I lived in Europe for half a decade and met many wonderful friends there. I learned something paramount when I was in Europe: Law of Reciprocity is definitely real.
- What is Law of Reciprocity?
Basically, Law of Reciprocity means you will only get what you give. Let me show you an example here.
When I was living in Europe, I introduced a very good job to a colleague. She was very grateful and bought me dinner. We didn’t contact each other for a few years.
Then I was made redundant by my employer because of the economy in 2008, so my career counsellor asked me to come up with creative ways to find a job. As I didn’t know a large number of people, I thought about that colleague and contacted her.
She talked to me on the phone for a few hours. I still remember it was a dark night and I was using two candles in my living room. The ambience made me slightly emotional.
My colleague tried her best to help me find a job. She gave me the opportunity to attend a job interview at an organization that she had resigned from, but that didn’t work out in
the end because I didn’t really like that industry and I don’t think that employer liked me. However, I still appreciate her support.
A few months later, my colleague gave me another opportunity to attend the second job interview at an organization that hired her. That one worked out really well. We became co-workers again.
“I still remember when I was totally lost, you gave me a great job,” said my colleague, “I’m so thankful.”
Clearly, she wanted to help me because I helped her first. This is a typical example of Law of Reciprocity.
- Do you have to like your job?
My life in Europe taught me something meaningful: I don’t really have to like my job. This lesson gave me so much freedom because if I believe that I must like my job, life would definitely be harder.
Yes, the good news is you don’t have to like your job because there is a difference between a job and a calling.
A calling is your vocation, your real career.
For instance, when I was living in Europe, I worked in retail – that was just a job because although I’m very passionate about beautiful products, sales and communicating with customers, I didn’t like the people that I was working with. Frankly, I would say most people only did what they could with what they knew at that time, so I don’t blame them. But when two difficult managers and a dodgy co-worker were combined, I knew that job was certainly not my career, because who I work with is just as important as what I do.
Indeed, many people resign not because they don’t like what they do, but because they don’t like the people that they work with.
While working in retail, I started a side hustle. When my side hustle became successful, I left the retail industry completely because my side hustle has become my career.
“You can have a job and a calling at the same time.”
