I left ERAC and corporate america a few years ago, and I feel like I've learned a ton about work as it relates to life since then.

The bottom line on anyone's job is this: you are going to spend about 30% of your waking hours for the next 20 years (at ERAC, 33-35% - but close enough). You want to find something that you enjoy doing.

Maybe that is renting sleds.

Maybe it is sitting in doctor's offices for 2 hours playing solitaire on your laptop waiting for them to give you 20 seconds between appointments so you can drop off a sample and hope to collect on a quarterly bonus if you drop off enough of them and that 12-pack of bagels with assorted cream cheese.

Maybe it is doing credit checks, filling out paperwork, and giving people other people's money to fulfill their dreams.

Maybe it is cold-calling some guy you got off a list to see if they want some stock your boss tells you is going to be hot, and trying to convince those people to buy some.

Whatever you choose to do, if you look forward to doing it day in and day out, that is the important thing. Does it matter how much money you make? Does it matter how many hours you work or don't work? Does it matter what the grand purpose of the actual company is, whether it provides a product or a service, or both?

How glamorous or undesirable a job is, it's all relative. I'm happy to live in a nice subdivision. My neighborhood is mainly dominated by 4 vocations - retirees, doctors, lawyers, and business owners.

The retirees think all the working people have it rough because their wives plant flowers wearing silly little hats and do crosswords all day.The husbands golf all day in their white shorts, dark business socks, and tennis shoes.

The doctors think the retirees, lawyers, and business owners aren't worthy because the doctors spend all day diagnosing and fixing health problems that actually matter to society. We all think they have it rough because they work 12-14 hour days and are on call nights and weekends regularly.

The lawyers can't believe how much the doctors work and the nasty human bodies they have to deal with everyday for roughly the same money. Plus, they get to golf like the retirees, and they don't have the hassles that come with business ownership.

And we business owners are looking around at the retirees thinking - "what the heck would I do with all that time on my hands?" We look at the doctors and say - "I'd never have time for anything other than my patients". We look at the lawyers and say, "I may need to you write up a contract for me or sue this customer I did work for but they haven't paid me yet". All the while, we are thinking we've got it great because we get to make our own decisions, and live with the consequences of them.

Everyone, at least on the surface, is happy with their chosen field. We all think we have it better than the others. That's how it should be!

In the end, we are all going to look back and hope we didn't waste our time doing something we despised for 30% of our waking lives. If you don't like what you are doing, give it up. Find what you do like, and go after it with a passion.