Do Your Duty: Follow Your Bliss

They sound contradictory, don't they? Duty and bliss? It's like saying "work vs. play" as if they're mutually exclusive.

Let's clear this up once and for all. All that crap your grandfather told you about doing your duty, about eating your bread by the sweat of your brow (and the implication that sweat is bad), about how work is not meant to be enjoyed...it's exactly that: doodie (as in doggy doo).

Yes, life does have an element of distasteful work and it's important to get the unpleasant tasks out of the way first so you can better enjoy the rest. Yes, the whole assertion used to be true even more than today. During the Great Depression and throughout the vast majority of world history, you had to work to survive and there's wasn't much room for being picky.

But times they is a-changin'. Opportunities abound. The world has a need for just about any talent you can name. Even science now supports the assertion that doing what you love is good for your success and even health.

Here's a quick review of my primary sources:

1. Hank Pfeffer worked for an aptitude testing company. The premise of the company is that when you match up an employee with a task that uses his/her natural abilities, they will perform better with less effort, stay on the job longer with less absenteeism, and be happier about the whole thing.

2. The company identified about twenty such aptitudes (or talents or knacks) such as seeing the big picture, remembering numbers, and manual dexterity. Most people have 3 or 4 such knacks.

But some people have twice that - 6 to 8. Hank wanted to study them but his boss wasn't interested, so he quit and did it on his own. You can read his fascinating results by googling "Too Many Aptitudes".

It turns out these extremely talented people rarely earned advanced degrees, climbed into positions of high authority within companies, or met with much success in life. Hank wanted to know why.

It turns out that talent is much, much more than just the ability to do something, it also causes the need to do them. If you don't use your talents, you will feel frustrated and unfulfilled. Such distraction can leave you dissatisfied with your current status or keep you jumping from ship to ship to ship trying to get your fix of each talent.

3. Now, Discover Your Strengths is a new book based on 30 years of research by the Gallup organization. It says a lot of the same stuff. It points out that using your talents can release endorphins that make your life feel more meaningful. It identifies 34 separate "talents" (which they define as any typical reaction that can be put to good use) which act as our filters - our way of seeing the world.

What all this should mean to you is that you practically have a duty to follow your bliss. Do what you love. Pursue your passions. In doing so, you will not only create more satisfaction and happiness in the world, you will inspire others to do the same, and chances are you'll be more successful.

Think of Jesus' Parable of the Talents. The master gave each servant some talents - to one, a single talent. To another, two. And to the third, five talents. He expected the servants to improve upon them while he was away. Yes, yes, in the parable, a "talent" was a piece of money, but I don't think that's what Jesus meant us to learn. Upon his return, only the servant with a single talent had not invested and improved his talent, to which the master said "Thou wicked and slothful servant" etc. etc.

So take account. What do you love doing? What are you good at, or might you become good at? The answers to these questions point you toward a piece of your life mission.

Now get to work, and have fun!