Enjoy Life.

Enjoying your life is only slightly more important than enjoying your work. I've found that if you do not enjoy your work, it will be nearly impossible to enjoy your life, no matter how mind-blowingly terrific your life may be.

Having said that, let me say this: when I refer to your "work," I mean your career, not necessarily your job. I'm here to tell you that the perfect job may not exist, and this is coming from someone who loves his job very much. If you have a job that requires you to work with other people, your job will not always be perfect. If you have a job that requires you to do tasks you don't enjoy, your job will not always be perfect. If you have a job that requires you to try new things, your job will definitely not always be perfect.

Sometimes your job will not be any fun, and the weekend cannot come fast enough. Even if your job is tough to live with sometimes, it doesn't mean you dislike your "work." Do you understand the distinction? On the other hand, if the people at your job constantly bum you out or if it isn't challenging enough, perhaps you need to look for another job where you can do your work.

If you find that every job you get eventually becomes unbearable, then there could be one of two problems for you to consider. First of all, and I am telling you this as a friend, if you keep finding yourself unhappy with people in job after job, the problem may not be them. Every job has challenging people to deal with or has required mind-numbing, busy-work tasks that have to be done. However, if you find yourself unhappy in job after job, then I suggest that you may actually dislike your "work," and need to consider a new career.

One spring, my big brother gave me his hand-me-down baseball glove, and my mom drove me down to sign me up for Little League. I was really excited. After all, both of my big brothers were really good at baseball, and so it was time for me to carry on the Bristowe tradition. When we got there, a bunch of kids I knew from school were playing catch. They tried to play catch with me, but I couldn't catch anything. It was no fun. 

Meanwhile, the coach, having coached both of my legendary brothers, was standing on the mound throwing pitches. He saw me standing there and called out, "BRISTOWE! Pick up a bat and hit a few for us." 

I ran up to the plate and waited for a pitch. He wound up and threw the ball. I was scared out of my mind, so I closed my eyes, and the ball hit me directly in the head. 

I cried. 

Having the ball thrown at your head hurts, but that wasn't why I was crying. I cried because I didn't fit in. I cried because I was trying to live up to unrealistic expectations by playing a game that I did not enjoy. The coach brought me back to my mother and suggested that I wait and try again next season. And that was the end of my baseball career.

The end of my baseball career was also the beginning of what I would do next, which was learning to draw. I loved it and soon became an "all-star" artist.

Hey, if you can't hit the ball, are working in a job just to please your family, or if you are otherwise uncomfortable in your career, it may be time to quit. Seriously, it is difficult to enjoy life unless you enjoy your work. That career that you've struggled with may be what is blocking you from finding your true happiness. In my book, no man is a failure who is enjoying life.