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Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow : Discovering Your Right Livelihood

Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow : Discovering Your Right Livelihood

List Price: $16.00
Your Price: $10.88
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Inspirational and Vocational Advice and Stories
Review: ... I used to run my own natural food store at one time. I did it for over seven years. Before that, I ran someone else's for over three years. That's over ten years of doing work that one loves. There was only one problem: the money did NOT follow! If it had, I would still be running my store. ... Now, don't get me wrong. Money DID follow; just not ENOUGH money to support a family. ... So, I KNOW that what this book says is true. The question is: HOW TRUE? Also, I am aware of the fact that if my heart had been totally, 100% involved in my natural food store business alone - and NOT also involved in MUSIC - I may very well have made MORE money running my natural food store. Or, it could have simply been a chapter in my life that had run its course and it became time to move on - or, at least, time to do something else for a while in order to get a break from it before going back into it with renewed vigor. You know? Who can say for sure?

... Nevertheless, I strongly feel that the inspirational and vocational advice and stories given in this book are extremely valuable to read if one is looking for guidance and encouragement before making a career change or taking a bold step into the unknown. My recommendation: GO FOR IT!

... I really love what the author writes on page 134: "I do not remember where I heard this statement, but I have thought about it for a long time. From watching myself overcome certain unproductive attitudes and habits, and from working with many people who have either overcome similar patterns or who have such excellent work habits that they are almost assured material success, my sense is that we have a lot of control over our incomes, expenditures and livelihoods - much more control than we give ourselves credit for - and that there may indeed be a connection between our mental control and focus and our ability to make money. As long as we have a clear idea of our goals and properly use the inclinations and in-born talents that we already have, I believe that the money will follow. However, while we wait it is essential that we protect ourselves from the cultural consciousness that says we are what we earn. We certainly are not. Only the individual with a healthy, wholesome self-view will feel inwardly rich when he or she is outwardly broke. This point came home to me strongly when I was interviewing people for my first book. One of the young men that I interviewed, an environmentalist who lived on less than $$$$ per year, had so much adoration and such an ecstatic response for life that I was stirred to try to see what he had that wealthier persons lacked. Essentially, what he possessed was a peaceful, full heart, a spiritually complete nature, and an ability to see beauty all around him instead of lack."

... Enlightenment may not pay ALL the bills, but it DOES have its benefits - one being PEACE OF MIND, which is priceless. The trick is to be enlightened, to strive toward spiritual liberation, and to be at peace as well with your ability to support all of your material needs while you also pursue the work that you love to do. That work may be more than one thing, and it may also change over time - but as long as you are on a path "with heart" (as Carlos Castaneda says), I truly believe that you will be happy doing what you do. Basically, that is the essence of this book. The author, herself, walks her talk and is a living testimony to the validity of her writings and work. ... YOWZA! - The Aeolian Kid

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow
Review: A few years ago I was in a working situation, whereby I lacked congruence. At the time personal congruence - i.e. mind, body, spirit enthusiastically moving toward the right fitting goal - meant nothing to me. I just thought I lacked success. Working hard showed no reward. Somewhere I got this book. At first, I found the beginning a bit lukewarm, however, when I began to highlight later quotes,I soon realized that this Sinetar gal was onto some hot liberating insights. I gathered no reward from my hard work, because I was working hard in the wrong livelihood- not using my innate talents and momentum. As Americans we blindly accept the creed of the work ethic. Working smarter is a better creed. As someone said,"If hard work makes wealth andhappiness, than ditch diggers should be happy millionaires." Doing what you love gets youworking eagerly and joyfully. People see me now in my propercareer and always comment on my high energy level.I'm complimented for "working hard." It's more like I'm having a ball. The book helped.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: OK vocation - inspiration book
Review: Anybody who recalls Joseph Campbell telling Bill Moyers "follow your bliss" has the gist of this self-help book. Sinetar throws in a few exercises for figuring WHAT you really love, but the basic idea is that old, old observation that you are likelier to be successful if you are working in a field you care about than if you are just punching a timecard.

'Likelier to be' is not, however, a word that comes easily to Sinetar and some folks will find the blind optimism of 'The Money Will Follow' a bit hard to swallow. Needless to say 'Trust in Allah but tie up your camel' is an adage always to be borne in mind when following this sort of advice, and everyone knows people who've done what they've loved and the money never appeared, let alone followed. It's to challenge this kind of pessimism that Sinetar has written her book, and she makes an engaging cheerleader.

There are lots of similar works and personally I think Napoleon Hill presents a better case, but Sinetar is a bit more up to date. Worth reading as an adjunct to other job-search books (like 'What Color is My Parachute'.)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I Feel Worse
Review: Follow your dreams and make a living while you do it. Marsha Sinetar writes an inspirational book with some advice on how to make the pursuit of your dreams a reality.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Book
Review: I am a big believer in "do what you love, the money will follow." However if that's so, why do some many people do what they love and the money does not follow?

The answer lies in 2 things.

1. They want the money too quickly
2. They don't think like a business owner. Marketer. Salesperson.

For example, my motivational role model Jack Canfield, back in 1992 thought up an idea of compiling emotional stories about overcoming obstacles and living your dream, (that turned into chicken soup for the soul mega best-selling series). But what is most remarkable is that Mark V Hanson, who joined him, was the key to making the series into a MONEY MAKING PROPOSITION. You see I think that Jack was doing it for the love of helping people and then the money, while Mark was doing it for the money then the love. Don't get me wrong. Mark V Hanson is a great I guy. He is not at all a money hungry charlatan. He is interested in helping people change their lives. However compared to Jack, he is more interested in making money.

The bottom line is do what you love, but if then money is not following, get a partner, a salesperson, someone to market your skills. Hope that helps.

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Book
Review: I am a big believer in "do what you love, the money will follow." However if that's so, why do some many people do what they love and the money does not follow?

The answer lies in 2 things.

1.They want the money too quickly
2.They don't think like a business owner. Marketer. Salesperson.

For example, my motivational role model Jack Canfield, back in 1992 thought up an idea of compiling emotional stories about overcoming obstacles and living your dream, (that turned into chicken soup for the soul mega best-selling series). But what is most remarkable is that Mark V Hanson, who joined him, was the key to making the series into a MONEY MAKING PROPOSITION. You see I think that Jack was doing it for the love of helping people and then the money, while Mark was doing it for the money then the love. Don't get me wrong. Mark V Hanson is a great I guy. He is not at all a money hungry charlatan. He is interested in helping people change their lives. However compared to Jack, he is more interested in making money.

The bottom line is do what you love, but if then money is not following, get a partner, a salesperson, someone to market your skills. Hope that helps.

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Insightful
Review: I really got into this book. She uses her psycho-analytical background to explain that we all feel much more comfortable working in our own individual way--something educators in this country need to catch on to, for sure. Too often, we are guided toward security and money instead of passion and love of what we do. We rarely get to experience being in the zone.
How much money will follow? Ms. Sinetar cautions through case studies that the money will not always be the plentiful millions that we all seem to want. But that for some, working outside in an apple orchard, doing what they love, is more important than having the latest and greatest of everything. Just how many gadgets do we really need--probably not as many as we think.
I feel validated in pursuing my passion of writing and secondly to support that passion by promoting my novel, "Forever Retro Blues," in whatever way I can after reading this book. How much money will follow? She never says, but she does make the point that passion is more important than traveling the road more traveled.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Work as conscious choice that puts values into action
Review: In "Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood," Marsha Sinetar presents the countercultural idea that ordinary people can live their values through their work and that to do so doesn't require taking a vow of poverty or undertaking a religious vocation. "There are times when we must make personal decisions that force us to confront what we really believe," she writes. "These crisis moments, when we come to a fork in life's road requiring us to take a stand, help us to re-evaluate what we want to say with our lives and actions ... In the final analysis it is what we do that tells us and others what kind of person we are and what are our deepest values or antipathies." In this respect, she echoes Kahlil Gibran when he said, "Work is love made visible."

"Right livelihood is predicated upon conscious choice," she writes, as well as commitment and mindfulness. It means using work "fully for our own development and enrichment," as opposed o the economy's. It requires a level of self-esteem that "treats yourself as if you count."

"Before being capable of selecting a type of work that fits us, we have to be persons who behave daily in ways that support and enhance our lives," Sinetar writes. In other words, we must "validate and express our most cherished values" on a daily basis. Sinetar then takes her readers through a process of values clarification and demonstrates how upholding the values you cherish through your work actually rewards yourself and enhances your self-esteem. Work then becomes "something connected to the self ... a mirror of the person."

"The Money Will Follow" part of Sinetar's title implies not riches but rather the leap of faith required to risk taking responsibility for your own Right Livelihood, which Sinetar identifies less as hope than as resourcefulness: "the ability to deal with any kind of situation ... based upon the individual's faith that he can solve his own problems ... We truly evolve and grow only when we take control of our own circumstances and fears."

"I've made do with a lot less than I ever thought I could, and have even found fulfillment and satisfaction in a simpler life," one of her studies reports. "It's been hard, but in some ways it's also been a blessing."

Work that is Right Livelihood allows "weaknesses to be worked on" while "strengths and talents grow into full use," while being linked with others. "The actualizing individual is intrinsically involved with his work and uses it to help him understand the world around him." Such work is "a key vehicle for expressing their most positive emotions. They describe their efforts as a way to demonstrate their affection for others and to grow in respect for themselves ... They protect their time, say 'no' to unrewarding social invitations, recoil-naturally and without much guilt-from toxic people, situations, jobs and responsibilities. It is as if they instinctively know what they must do with their time and energy, and then determine to do only that ... The motivation that ignites the individual is positive, loving, devotional and earnestly sincere."

"Do What You Love" is a book worth revisiting frequently throughout the transformation from job or career to intentional, purposeful work lived as Right Livelihood. Her follow-up work, "To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love: The Spiritual Dimension of Entrepreneuring" further explores the spiritual challenges particular to entrepreneuring; "Do What You Love" does not restrict itself to entrepreneuring as the only way to perform work that you love.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: bland
Review: It may be inspirational and it brings tears of joy to my eyes, but hey, what about the "what's" and "how's"? Empty.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good book, but mostly inspirational, even fluffy
Review: Perhaps it deserved more than 3 stars -- when it came out, which was a while ago; unfortunately I'm unable to evaluate this book in its, so to say, original historical context. I can only say what it feels like right now: it is intelligent and inspiring, but at the same time, like all of the rest of the self-help genre, in the final reckoning, it overpromises and underdelivers. It will motivate and I'm sure that for some people it will be helpful, but, friends, let's be honest, we're not 15 years old anymore -- doing what you love has nothing to do with the supposedly following money; god forbid you buy this totally unjustified proclamation literally. Do some empirical research, and you will find that not only there's no direct relation between your professional predilections and remuneration, but that statistically, people following their tastes do actually earn little. Ask around, read biographies (how many cultural icons, famous musicians,for example, had to unload trucks as a day job, or lead thoroughly impoverished lives, and how many have actually died broke; in fact, purely quantitatively you'll discover that doing what you love is likely to result in personal martyrdom -- van Gogh comes to mind -- which, btw, is fine, if that's what you want and had no illusions all along.)

Of course, even though nothing in the book suggest that, one can take the title figuratively, that is, be what you are and then *IF* the money follows, you'll be happier than if you've earned a good living by doing something you don't like. Or, perhaps one can say, do what you love, and *even if you don't make any money*, you may end up happier long-term, than if you sacrifice your nature to some money-making but unpleasant, or simply indifferent profession. Or, one could say, doing what you like will enable you to do more and more easily, and so rather than "do what you like" we should say "avoid doing what you definitely dislike" since the money only seems a good motivator, but in the end, you won't be able to perform well and will fail not only to enjoy life, but to earn anything as well. But that's not what the title says, is it? So, there's an awful lot of unsubstantiated pep talk in the book, which, like I've just said, is good for motivation, but nothing more. In fact, it may be harmful to someone who would rely on the proposed relation between personal fulfillment and money-earning capacity. This I'm sure, sells books allright, but it's your life! -- be realistic, learn the real stories and bios, then motivate yourself all you want, but with the knowledge of the real life, with realistic expectations.

Of course, it is frequently the case that people do not pursue their preferences purely out of fear or even some trivial reasons, and in many such cases they would do well at least to try to, as it were, set themselves loose. But, no, do not ever expect that "the money will follow". It may not, and history teaches us that in a huge number of cases it actually doesn't. Instead, depending on a multitude of factors -- subjective as well as objective -- it *may*. With that in mind, it's an OK read.


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