Tarot Tuesdays: Week of January 31

Like I said when introducing the Let that Shit Go oracle deck, this is my go to deck when I need a kick in the butt. It's also great when I feel like something is holding me back, but I can’t figure out what. I wanted to preface with this because this particular card comes up a lot for me, and not always in relation to professional endeavors.

This is honestly a concept that has become harder and harder to reconcile with. Not to sound arrogant, but I can typically learn how to do new things fairly quickly. That’s not to say that some things aren’t hard or that I can just be good at something without practice. Everything requires practice, even the things that you are good at. Yet, when things do come easily I tend to second guess myself saying, “Why is this so easy? I must not be doing it right!” or “That’s it? There’s no way it can be that simple!” It’s like I’ve built this idea in my head that success in anything has to come from some sort of struggle and gruelingly hard work.

Professionally speaking, we all have heard something along the lines of “if you do something you enjoy, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Everyone talks about finding your passion and making a career out of it, and there is definitely something to that. Taking physical environment and bureaucratic nonsense out of it, when you are doing something that you love, and I mean truly truly love, getting up and going to work is fun, not just a chore.

This card has really helped me with Treasures of Fortune. Starting a new business is definitely not easy, but it's helping to remind me to reframe my thinking around work. There are those tasks that have to be done regularly that seem less and less fun and more and more chore like each time you do them. For me, that’s the hard work because I hate feeling obligated to do anything, even if it's something that I enjoy. In teaching, its writing lesson plans. Any teacher will tell you that coming up with fun and interactive lessons is one of the best parts of the job, but writing out the lesson plans… not so much. With Treasures of Fortune, I’ve gotten out of the habit of saying “I have to…” and started saying “I get to…” That simple change takes the sense of obligation away and turns it into something to look forward to. I have to write my lesson plans becomes I get to write my lessons plans. I have to take pictures of these products becomes I get to do a photo shoot. Simple, but effective!

What is your relationship with work? Do you have a skewed relationship between effort and work? What strategies work for you?