People must have thought I was a bit potty when I wrote this update.

Hardly surprising really because I was sitting around a lovely pool in Kassiopi on the beautiful Greek Island of Corfu at the time!

Picture the scene…

There I was, tapping away on my keyboard when others around me were relaxing, reading a book, or enjoying the sunshine… and probably thinking “what’s that nutter under the umbrella doing with his laptop?”

However, unlike most people who like to get away to escape…

… when you actually enjoy what you do for a living, it’s no longer a chore and ‘working’ while you’re on holiday can be just as relaxing as reading, sunbathing, swimming or whatever floats your boat!

So, anyway, these days I get my income from writing and love it… which is why I was happily beavering away on my trusty old ‘Dell Mini’ in full-on relax mode and couldn’t have been happier.

Now, here’s the point of the story…

It’s not always been like this.

For the best part of thirty years, I was a slave to the 9 to 5 working as an optician of all things, seven of which were in my own business (which I sold in 2005) and then a few years doing locum work until I gave it up for good in 2011.

The thing that set me apart was that I always gave excellent service while maintaining a smile and an upbeat attitude, so people genuinely thought I loved my work.

They’d often say things like…

“You’re so lucky to have such a ‘cushy’ job”… “you’re so good at it”… “you must really love what you do”… that sort of thing.

In turn this led me to have an extremely loyal customer base who trusted me to do the best for them.

For example…

Often ‘designer’ specs are much more expensive than other frames and make considerably more profit if someone bought them.

But when an 80-year old grandmother’s got her heart set on wearing the same specs as Kim Kardashian, well I felt it was my duty to help her into something more appropriate!

In fact there were many times when I’d talk customers out of a ‘designer’ purchase (even if they were hell bent on having them) because they looked crap and were clearly not suited to the purpose they were going to be used for.

Instead, I’d encourage them to have something that looked better and would be more fit for purpose, even if it meant I’d make less money!

I guess what I’m saying is, I was good at it and you could say I was reasonably successful.

But underneath it all I hated it!

Every day I couldn’t wait to finish.

Then one morning, out of the blue, I received a sales letter that ultimately led to me changing career and doing something I actually enjoyed.

Now how I became a copywriter is for another day but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Bottom line…

I’ve never been satisfied with ‘my lot’.

I always believed that if others could have a lifestyle that I craved, why couldn’t I?

Unfortunately, listening to other people was a large part of why it took me nearly thirty years to do something about it.

By taking on board the ‘cushy job’ BS (even from people close to me), it was enough to make me waste so many years ‘putting up with it’, when I could have better spent the time developing what I wanted to do.

This was such a massive mistake!

It’s also what I hope you take out of this.

If you ever have the same feelings, don’t listen to other people.

Unless…

… they’re in a position you want to be!

We’re only ‘passin’ thru‘ as Johnny Cash used to say and if you really don’t enjoy what you do or are completely dissatisfied with the position you’re at, there are so many opportunities for change, that cost little or no money to begin with!

The time to do something about it is now… don’t leave it as long as I did!

Take starting an online business for example.

The costs are minimal and can easily be done as a side-hustle so you don’t even have to give up your day-job until you can really afford to.

This means there’s no major risk (apart from a little time) but sooooo much to potentially gain!

Sadly, if you talk to most ‘ordinary’ folk about your dreams and aspirations they’ll try and bring you down to their level of mediocrity, telling you how you should be satisfied with what you’ve got or something along those lines (just like me with the cushy job)!

Well let me tell you now, rather than listen to them, just politely ignore them!

Rich and successful people don’t think like this…

They encourage, nurture, believe… and know they’re just destined for better things…

Just like you’re going to be from now on!