Modern society has become infatuated with the expression and idea of a ‘career’, which is usually taken to mean whatever main line of remunerative work we assume in our adult lives. It is peculiar to note that, in terms of human history, the notion of a career is something that has only surfaced in the previous few centuries: it is indeed an aberration that has only arisen since the advent of major corporations.

Given the ongoing development and advances in telecommunications and the consequent decentralization of global workforces there is no good way to tell just how much longer the idea will persist. In all honesty, if you really think about it, it is evident that the only thing a ‘career’ denotes is a person’s meandering through a series of skills and opportunities that another person set forth for them; a sort of dictated notion of where to fit in and what a person’s value is.

It has always seemed revealing to me that the word itself (career) contains the word ‘care’ within it. As if to imply that the companies and corporations for which we perform our career have taken for themselves the role of caring for us during the course of our professional adult lives. It is as if they become babysitters, keeping us from learning how to make decisions wisely or learning how to value ourselves on our own. It’s all based on a certain basic unwillingness on their behalf to let people become the managers of their own development, to determine their own worth. Which is why we supposedly have ‘careers’, to help us find the way forward in life, something which only holds much promise if and when we are deemed to be worthwhile and the employer can afford to see us promoted (which implies they have someone to fill our spot).

Considering all this, it’s no surprise so many people hate their jobs. All it is is work work work, completely based on someone else’s directives and vision of the future, all geared towards building their life and not one’s own. Nonetheless, we all continue to use the term ‘career’ as if it were the end all and be all of human existence.

I can remember back to being a kid: when my parents would go out at night, having to be babysat was surely not my favorite moment of the week; what I really enjoyed was being able to go and play with my friends and brothers. What part of that changes as adults? When is it that we decide to let someone else’s criteria determine our own success and value? Why do we abdicate the driver’s seat in someone else’s favor? What is it that convinces us of the importance of careers so badly?

Now, if you bringing up the idea of ‘making a living’ well then you are finally speaking a language I can understand and appreciate. In case it slipped by you, the attention here is solely on the idea of life itself. It is a small detail that career-lusters tend to lose by the wayside. We were put on this planet to live our lives, not to be babysat; we need to live life at our very own rate, falling and getting back up on our own. The idea of letting another person set our value in this world rather than doing it ourselves does not form a part of this picture. All that is the basis of the idea of making a living: it’s about making life itself worthwhile.

These ideas capture what I love so much about internet marketing. Fine, it’s necessary for you to acquire new skills in order to write competitive and performing websites, fully optimized for search engines, but all that is just technical mumbo-jumbo which most anyone can learn.

No, the real thing I love about this line of work is the fact that in order to make it big you have to find what it is you are really passionate about. The reason here is simple to understand. Whatever subject you are passionate about has, to a certain measure, a language of its own; only those who really are passionate about the matter will be able to comprehend that language. By doing so, you are opening the door to being able to sell yourself to others in the same niche for the true value which you possess. Love it or leave it, but that is the way of the web.

All of which is what makes this industry so wonderful: success can only be found after one finds a passion. And it is in that sense that I consider myself to be somebody making a living, not pursuing a career. My work is my passion–even including writing this article. I no longer have the early morning blues, that contempt for having to get up in the morning to go into the office, instead I leap from the bed with energy for the new day. No more of the worrying about ‘making it’ in the typical rat race. I measure my own success based on my own creations, how they enable me to support myself, and the lifestyle (rich in family time) I get to live.

In light of all this, I could never see myself working in a different field.

As a recent father, Damian Papworth recognizes the constant tug-of-war for time, which rages between his career and his home. He always tries to invent a way to enhance family life. Recently he researched baby high chairs, doing some specific analysis of portable high chairs.

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