The poor daydreaming clerk

Once there was a wayward school kid. Expelled for being disruptive, he found a badly paid job as a junior clerical officer. He was so bored at work that he found plenty of time for daydreaming and reading about science. He fancied himself as a self-taught, amateur scientist.

The kid was Albert Einstein. In his mid-twenties he rocked the scientific world with the theory of relativity . He d sussed it while at the Swiss patent office in Berne for the previous four years . He relished the rest of his life as the first celebrity scientist.

Many great ideas have come from people doing ordinary jobs. Time that would otherwise be wasted and miserable can become hugely creative and enjoyable.

Think about the 80/20 questions overleaf. To answer them, try thinking about or writing down everything that really excites you , that you love doing in any part of life ” at work, your hobbies and sports, the best minutes of each day. Then either choose one of these activities and make it central to your life, or work out what the activities have in common and do more of that, and less of everything else.

For example, my life took a turn for the better when I realized that what I loved doing was evoking enthusiasm : getting an individual, or more often a group , all geed up about a topic or cause that I myself felt strongly about. That is why I now spend most of my time writing books, giving speeches, and talking to friends about ideas that excite us all. There is no standard job category for evoking enthusiasm ” and yet the insight that it s the thing I enjoy most and do best has led me to a fuller and richer life, while also doing less. I now have a simple decision rule: If

I m asked to do something, and it doesn t involve evoking enthusiasm, I say no.

What s the equivalent for you?

80/20 Questions

Could I enjoy life more by developing a personal interest or obsession that drives me? Might it lead to a new career?
Could I take the small part of my time that most excites me and make a career out of it?
What questions could I ask myself to jump-start my inspiration?