In the late 1990s, Ellen Degeneres had a comedy show on television. The theme of one particular show focused on what a person does for a living and how it can affect you and the people you meet. Ellen portrayed a successful bookstore owner with a full business life but a somewhat unfulfilled personal life. Throughout the course of providing excellent customer service for a certain patron, a romance starts to develop between Ellen and a young man, so he asks her out on a date.

Of course Ellen is thrilled and goes home to tell her roommate and friends about this great guy who's asked her out. She can't wait for their date to begin until there's a knock on the door and she realizes that the Pizza Delivery Man is none other than her man. That's right, the one she just made the date with.

After embarrassingly introducing her friends to her future date, she takes the pizza, closes the door and tells everyone that it really doesn't matter to her that this potential boyfriend is "just a pizza delivery man. I mean, what's wrong with that and besides, he's probably moonlighting to make extra money. Or he's an aspiring actor. You know everyone in L.A. wants to be an actor. That's it. I'm sure he has huge hopes and dreams. Just like you and me."

Funny isn't it? How people latch on to jobs as an extension of themselves when in fact it should be the other way around. We tell ourselves it doesn't matter what we do for a living as long as we can pay the bills and have a little left over at the end of the month. We tell ourselves it doesn't matter that we're not exactly where we had planned to be in our careers at this point in our lives and we should be happy and content with what we have. For those in-between jobs, we say that doesn't matter because what you do isn't who you are. Right?

According to Stan Hustad, professional career consultant, author, and President of "Press Toward the Mark," many people have the philosophy backwards: "We tend to build our jobs around our lives instead of building our lives around our jobs. We mistakenly focus on power, wealth, status, and 'success,' not really understanding their meanings and driving ourselves further away from the deeper meaning and purpose of life."

Hustad notes that about 60% of people live off of hopes, wants, and wishes. They want to get to those things someday, but little thought is given to their career plans to help them get there and realize their dreams, hopes and wishes. There's no focus and nothing very specific. Twenty-seven percent don't think about their plans at all; there's no planning and little hope for the future. Of the remaining 13%, 10% of people are "Goal Oriented." This means their goals are thoughtful, fairly focused, slightly fuzzy, but with an end in mind. The last 3% are considered "Goal Directed" with purposeful, focused, specific written goals and plans for their completion.

Hustad has identified the benefits of being in the successful 3% of the population. These people are usually:

• More productive in their work.
• Know the "open secrets" of good time management.
• Have greater energy and enthusiasm for their work.
• Have "enough" money to live on.
• Care for and serve others with greater passion and effectiveness.
• Know how to plan for personal, professional, and organizational “success.”
• Live lives of deeper meaning and purpose.

Ellen didn't know it at the time, but her potential boyfriend had all of the things mentioned above. He lived in the 3% of the population that is genuinely happy in their profession and living their lives around their jobs. He delivered pizza unashamed and with gusto! He set out to be the best Pizza Delivery Man in L.A., he met his goals,and he had a life. Even after Ellen (uncomfortable and obsessed with what he did for a living) made a fool of herself in front of him and her friends, did he continue down his career path. True, their relationship didn't survive, but he did because he stayed focused. He certainly didn't meet Ellen's expectations, but he knew how to make himself happy.

About a week after their disastrous date, realizing Ellen was embarrassed and upset with his line of work, he quit his job in L.A. to fly to Italy. And, you guessed it, he set out to become the best Pizza Delivery Man that country has ever seen.

Now that you have read about It's Not What You Do, may we suggest that you take the next step and check out Getting Started On The Job Search... It is important to us that we are able to help people as they recover and prosper after job loss, so please contact us with suggestions, corrections, and even your personal experiences. If you found this article or video to be helpful, we'd love for you to share it with a friend. Also, be sure to check out all of the amazing resources for your career transition in the  ILostMyJob.com Book Store!

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