Day 1 of 48

Those of you who know I’m the prince of the non-sequitur probably aren’t alarmed at all by my title. To clear things up anyway it’s a reference to the beginning of my journey to the work I love. Tonight, I started reading Dan Miller’s 48 Days to the Work You Love. 48 Days to the Work You Love Dan suggests following the steps in his book within 48 days, so I’ll use some sparsely written posts here on space-age wasteland to keep me honest. Tonight, I’ll publicly answer one of his questions:

Respond to the statement, “All progress requires change, but not all change is progress.”

Progress, to me, is forward motion toward a goal. For me to, say, make progress toward my goal of paying off my house by 2007 a seemingly drastic change must occur – I don’t make enough money to do that now. If I want to make progress toward my goal of doing something I’m passionate about, then I need to change my behaviors for work, take some risks and probably a bunch of other things I’ll read in the upcoming chapters of the book. I understand change is necessary. This all reminds me of a line from the BBC version of The Office:

It’s better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than half way up one you don’t.

My last thought is just a reference to an article that I found via this Occupational Adventure post. It’s a long article, but it moved me enough to print out a copy and hand it into my manager in my annual performance review. Good stuff. Good night.