Stray Thoughts Fall 2019
Ask the Trainer
Working with Animals Could Be the Key to Your Happiness
D
o you love your job? I hope you do! Unfortunately,
studies have shown that a majority of people do not
find their job to be rewarding. This is a troubling fact
when you think about the amount of time people spend
working. Working and commuting account for nearly
50% of your waking hours during a normal week. If 50%
of your time is engaged in an activity that you don’t find
rewarding it is difficult to have an overall positive life. You
simply don’t have enough time to compensate in your
personal time for the negatives you experience at work.
The first step to correcting the problem is to ask yourself a
few key questions and make decisions based on them:
• What things do you do that make you happy?
• What things don’t make you happy?
• Is there any way that the things that make you happy
can generate revenue?
• What is your propensity for risk?
The answers to these questions will tell you a lot about
yourself and a lot about the type of job that you should
have. Many people think that in order to do what makes
them happy they need take on a large amount of risk.
Sometimes this is true, but there are also ways to find a
job that you can truly be passionate about without taking
on a lot of risk.
When trying to find a job that they can be passionate
about, people often stumble on one of two steps. The
first one is simply getting started. Inertia doesn’t work in
your favor here! It is far easier to keep doing what you
have been doing than it is to look for something new. As
mentioned above the problem with this is that you may
not be happy and may be missing your dream career! The
easiest way to overcome this hurdle is to go slow and not
go out and quit your job tomorrow. Instead, take a few
moments each day after work to come up with a plan for
what you are interested in doing. The second stumbling
block is overcoming the fear related to the risk of change.
For this I recommend finding a way to start on your new
career path slowly. If you want to be a dog sitter, open up
a few hours each week to online sitting from Rover. If you
want to be a vet, take a part time job in a vet’s office to
ensure that you like it before committing to a vet school.
By reducing the total amount of risk it will make you far
more likely to see things through.
For many of you reading this, the answer to “what makes
you happy” will likely involve spending time with animals.
Working with pets and their owners allows you to make
a direct impact on people’s lives and is unbelievably
rewarding. I can tell you first hand that not only can you
feel rewarded and make a major impact on the lives of
many humans and animals, but you can also make a living!
There are a huge variety of jobs working with animals;
veterinarian, vet tech, animal shelter/humane society
staff member, dog walker, trainer, and pet sitter are just
a few that come to mind. Of course each of these jobs
requires a different background and overall amount of
effort to achieve. This ties directly into your propensity for
risk. Some of the jobs you could start off doing with very
little risk, others however require taking a much bigger
plunge into the unknown. Keep in mind that very often
your tolerance for risk will directly impact the amount
of income you can end up generating for yourself. For
example, a practicing veterinarian will likely make much
more money than the average pet sitter. However, going
to vet school requires a large investment of both time and
money and therefore increases your risk.
Regardless of whether or not your dreams include
working with animals, know that you should follow them
and do a job that you truly love. In my opinion this is the
way to truly live an engaging and positive life.
Visit www.suburban-k9.com or call
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