How To Find What You Love, And Love What You Do

Do you have a chance to play to your strengths every day?

Were you excited to go to work every day last week?

How you answer these two questions will determine if you are more likely to be successful, resilient, and engaged at work – and likely to do something great in your life by taking seriously what you love and expressing it in some sort of productive way.

This is what bestselling author, Marcus Buckingham, explains in his book, Love + Work.

“You've long been told to ‘Do what you love,’ shares Buckingham. “Sounds simple, but the real challenge is how to do this in a world not set up to help you. Most of us actually don't know the real truth of what we love—what engages us and makes us thrive—and our workplaces, jobs, schools, even our parents, are focused instead on making us conform. Sadly, no person or system is dedicated to discovering the crucial intersection between what you love to do and how you contribute it to others,” declares Buckingham.

Therefore, the need for Buckingham’s new book. A book that guides readers on how to center love in their lives and fend off common pitfalls tempting them off their path.

In this highly personable, conversational, insightful, eye-opening, empowering and uplifting book, he shows you how to decode your own loves, turn them into their most powerful expression, and do the same for those you lead and those you love.

More specifically, he teaches you how to:

Use love to reveal your unique gifts.
Pinpoint what makes you stand out from anyone else.
Choose the right role on the team.
Describe yourself compellingly in job interviews.
Mold your existing role so that it calls upon the very best of you.
Position yourself as a leader in such a way that your followers quickly come to trust in you.
Make lasting change for your team, your company, your family, or your students.

To help identify your loves, Buckingham recommends you:

Pay attention to what you pay attention to. And, realize that you have some things that you instinctively yearn to do—before you’ve even tried them, and you find your hand going up and your mind leaning in. These instincts are the first sign of love, and, they have wisdom within them.

Furthermore, he suggests you answer these love-seeking questions:

When was the last time…

You lost track of time?
You instinctively volunteered for something?
Someone had to tear you away from what you were doing?
You felt completely in control of what you were doing?
You surprised yourself by how well you did?
You were singled out for praise?
You were the only person to notice something?
You found yourself actively looking forward to work?
You came up with a new way of doing things?
You wanted the activity to never end?

“In all my research, it has been crushingly obvious that the most successful people found roles that a) fulfilled their sense of purpose – they believed in the ‘why’ or the role, b) allied them with colleagues they trusted and admired—they connected to the ‘who’ of the role, and c) contained activities they loved—they enjoyed the role’s ‘what,’” shares Buckingham.

Love + Work provides you a roadmap for infusing love back into your work—and, on a broader scale, in your life.

Marcus Buckingham

I’ve always been a big fan of Buckingham’s work and his latest book further solidifies my commitment to learning from him.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

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