If you won 4 million dollars in a lottery would you continue working? Research of Drs. Richard Arvey, Itzak Harpaz, and Hui Liao found that the majority of big-money lottery winners with a high work centrality do continue earning income in some form. This provides compelling evidence that people gain intrinsic rewards from their careers.
Given the staggering number of people who report that their jobs are a source of negative stress, you may be surprised by this research finding. I was not. The source of work-related stress is not the income-generating activity; it is doing this activity without control. While many lottery winners continue earning an income, a very small percent of them continue doing exactly what they were doing prior to winning. The lottery winners’ new financial freedom affords them opportunity to craft the careers they really want. They are fully in control of their career destiny.
You do not need to win the lottery to take control of your career destiny and have the career you really want.
Since Get a Life, Not a Job first became available online almost 4 weeks ago (and in bookstores soon), I have been in touch with more people with truly amazing and inspiring careers -- people who are not lottery winners but are leveraging their talents to do what they love.
Adam Schell is one of those highly motivating people.
I was inspired by Adam’s ability to stay true to himself, his talents and his core values. Through the pursuit of experiences and self-awareness, he is crafting (and continues to craft) a career that brings him work-life harmony. Let me share some of the highlights of Adam's career acts:
When Adam was younger he wanted to be a professional football player and, in fact, was a linebacker for Northwestern University when he was in college.
While a professional future in football wasn’t in the cards, Adam decided to explore his other passions. After college (and to explore his love of great food) Adam picked grapes and olives in Tuscany and coffee beans in Guatemala, and apprenticed under a master French Chef. He was a chef himself -- and then a food critic.
Leveraging yet another skill set, Adam produced award-winning short films and commercials. In a beautiful example of how great careers are a process and not an outcome, Adam returned to school for a master's degree in creative writing.
Combining and leveraging his multiple skills and passions (food, writing, travel, and the creative process), Adam recently authored his highly-successful first novel Tomato Rhapsody: A Novel of Love, Lust, and Forbidden Fruit. (If you enjoy novels, this book is pure pleasure, a delightful mix of history, humor, romance, and drama wrapped in a rich and colorful fable about the tomato’s start in Italy.)
While not playing professional football, Adam also stayed true to his personal value of physical fitness; he is a popular yoga instructor.
When asked how all of his pursuits influenced his writing, Adam responded “I think football taught me how to prepare, being a chef taught me how to wing it, and being a yoga teacher taught me to trust – all skills intrinsic to writing a good novel.”
With his wife and child, Adam has true work-life harmony. When not traveling to Spain to research his next novel, Food of the Gods: An Epic Tale of Love, Chocolate and Bittersweet Revenge, Adam lives in Bend, Oregon where he and his family enjoy the “small town charms.”
I asked Adam if he won 4 million dollars, would he keep doing what he continue doing what he is doing? His reply: “yes, I would certainly keep writing and teaching yoga. The yoga teaching, however, would be public and by donation, with all monies going to support some local cause.”
You see, my friends, you do not need to win a lottery to have financial freedom and work-life harmony. Many thanks to Adam for sharing his career story. I look forward to hearing about the next chapter of Adam's career -- and reading his next novel.
