doing. I dig that. Is there an article on here about how to find a mentor-how to reach out to someone and test their passions against your own? If not, do you have any pointers?
Regardless, thanks so much for making this wonderful resource.
Don
Posted at 20:25h, 18 MayPLEASE get rid of the E-mail newsletter download “Nag Box” that is BLOCKING the content of this page! I’ve re-loaded the page several times in an attempt to read it – and it re-appears just as I’m trying to read! Very annoying and unprofessional … to say the least.
Denis
Posted at 04:06h, 09 SeptemberI’ve just joined your living your legend – the spark – yesterday it went well but today I ‘m told it’s password protected . I can’t seem to find the right password .
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