BY TJ Walker
I can’t stand the title of this chapter…it sounds sappy…it sounds cheesy. Still…it is true. If you go through life following your passion, constantly learning, helping lots of people, traveling the globe, and making good money, then you can’t help but have a wonderful time going through life. Sure, you will still have frustrations and you will perhaps get tired of getting on airplanes. You may still go through a divorce and have financial problems. But speaking of finances, if you thoroughly enjoy your job because it melds your passions together, then there is less pressure on you to save and hoard millions of dollars in order to retire at age 62 so that you can spend the next 30 years (if you are so lucky) doing the things you really wished you’d been doing your whole life, because you are doing the fun things everyday already.
Even if you never charge exorbitant, superstar fees, you should be in excellent financial shape when you start to get older because you will continue to make money as long as you live, or at least as long as you are healthy enough to think, write, talk and travel some.
Let’s face it, many people in life have boring jobs AND boring personal lives. They have little variety in their professional careers and in their personal lives. This can be true whether you are a low paid dairy farmer’s assistant or a highly paid banker. The cliché “variety is the spice of life,” like many clichés, has a great deal of truth in it. As a guru or expert, it is, by definition, impossible for you to do the same old same old. You must be on the forefront of what is new, different and exciting in your field. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be the expert anymore; you’d just be a passive late adopter.
Why do Academy Award winners like Jessica Tandy, comedians like Milton Beryl and George Burns, and TV personalities like Art Linkletter all live to be 95, 100 or more? Sure, good genes may play a part, but there is also something to the theory that if you are doing what you love to do and helping people whether through entertainment or some other vehicle, and getting praise for doing so, that you tend to feel less stress and live longer. I believe that is why many gurus live to such a ripe old age—they are simply having too much fun and are too busy to die!
If you aren’t enjoying the journey you are on, there is a danger you have fallen into a niche that isn’t your true passion or your niche has become stale to you. You may have to calibrate. But even if you have to start over, you will already have the skills to build a career and a life around your passion. And if you are doing it for the second time or in a different niche, it should be a whole lot easier and faster for you.
Enjoy your life as a guru. So many people don’t enjoy their jobs, hobbies or social circles; thankfully you don’t have to be one of them.