The best advice I ever received was from my late father who told me, “Whatever you do in life, you must enjoy it.”The minute I stop taking pleasure from what I am doing I know it’s time to moveon. This has prompted me to leave previous positions once I had outgrown them,which in turn has allowed me to move on to bigger and better things. I wentfrom being an exploration geologist to working on the mines, and then later tobeing in government. When I stopped liking my job, it was always the flag to methat it was time to move on.
Having said that, obviously you can’tenjoy all aspects of your job all of the time, but in general you must dosomething that you care for. It’s important because satisfaction is a greatmotivator. People watch sport or participate in hobbies because they have fun,and the same applies to work. If you do something you like you tend to do itwith enthusiasm and energy. You can work long hours without it feeling like aneffort.
It’s advice that has stood me in goodstead in my career, and I have passed it on to my children. My recommendationto young people is always to study something they are interested in.
Don’t study for the sake of makingmoney. Money doesn’t make the world go around; being happy in what you aredoing is the most important thing. The money will follow if you are approachingsomething with passion and gusto.