A Labor of Love

Richness of life: A labor of love

By Rom Antony Day

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

One of the riches of life described by Napoleon Hill is, in his book titled You Can Work Your Own Miracles and in the multitude of other books he authored, a labor of love. However, be mindful that this is a richness you can sow and cultivate like a garden. Neither Napoleon Hill nor any of the people he interviewed stated that that is a principle of achievement. In fact, there is not job that is too demeaning if done honestly. As a matter of fact, not only in my personal work history experience but also in the book What Color is Your Parachute it can be found that a person often will have to take a stop-gap job when you are in-between jobs; you must make money some how while you look for your perfect job; so while you are in-between your former job and the new one you are still looking for, you often reach the point to where a stop-job is a must. So do not allow a miss-construed explanation of a labor-of-love block you from earning a living.

Here is something that can help you get over the that- job-is-below-my-dignity attitude. The majority of people are familiar with the fact that Napoleon Hill was wealthy and donated much of its wealth to the start-up of public libraries in the United States of America. Everyone, even young teens, is familiar with the fact that he was a tycoon in the steel industry. Yet few people are familiar with where he started; he arrived penniless from Scotland to the United States of America, worked as a post office clerk and back then it was a more turgid job that it is now. I mean, now they are usually well-paid and enjoy U.S.A. Federal Government benefits which are almost unbeatable by most employers. I met years ago a now Canadian American family doctor who financed much of his education while he worked as a garbage-man. Later, he went on to become a broke doctor as he states it and became a multi-millionaire with an AMWAY / Quixtar distributorship. Although that business is not my cup-of-tea and I did it for several years, I was unable to make it work for me; but it did for him. The point is don’t confuse a richness or blessing with an achievement principle which is not. It is not an applicable principle to make you money; it is only a blessing that perhaps comes from diligent work or applied faith.

A labor of love unsophisticatedly uttered does not buy you a tinkers damn of food or of property; however it is nice to have if you can afford to.

A labor of love as defined by Napoleon Hill is the doing of work you really enjoy doing so much that to you it does not feel like work at all. That is it. Nothing more; nothing less.

That is surely the contrary of doing a job you dislike; nevertheless, often we have to do a job we do not like or the unpleasant parts of a job we like overall. For some it may well be paper work; for others it may be the task of calling on prospect clients who do not want to buy, yet can buy. Yet others might find these functions the most attractive part of their jobs.