My daughter and I were chatting about life, as we do, at breakfast this morning. I treasure these moments with her when the dogs and my husband are still tucked up in their beds. As I fried her pumpkin pancakes, ( a mix), she asked me if a ballet dancer earns a lot of money – she’s go through a big ballet phase right now as she prepares for her Nutcracker performances. I said I wasn’t sure, but that if someone’s main goal in life was to make millions, then a ballet career probably wouldn’t be a good choice. This led to us chatting about the disparity between people who earn a lot and those who don’t. That wonderful Maya Angelou quote came to mind:
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”
― Maya Angelou
Hmm – this one’s going up on the fridge!
It made me realize that becoming accomplished at whatever you do, in many ways, can lead you to loving it. I was traveling this weekend in Colorado and stayed at a hotel where the woman behind the front desk went over and above the call of duty to help me with my broken GPS system (grrrrr,) directions, finding me a tea kettle for my room etc. I thanked her profusely and asked how long she’d worked for the hotel – she’d been there for five years and had worked her way up from cleaning rooms. She loved the chain, and as she had always worked hard and been incredibly proud of her work, she’d been noticed.
My husband hires a lot of interns at his film production company. It’s not hard to find interns who’d give their right arm to get in at the bottom level of a thriving production company in Hollywood. Over the years, there have been three students who my husband noticed because they not only loved what they were doing, but they worked night & day to become accomplished at whatever task was thrown at them. Those three individuals shined so much, that they went from stepping and fetching, to wonderfully creative and exciting jobs in a short period of time.
It’s infectious to be around someone who loves their work. Whether it’s the cab driver in New Orleans, who took a special route to show me how proud he was of the new construction in his city, or the bag packer at Safeway who lovingly packs up my groceries and wishes me a wonderful afternoon.
Along my Gorgeously Green journey, I’ve met hundreds of woman who have changed careers or set up their own businesses because they wanted to do something that meant something to them. A huge percentage of the eco-friendly companies that I review and endorse were created in just this way – women who’d just had enough doing a job that they hated and wanting to create something that gives back too.
I could list at least 500 companies that have made a difference by creating goods or a service that isn’t harmful to humans or the environment, and that makes our lives easier and better. Every single one of the owners LOVES what they do – and they’re super duper proud of their product and service.
With all the miserable news we here everyday about unemployment figures and having to cut back, I’ve seen a number of “green” companies that are growing. I met with Kristie McNamara in Boulder last week. She is owner of Tilvee Ethical Skincare Company and she is so passionate about what she does. You can sit and talk with Kristie for hours about formulations and not get bored. She told me that the last three years have been great for them – they’re just growing and growing! Kristie is producing a great product at exactly the right price point and she’s only interested in creating a safe product that really does what it promises.
Anyway, enough of a rant from me. That lovely Maya Angelou quote is about to be pasted on my fridge as it’s a pretty important thing for a child to read everyday – until it becomes wall paper, and I’ll replace it with the next one – keep checking back.
I’ll leave you with more more tidbit. This is from an address that the late Steve Jobbs, CEO of Apple, gave to students at Stanford University in 2005.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
