Enjoyment Versus Desperation

"If you enjoy the process, it's your dream. If you are enduring it, desperate for the results, it's somebody else's." - Laws of Attraction via Twitter

This quote has been rattling around in my head since I read it yesterday - one of those thoughts that just keeps hanging on in a determined fashion, refusing to let go.

The phrase that keeps turning my head is "desperate for the results". This concept has occurred more than once in my life - it occurred at The Firm, it has occurred scattered across the various positions I have currently held in my industry.

At The Firm, I wanted the results that the work would bring. While I enjoyed my work, I can honestly say that my heart was not fully in it (thus, my failure). In my current line of work, I become desperate for the potential financial rewards, not the output of the work as a whole.

"If you enjoy the process, it's your dream." What processes have I enjoyed? I enjoyed teaching, when I did that. I enjoy the various "rural" activities I've done, whether gardening or beekeeping or making and preserving foods (and beer and mead!) from scratch. I enjoy the process of writing - although it drives me to distraction sometimes. I (as I found out this week) enjoy the process of helping people to find their strengths.

I'm not sure what it all means and I'm not sure how to apply it - but the power of the statement speaks to me. Enjoyment versus desperation. Why would anyone choose the one above the other?