Love your job and you will feel that every day is a Friday. Many people feel that this popular mantra of choosing a career and job that one loves is a romantic fantasy. They argue that work is a means of earning a livelihood and a person can get by without enjoying what he or she does. Such people point out that one must be willing to settle for whatever job is available. However, this form of thinking is a defeatist approach to life that can only end in disappointment and unhappiness.

You Absolutely Must Love Your Job

Truer words have never been spoken.

Most people work an average of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. This means that you will be spending a big chunk of your adult life at your workplace. If you take up a job that you dislike then you will be spending 8 hours every day bored and frustrated. This unhappiness will make you tired both at work and after work. You will sleep at night dreading the next day because you hate going to work. I want you to imagine what that must feel like.

People who dislike their jobs are also more likely to be stressed out by overtime work. They find it difficult to do their job well and their lack of interest makes it difficult for them to excel at work. This reduces their chances of professional growth, leading to greater job dissatisfaction and dislike. So if you choose a job that you hate, you will be caught up in this vicious circle.

It’s almost as if the more you dislike your job the more you will dislike life in general. Your attitude regarding work can spill over into other areas of your life thus effecting friendships, family bonds, and intimate relationships with your significant other.

Need proof? People often ask me why I work so hard. To me it just does not feel like work. I love marketing, I love connecting with new people, I love reading and I love learning. Most of all I really enjoy applying the knowledge I learn on a daily basis to grow my business. It’s ridiculously fun.

I often times work upwards of 80 hours a week, but I truly LOVE MY JOB. The only reason I do not work more is because I have a wife I need to devote time to and a church family that I am engaged with also. If it weren’t for these things I could easily work around the clock and sleep maybe 3-5 hours a night and feel okay. (I feel to have success as an entrepreneur you have to sacrifice something, in my case it’s sleep.)

Reasons Why You Should Love Your Job

1) Work becomes fun when you enjoy it.

In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Mark Twain’s famous novel, the protagonist, Tom, is told to whitewash an entire fence on a holiday. Initially his friends tease him about this; however, he manages to convince them to do it by making it seem like a fun activity. Thus by turning work into play, Tom manages to get his friends to do it voluntarily.

Similarly, you can make your working hours enjoyable by choosing a job you are passionate about. If you enjoy cooking, even a job in a small cafe might seem fun because you like what you are doing.

More importantly, when you love your job money no longer becomes the motivating factor—your passion does. Don’t get me wrong. You will still care about the money and you might actually end up making more! Why? Because your effort will be greater and your desire to learn and grow will be unstoppable.

2) You will be more energetic at work.

When you love your job, it will make you feel energized and enthusiastic. You will be able to put in long hours at work and hone your skills without feeling drained. This opens up the door to faster promotions if you work for someone else.

Likewise, if you are an entrepreneur then you will be able to put more work into growing your business and not even miss the time spent. People who enjoy their work are less likely to feel exhausted after work; thus they have more energy to spend on relationships, hobbies, exercise, and other non-work aspects of their life.

3) You will have greater professional success.

Even when you choose a job you love, there will be obstacles and roadblocks. However, because you like and value what you do you will be more inclined to face and overcome those problems. Instead of focusing on and brooding about difficulties, you will be caught up in doing the job itself. Thus you are more likely to move ahead and achieve your goals.

4) Your will have better health.

Many physical illnesses and psychological problems can be traced back to an unhappy work life. People who hate their jobs experience greater stress. This frustration spills onto other areas of their life such as their eating habits, relationships, and self concept. By choosing a job are passionate about, you avoid many such pitfalls and are likely to be more healthy and happy. I can’t emphasize this enough—being happy at work will make you happy in other areas of your life.

If your resolutions for this year involve losing weight or just becoming a healthier person all around then don’t you think this should begin with your attitude at home and at work?

Every job role has certain advantages and disadvantages. However, when you begin by planning for a career in something that you enjoy you find it easier to overlook the difficult aspects of a job. A job that you love is in reality the right job for you and one that you will have fun doing.

Choosing the Right Career

Thus, the first step in choosing the right job is to identify what you are passionate about. For example, Sandra loved helping people; she found her friends always confided their problems to her and asked her for advice. She felt that she was a good listener. Sandra majored in counselling psychology and is now working as a school counselor She loves and values her work. She feels fulfilled and knows her life has purpose.

To choose the right career, you must find ways to turn your passions into your profession. It is good to identify your strengths, likes, and dislikes before choosing a graduate course. This will ensure that you take the first step toward getting a job you love. You can also consider a career change if you are stuck in a job you dislike.

Remember, it is never too late to work toward your dream. Have you found your dream job? If so, how did you go about finding it? If not, are you going to do something about it?

The post Why You Must Love Your Job appeared first on The Blog of Fernando Bernardino.

This mountain goat is okay with risk.

Life rewards the risk takers among us. This message used to be captured in the American spirit, but somehow our society seems to have replaced this “go get ‘em” attitude recently with a lackadaisical “play it safe” message.

However, history tells us that to succeed in life, you have to be willing to take risks. You have to have courage.

Risk Takers and Love

Consider the example of the bold guy versus the shy guy. The bold guy asks the pretty girl out and she accepts. They date for a year or two and she’s attracted to his daring spirit. They get married and they live happily ever after.

The shy guy, not willing to take the risk of rejection, stays home eating pizza on the couch lamenting the fact that he didn’t ask out the same pretty girl and that now she is taken. He carries this regret and many other regrets with him throughout his whole life. He knows his life would be better if he could only muster up enough courage to take risks.

We’ve all been through similar personal situations where we debated in our minds the risk versus reward. If you think about it, it’s almost always the people who are willing to take risks who get ahead in life whether it be in personal relationships or in business. Risk leads to reward. Always playing it safe leads to a life of missed opportunities.

Taking Risks in Business

Consider the woman who has been a loyal employee of the same company for seven years, never called in sick, and never missed a day. Her boss has a reputation for being hard-nosed and difficult to deal with. Should she march into his office, remind this guy of all she does for the company, and ask for a promotion and a raise?

There’s definite risk involved. Her boss may think she’s unhappy in her current job and salary level and make her life miserable at work or even find a way to dismiss her out of spite.

On the other hand, if she gets the promotion, it means a $10,000 a year raise and much nicer office with a window.

Risk takers would look at this situation and think, “nothing ventured nothing gained.” They would go for it and they’d probably get the raise and the nice office. A woman not willing to assert herself will stay in the same lower paying job in the boring cubicle for many years to come—afraid to take risks.

Famous Risk Takers

Most people don’t realize it, but Warren Buffett invested in highly volatile companies in his very early investing days—contrary to the teachings of his mentor Benjamin Graham. He took substantial risks in his investments and look where it got him. He’s now one of the richest people in the world. Since then, of course, he has fine-tuned his strategy and focuses on growth instead of immediate profit.

Not only has the Oracle of Omaha succeeded for himself; he has left an indelible mark on society with his philanthropic activities plus his investment philosophies have changed the worldview on investing. People hang on his every word!

Entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks make the world go round! They change the world forever.

A lot of people thought Jeff Bezos was crazy when he quit his lucrative job on Wall Street to start Amazon, now one of the most successful businesses of all time. Keep in mind that this was in 1994 when internet businesses were considered a pipe dream by many, so it was a much riskier move than it would be today. In taking this risk, Jeff Bezos pioneered broad scale e-commerce. It is thought that the internet would not be what it is today without Mr. Bezos’ contributions.

Take Risks

The fact is that leaders have specific qualities. One of the qualities that come to mind about a true leader is someone who is brave. They have courage not only to stand up for what is right and defend the team, but also to try new things. They are willing to put it all on the line in order to take things to another level instead of stagnate.

Leaders tolerate risk. Lemmings crumble under it.

I’ll leave you with one final thought. The next time you are wondering if taking a risk is worth it or not, look up in the sky and wave at the plane flying overhead. The Wright brothers were the ultimate risk takers, thought to be crazy by many, and look how they changed the world. They are historical legends who will never be forgotten for their gift to the world.

Risk leads to reward, not only for the individual(s) taking the risk, but for society at large.

The post Life Rewards the Risk Takers appeared first on The Blog of Fernando Bernardino.

Do you feel anxious or stressed out when bad things happen to you? The truth is God and stress are related, but perhaps not in the way you might think.

In today’s world almost everyone has some level of stress in their life. Most of the time we get stressed when we take on too many responsibilities, when bad things happen to us, when it seems like our safety is being threatened, or when it looks like our needs are not been met. There’s actually an infinite number of reasons why you could be stressed out because what stresses you might not stress me and vice versa.

Of course as Christians there are chances that we may be stressed in one way or another, but we should not allow it to dictate our relationship with God. In fact, we must understand that our relationship with God comes first and nothing should get in the way of that — not even stress.

Get to it! God and stress — the connection?

Stress can help us become better problem solvers through the process of trial and error. Think of stress as a tool that is used to make us stronger and better rounded individuals. If we react well, stress basically strengthens everything about our character the same way a knife can be sharpened by using specific tools.

God operates the same way. Zechariah 13:9 tells us that God will purify us like silver and gold in a fire. This is really important to lock in on. Not even a relationship with God is perfect. He’s perfect. We’re not. Therefore there can be breaks in our relationship because of us, which is sin.

The verse above tells us something very important. God is purifying us.

He is perfecting us through his love. If he is perfecting us — and that means everything in our character — then a relationship with God can lead to us coping with stress in a much better way than we otherwise would have been able to! See? God and stress are totally intertwined in a weird little way.

The Bible encourages us to be good managers of the gifts that God has given us. These gifts include your able body, time, money, strength, and material possessions. God also gave us the power to manage your spirit and mind. We must understand that just as we’ve been given these gifts, we also have been given the power to manage them.

Steps to beating stress

1. Don’t push yourself too hard. Listen and wait for God’s answer.

A common reason why many Christians get stressed out or anxious is because they haven’t yet grasped the power that Christ has. Jesus’ power isn’t only in granting us salvation, but it is also more than strong enough to aid us in everyday life.

This lack of recognition leads many to battle endlessly with pain over a lost loved one, unpaid bills, a car that isn’t working, etc. Instead we should try our best, but also hand our problems over to God. If he’s powerful enough to be resurrected then why do we act like we serve a limited God?

Learn your limits and respect them. The rest God will handle. Pray that your faith in Christ may grow so that you don’t place limits on a limitless God.

Prosperity is a good thing. However, don’t make money or possessions your main goal. Always remember Matthew 6:33 when the Word tells us:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

2. Identify your stressors.

The thing we need to realize when it comes to God and stress is that we can’t really remove everything from our lives that stresses us out. Instead we can learn to deal with them, or better said we can learn to tolerate them. Anything that stimulates, or causes, stress is called a stressor.

Stressors can be anything. It can be big or little things. Here’s what I mean:

What causes you stress may not bother someone else and what bothers that person may not bother you! You may bother about something today and tomorrow you’re thinking of something else.

As a Christian, don’t allow outside forces to complicate your life — especially temptation. Always recall that in any moment you are not the first to deal with a specific temptation. I know it can be stressing to deal with any specific temptation; whether it be cursing in anger, feeling the urge to smoke a cigarette, or even pornography.

All of these things and more may feel like too much for us to resist, but always remember that God will not allow you to be tempted with more than what you can handle nor are you the first to face such temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).

You must identify God’s role in your life and understand it. Become familiar with God’s promises that are found in the Bible. (A pretty cool way to do so is to check out 365promises.com which gives you a new promise from the Bible every day of the year.)

Don’t let the little things of this world bother you. Remember that our life on Earth is nothing when compared to what an eternity with Christ will bring us. Stressed out about losing a loved one? Fasten yourself to Christ so that you may be reunited one day!

Therefore, before we can remove the big or little things that cause stress in our lives, we must become conscious of who we are in Christ, identify our stressors, study how they affect us, and learn how to attack it from the spiritual angle.

3. Fine-tune your approach to stress

Don’t behave like the rest of the world when a situation bothers you. In other words, let your attitude towards challenges be different from the rest of the world. This can be hard, especially in anger, but we can do so if we ask for a “daily serving” of the Spirit.

Don’t try to overcome challenges alone. You can try, but you don’t have to. Jesus wants to help you in every way possible.

Don’t approach a negative circumstance when burned out. If you do you could be setting yourself up for failure from the start. Remember the mind needs rest too!

Instead of tensing up, calm down. Go to a quiet spot, take a deep breath, try to get a feel of the situation, and pray. Look into the scriptures to see what God says concerning similar situations.

4. Prayers

I told myself early in my walk with the Lord that I would not allow life to disconnect me from God. I haven’t been perfect when it comes to this, but I sure do try to follow through. You should also try to do the same.

Don’t get worried by your problems. Those challenges before you are not meant to weight you down; think of them as stepping stones to a better you. Instead of worrying over your problems, take everything to God in prayer.

Check out what Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 when he writes:

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Paul was writing to each and every one of us. Present your requests to God. Don’t be anxious for anything. Don’t allow any situation weigh you down, instead present your requests before God through prayer and petition.

I’m not talking about a 30 second prayer either. Those are awesome, but I encourage you to have an ongoing conversation with God as if he were right there in front of you in person. God is not only our creator, but he also longs to be our friend.

That being said I want to remind you of one thing. Just because you pray for something doesn’t mean you’ll get the answer from God that you wanted. He could in fact not want that very thing for you (e.g., that guy or girl you really, really like and hope becomes your boyfriend/girlfriend).

5. Beat stress by singing

This one can be pretty difficult.

How often have you wanted to sing a upbeat love song when feeling down and perhaps heartbroken? Ten times? Five times? Actually it’s probably closer to zero, right?

Luckily, when it comes to God, He is not just there for you in good times, but actually thrives in our rough patches. Therefore sing to Him. You can find a hymn or contemporary song, or perhaps a Psalm by David, that touches on any emotion you could possibly be feeling at any given moment.

Actually it’s been proven that listening to music and singing can reduce stress! Singing is so powerful that it can actually relieve symptoms of depression and increase self-esteem in elderly people.

… and here we were thinking that David was just bored out of his mind in a cave writing Psalm after Psalm (okay, that’s what I used to think).

6. Focus on this very powerful promise.

John gives us one of the most powerful promises found in the Bible. You can find it in John 14:27 where Jesus tells us:

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

I told you God and stress were related!

Hopefully, by now, I have given you enough Biblically based evidence to show you that you can completely dominate the stress in your life. When I say dominate I mean Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks type dominate.

What are your personal favorites when it comes to beating stress?

The post How are God and Stress Related? appeared first on The Blog of Fernando Bernardino.

Wow. God never ceases to amaze me. Over the past few days, caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and family visits, I somehow forgot to spend my quality time with God and reading His Word for a few days in a row. In the back of my mind I kept telling myself, “Stop what you’re doing and spend time with God.” Being as human as I am and a natural “know-it-all” I told rationalized and thought, “It’s okay. God will understand that I’m too busy for Him.”

Too busy for God?

Boy was I wrong. Who do I think I am to tell God that I am too busy for HIM, my creator and my sustainer — the one from whom all blessings flow.

What followed was a maelstrom of reminders about who I was before I allowed God to perform a miracle in my life. The darkest thought was the concept that somehow crept into my mind where I was considering one day in the future being able to pick up the bottle again, but be responsible about it.

The funny thing is that I had tried this before and I picked up right where I had left off, practically as if I had never stopped. What was happening in my life now that I was more prepared to drink socially? Nothing. I wasn’t even making time for God over the past few days because I was “too busy”.

Something else happened that I won’t post about here (nothing that serious, I’d just prefer to keep it private out of respect for the other party). It involved he-said she-said stuff about me from over a year ago. How did that manage to surface up at this time?

Connect to God

The only reason I can think of is that I was disconnected from God.

I look at it this way: life without God, for me, was a storm. Constant trouble. Risky behavior. Dumb decisions. Once I let God into my life he provided me with shelter and protection.

Right outside his protection is the storm just waiting to come back in and cause havoc. My temporary disconnection from God allowed parts of that storm to start creeping back in. I thank God for this reminder of what life was and could be like without Him.

I choose Him.

The post Connect to God appeared first on The Blog of Fernando Bernardino.

Money can indeed buy happiness! Just not the way many of us think it can with cars, homes, and the company of the opposite sex. It’s not really earth-shattering science going into making this claim. It’s actually much simpler and in your face than you might think.

As a kid, I grew up in a traditional house. My parents were devout Christians, so I got the usual Christian upbringing together with my brother. Life back then was fun and very simple since I was still just a kid and did not have to worry about not having food, clothing and other basic needs.

Does money buy happiness?

However, as I got older, I slowly realized that what matters to me might not matter to you or someone else. Also, that my happiness didn’t imply that those around me would automatically be happy too.

Whenever I asked my mom and dad how a couple of children living on the streets could be running happily along the road, despite looking ragged and dirty, they would always smile and tell me that they’re still happy because they have friends. Simply answer.

Then I’d ask “How come? They don’t have any good clothes and they don’t eat as often as they should. They don’t have any money. So why are they still happy?”

My dad would say “Son, money can’t buy happiness.” This always made me think long and hard… was this true?

So there goes my early adulthood. After years of life’s lessons and years of maturing, I finally began to do things and bring in a steady stream of income. Whenever things were looking hard I would always think back to my parents telling me that money can’t buy happiness. This would make me feel better.

Here’s the truth.

Today, however, I can say that money CAN buy happiness. Without money, you won’t be able to survive in this urban jungle. Those street children that I saw during my early teenage years, they must be cringing in the dark, sobbing because of hunger and poverty. Money, one can say, is everything in this world run by power and wealth.

However, simply providing for oneself and taking care of our wants and needs is not what can bring us happiness. Actually it’s quite the contrary.

I realized this after watching a certain video by Michael Norton titled “How to Buy Happiness.” In the video, he explains why some people claim that money can’t buy happiness. He showed an article from a prestigious news company pertaining to a research as to what happens when people win the lottery.

It is eye opening to say the least. Many lotto winners go bankrupt a few years after winning huge sums of money. They also lose most of their friends along the way and part ties with family. So clearly buying yourself anything you want is not the key to using money to buy happiness.

Money Can Buy Happiness

The key to buying happiness according to Mr. Norton? Buying things for other people.

This means charitable donations and giving to those in need… even the ones on the streets that we normally turn a blind eye to.

I don’t want to ruin the video for you by giving it all away, but let’s just say that the USA isn’t the happiest nation in the world when it comes to how money is used. Others, in fact poorer nations, feel just as good when money is concerned.

The post Money Can Buy Happiness appeared first on The Blog of Fernando Bernardino.

True story.

Enough is enough. Stop wasting time.

I’ve been telling myself for quite some time now that I wanted to get started on my personal blog. However, as you know, what we want to do doesn’t always go along with what we actually end up doing.

The reason I didn’t get started weeks ago? Well, it’s actually pretty good. I blame video games.

First came Assassin’s Creed 3 and then came Halo 4 and then came Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. How can you honestly expect anyone to get anything done when blockbuster titles such as these are being released so close to each other?

Time = Money

In all seriousness, the past few weeks have once again helped me to see that time is money and much more.

Time is an asset that you can never grow or re-allocate once you’ve spent it. You can’t pray to God at night, “Lord, please give me back those 5 hours I just spent gaming. I have fallen behind on a work project.”

Everything of true value requires time. Relationships require time to grow. Mastering a sport requires thousands of hours of practice. Becoming educated on a subject requires time to be spent on reading and watching. Heck, even becoming proficient at a video game requires hours of quality gaming.

Over the next few weeks I am going to take inventory of how I am spending my time. I challenge you to do the same. Part of why I am doing this is because I have noticed my discipline slack off over the past few months. I need to stick to my plans and see them through. Because of this I am making it a goal to write a blog post every 2 weeks. If I do it more often then I will be ahead of schedule.

The cold, hard truth.

If we are to make any sort of impact on the world around us we need to spend our time doing things that matter. This means spending time in fellowship with one another, reading about as many subjects as we can, helping those around us, loving each other, and so much more.

Don’t worry. We can still play video games too…

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