The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

from a career as a teacher to a new job as a financial
advisor. At first, he resented the fact that he was going to
have to leave his job, which he loved, so that his wife could
stay home to raise their kids. It felt like selling out and
giving up a dream for something that paid the bills. But as
he spent the greater part of a year wrestling over the
decision, he realized that any good dream is one worth
sharing, and sometimes worth sacrificing, for others. This
doesn’t mean we need to give up on our deepest longings,
but it does mean that a calling is about more than me.
When I was in Africa, I asked the Ugandan farmer Sam
what he and his family did for fun. Looking around at his
surroundings, I noticed there wasn’t much and knew that
summers were hot there. What did they do all day long
when they weren’t farming or fetching water? As soon as I
asked the question, Sam frowned. Then he shook his head.
The translator repeated the question. He shook his head
again, confused.
“You know,” I repeated. “Fun. Like, what do you do
when you’re not working?”
He nodded as the translation came through, then thought
for a moment and finally spoke.
“We do everything together—and to us, it is fun.”