How to find the work you were meant to do — what I learned from Chris Guillebeau

Chris Guillebeau is the best selling author of The $100 startup and has developed a brand for himself as someone that can help others find work that they were meant to do and in developing side hustles as a way of life or as a way to supplement your income.

Perhaps the best lesson that I learned from his book is the Joy, Money, Flow framework to finding work that you want to do.

• Joy is how much you enjoy the work you are doing. If you loathe Monday mornings, you may not be doing work that brings you joy.
• Money is whether the work you do or want to do can pay the bills. It does not have to make you rich, but it should be able to keep you comfortable.
• Flow is what happens when you are doing work that is just challenging enough, but not too challenging. It can be what happens when you play video games and you find that hours or days pass as you try to beat a boss or test out different strategies for getting past a certain level.

If the work that you are doing (or want to do) is not hitting all three of these factors, it does not mean that you cannot do the work, but it does mean that you will be missing either one or more of these factors and not getting completely fulfilled from the work.