And Why You Must
When you love what you do, you’re more likely to love your life. When you love your life, you’re far more likely to see the positives, to seek the positives and to be positive in the lives of those around you. So ask yourself what makes you come alive, then go do that!
But Don’t Run Away!
Obviously, we’re not talking about abandoning your obligations and responsibilities in pursuit of your desires. We are not talking about infidelity, should the thought of an affair make you come alive. Nor your favorite TV binge shows. Were talking about creation rather than consumption.
Consumption has its place, but when we consume beyond a needed respite or R&R, we grow dull rather than inspired. A habit of consumption gets us stuck rather than motivated and depressed rather than excited by life. Consumption originates from survival needs and makes a portion of the lower chakras come alive, but that is short-lived.
We’re talking about creative aspirations that represent purpose and the work of your heart and soul, from the higher centers of your being. Creativity is the food that feeds the soul and the psyche.
Many coaches and gurus advise to follow your passion, no matter what. We’ve written about the problem with giving and receiving general advice. There’s so much of it today that we need to all be aware of our season of life and circumstance in order to discern the best advice for us.
Inspiration and aspiration do not leave trails of carnage in their wake, so don’t abandon your responsibilities to pursue your dreams. You can do both.
Start Where You Are With What You Have
At first it may be part time. At first it may be about waking up 30-60 minutes earlier so that you’ll have that time in the day for you to do what matters to you. But that should be easy because it matters, right?
You’re in charge of yourself, so claim that time and protect it as a sacred time to create.
How to Create More Time for Work That Matters to You
How to Gain an Extra Month Each Year?
If you knew you’d have to get up 30 minutes earlier every day for five years to do the work that matters most to you… to pursue your art or craft, wouldn’t it be worth it? And, at the end of five years, you’d have grown so much in the direction of your dreams that you may already be living them. But if not, you’d be well on your way!
Just 30 Minutes Per Day for One Year
30 minutes x 360 days (with 5 days off) = 10,800 extra minutes in the year, FOR AN EXTRA 180 HOURS OF TIME. That’s over a month of work weeks.
Just 30 Minutes Per Day for Five Years
That’s an extra 54,000 minutes over 5 years, equaling 900 hours, for 22.5, 40 hour work weeks
That’s time you spend idly scrolling through social and news feeds which often leave you filled with anxiety, fear, anger and possibly envy at the accomplishments portrayed by others.
None of that serves your aspirations or leaves you feeling fulfilled. But waking up 30 minutes early to focus on work you love each day? THAT is fulfilling!
Discipline Multiplied
So you seen how easy it is to actually create the time to do the creative work that really matters to you. But it gets even better. Because you’re waking up early and beginning your day creatively engaged in doing what makes you come alive, your day goes better and you feel happier, lighter and brighter.
Creating the Life You Want to Live
When you feel happier, lighter and brighter, each day is better. But the positive ripples from your one positive choice just keep on reverberating.
Joyful, happy people naturally elevate others through their radiant energy and creative expression of life. Beyond that, you’ll be inspiring friends, family and eventually strangers that become new friends, to become more creatively and positively engaged in their own lives. Proximity to positivity is contagious. So is proximity to negativity, so protect yourself from the wrong kind of contagion.
Starting the day with intention, reflection and gratitude are the building blocks of a great day.
Awakening early to create daily is the gift that keeps on giving.
You will gain more growth and clarity in doing the work of creating daily than anything else you could do.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Table of Contents
- Why You Must Do What Makes You Come Alive
- Never Underestimate the Power of Music to Uplift and Inspire
- If You Don’t Yet Know…
- Why You Must Do What Makes You Come Alive
- TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday
- When You Love the Work You Do
- More than a Privilege
Audio Article – What Makes You Come Alive
Living Your Future Happiness Now
A new neighbor up the street loves his sonic car speakers so much that we can hear him come and go a block away just from the booming base of his car stereo. He loves his music so much that he rocks his entire being and car and the neighborhood with it. The vibration of his passion for his music precedes and follows him wherever he goes.
Imagine for a moment, you, so imbued with delight in your work that it’s brimming over. You have a spring to your step and a smile on your lips that precedes and follows you wherever you go. Like the smile of a child and the contagion of laughter, your joy is a vibration that is positively impacting your immediate surroundings and all those with whom you come in contact.
What do you think will happen to your goals and dreams as you imbue each day with the joy of your pursuit?
“Never underestimate the power of a soul on fire.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Setting Joy in Motion
You know the opposite of that experience of joy and positivity. We’ve all experienced the surly teen or dull cashier who doesn’t make eye contact and barely speaks to the customer. Such attitudes conceal the light of consciousness, like shutters drawn on the windows of the soul.
Conversely, you know what it looks like to be served by someone who is delighted to be doing what they’re doing… someone who is genuinely cheerful and happy. Their enthusiasm spreads and affects you and everyone they come in contact with.
Chances are you leave that place, happier, lighter and brighter yourself, passing that positive ripple on wherever you go.
Cheerfulness sets up a positive vibrational field that attracts more positives to you.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Never Underestimate the Power of Music to Uplift and Inspire
I can so relate to the funny garden dance in the following video clip.
No matter how tired I am, if I turn on some great boogie music, (lately, it’s been the soundtrack from The Greatest Show on Earth, or the Lord of the Dance soundtrack). Such vibrant tunes as these never fail to elevate my state. I’m always immediately uplifted and energized, especially if I start dancing to it!
You Gotta Dance When You Love Your Work
Here’s a fun and funny example of someone who’s clearly into the moment of loving what he’s doing. But even if you can’t sing and dance at work, you can always sing and dance in your heart!
When You Do What Makes You Come Alive…
The video is not great quality but the lesson is powerfully depicted. You will want to watch this as you remind yourself of why you must get your work out into the world… especially if you’re growing a following.
If You Don’t Yet Know…
When you do what makes you come alive, you’re more likely to create and to love, for to create is also to love. But if you don’t yet know what makes you come alive, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Many people struggle with being uncertain as to their true passion and purpose.
The good news is that you don’t have to know to get started. In fact, you must get started for it is in the journey that the way becomes more clear. Head in the direction of that which inspires you and touches your heart.
Generosity stems from fulfillment. A full heart is a generous heart. A contented mind is a compassionate mind. Our hearts and minds are elevated when doing work we love. The operative word here is LOVE.
When you do what makes you come alive… your LIFE is fueled by LOVE. AND… when you’re life is fueled by love it’s easier to do more of what you love, and, to love whatever you do.
“The more fully you are engaged in living life, the more love is flowing through you.
The more fully love is flowing through you, the more fully you are engaged in life.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Why You Must Do What Makes You Come Alive
When you’re engaged meaningfully in work that matters to you, your life will radiate that purpose and joy.
Those who are on fire with life are not preoccupied with the negative news and naysayers. They are too filled with passion and love and light to dwell in dark places.
You will recognize this famously favorite Howard Thurman quote, that sums it all up eloquently:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
~Howard Thurman, author, philosopher, theologian, educator, 1899-1981
TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday
The popular TGIF acronym sums up this concept. If you’re in rush hour work traffic on a Monday morning, notice the faces of the people in the cars all around you. The majority are dull and unhappy.
Pareto’s Principle
Let’s consider Pareto’s principle here and the (roughly) 80-20 rule. The Pareto principle states that roughly 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort, known as the 80/20 rule.
Remember, these are all approximate percentages. Some cite 90/10 and 70/30, but the general concept is applicable to many things in life, and 80/20 is the usual median number to work with.
[Not] Living for the Weekend
When it comes to people who don’t live for the weekend because they are truly on fire with their life, it’s a minority. What’s important about this is that it means that the majority of people are not truly happy Monday through Friday for 40 or more waking hours per week!!!
It’s probably more than 40, if you included commute time and “dread time”… the amount of time people spend complaining about and dreading going back to work. But we’ll use 40 hours as an average here.
Then notice the faces again during the Friday afternoon rush hour. The majority are happier. Most are on their way to doing things they enjoy. Chances are for most, that doesn’t even mean off to party. Rather, it’s about being free to enjoy time doing the things they most enjoy doing with their time.
If you love your job, that’s wonderful, but unfortunately that’s not the majority.
“All negativity is an absence of love.”
~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily®
Another Look at TGI: What if…?
TGIM – Thank God it’s Monday
What if it was ‘Thank God it’s Monday”…? Or even better, what if it’s TGfT?
TGfT – Thank God for Today!
Might we see a massive societal shift achieved gradually over time?
What if 80 percent of the people were able to do work they loved 80% of the time? What if people were taught how to do work they love and encouraged to pursue that as a profession? If our world today is the result of just 20% of people actually doing work they truly enjoy… and 80% who do not, what if that were reversed?
What if 80 percent of the population began every day with gratitude and appreciation before embarking on work they enjoy?
Can you imagine such a world? Can you imagine creating that world for yourself beginning now, today, where you are with what is?
We cannot change the world, but we can change our world by the choices we make. Your inspired world begins with you doing what makes you come alive.
You cannot change the world, but you can change your world by the choices you make. And that’s where all change begins.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
When You Love the Work You Do
The majority of people are happier being positively productive doing work they love. A gardener doesn’t mind the work of gardening. He loves it. Gardening is something he’s passionate about. The painter doesn’t mind painting. Painting is something she’s passionate about. She loves doing it so it doesn’t seem like work.
When you do the work you love, that love spreads beyond your life.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
More than a Privilege
Next time you’re in work traffic on Monday, consider that Howard Thurman quote we started with above. It’s the tip of the iceberg of this topic and at the heart of why you must do what makes you come alive.
If you’re not sure, observe what you do when you are free to be you. Observe the active and creative moments in your life (or your daydreams) that bring you joy, and start adding some of that into each day.
Another tool to help you refuel is movement. Never underestimate the power of dynamic movement to create a dynamic life, and to change your state and help you get you unstuck.
To do the work you love is not just a privilege, it’s a responsibility you owe to yourself.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
Visioning is the First Step
And remember, when it comes to things like abundance and Law of Attraction books, vision boards and goals journals, they all work… IF you use them daily and in tandem. For visioning and planning must be followed by action. Vision, plan, then do.
So again, ask yourself, “What makes me come alive?” Then go do more of that!
If your dreams compel you then let them propel you. Obsessively. Intently. Intensely. DAILY.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily®
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
Want to submit your photos, videos and/or article content for publication? We love to consider your contribution for publication! creators@icreatedaily.com