Are You in Love with Your Job? Aideen Zareh Is [Profile]

I recently sat down for coffee with Aideen Zareh, a REALTOR® with The Home Expert Team Royal LePage Regina Realty. Now, I had heard a lot of good things about Aideen, but I wasn't expecting our conversation to inspire and challenge me the way it did.

As a business development manager with First Foundation, I get to do a lot of coffees with business professionals in Regina. Usually I meet with REALTORS® or small business owners, talk a little business, talk a little bit about social media and more or less catch up. I have met a lot of great people and look forward to writing more about some of the things I have learned in the future, but right now I want to talk a little about the conversation I had with Aideen. After we finished our conversation, I went directly to my car and wrote down my notes, here is some of the things Aideen believes:

"Love what you do, the day you complain is the day you quit" - Aideen spoke about this passionately. He said that there is no room for negativity in our head space about what we do. Sure we all have bad days, they happen, we can't control it, BUT we can control our attitudes about those bad days. If we truly love our jobs, we won't be able to complain about them, if we can complain, clearly we're not doing something we enjoy and need to go find something else.

"Find what you love to do, and then do it regardless" - Does it really matter what we do for a living if we love it? No. Aideen went on to say that money doesn't mean success, it's doing what we want to do that equates success. In this day and age sometimes doing what we love isn't always a possibility for us right away, but it can be the goal. If we keep our eyes on what we love then the obstacles we have to work through to get there seem menial.

"I don't love my job... I'm IN love with my job" Be passionate about what you do, every day, all the time. People that are passionate about what they do, ooze that passion out of their pores. I was not sitting across from a REALTOR® but a salesman. A man who loved to help people obtain what they're looking for. It isn't what he was trained to do but what he felt he was born to do. The more he talked about his job the more excited he got, he got louder, started bobbing around the booth and smiled all the time. I had no doubt in my mind that he loved it and it got me excited just sitting there. If we are not passionate about what we do, we aren't fooling anybody - especially ourselves.

"Be humble, there is always somebody coming up behind you that's hungrier than you are. The day you get complacent is the day that you are finished" Aideen Zareh

Complacency is one of the worst enemies we will face, professional or personal. Most of the goals we've ever worked hard for require maintenance. Once we obtain our goal weight, we still have to work hard to stay there. We finally buy our dream home? Sitting on the couch doesn't pay the bills. The same is true in our professional lives. Often we see other professionals achieve a financial goal, celebrate and then put their feet up, they think they're safe. Unfortunately, the world keeps spinning and bills continue to come in. It's important to take time for yourself, we need breaks and rewards but when all is said and done, we must stay hungry. We're not the only lion in this jungle.

After talking with Aideen, as I sat in my van (as well as taking notes) I asked myself the hard question "Am I in love with what I am doing"?

Which leads me to this question... Are you in love with what you do?