Jessica Soroky continues her series Leadership is a Choice.

Part two – earning tomorrow today (you did not wake up today to be mediocre)

In Part 1 I wrote about gratitude. I challenged you to love who you are today in order to create wins instead of waiting for them to come to you. I want to take this further and focus on earning what can be.

I have been given an amazing opportunity as a consultant to be reminded constantly that my tomorrow (at work) is never promised. Every day I go to work with a job to do that was established on a piece of paper that in most cases I helped to write. It is literally black and white what is expected of me.

One might think that would make it even easier to be set up for success, and in some instances it does. Then there are the times (that I have blogged about) where I have been utterly stunned (due to my lack of awareness) when in a single moment my livelihood goes from secure to high risk.

It’s a combination of those moments, mild paranoia and my dedication to personal choice and responsibility that I came to this conclusion that everything we have we earn through our choices, creations, and attraction.

This goes for everything – family, work, hobbies, etc. None of it is guaranteed so it all must be continuously earned.

For example, when I get up in the morning I look next to me at the man that has changed everything for me and I express my gratitude for his pure existence in my life. This may be a silly comment, a loving kiss, or just telling him I love him.

I go get dressed for work while mentally going over my to-do list and calendar. I am constantly reminding myself that I am not promised tomorrow so I must earn today.

There are days where this is really easy. These days are typically filled with all the things I love the most about what I do. Then there are the days that are filled with all the activities that make possible the things I love to do. Those days, the reminder to earn my job has to be a little more stern and focused.

Yes today may not be as fun or fulfilling but it is necessary in order to get to do what I love, so I am going to choose to give my all.

I have coached and taught this idea to a few different teams of individuals who are not consultants–some of them have worked at the same job since the moment they left college. Even that level of loyalty, experience and time spent does not equal entitlement to a job or a paycheck. Even in those more secure positions I challenge you to challenge yourself to remember that today is a gift, so show your appreciation and earn your tomorrow by constantly showing your employer why they should keep choosing you!

Jobs—just like relationships—are filled with multi-directional choices. You choose to go to work every morning and do your job. At the same time your employer chooses to allow you to come to work and pay you to do that job.

For those that are sitting there thinking “None of this matters to me, I hate my job and I honestly don’t care if I ever go back” I get it. I’ve been there.

We value our paychecks more than most other things, so we keep going back—even if we are miserable—until we find an out that will keep the checks coming in.

So while you are there getting that paycheck focus on gratitude first. Find whatever tiny sliver of happiness that you can (the people, the flexibility, the seniority, the pay) and focus on it with gratitude.

Gratitude will clear your head and allow you to focus on earning what is possible. The coolest part is that the possibilities are limitless. I have experienced this firsthand. When I let go and trusted my power to attract what I want my world began to move in ways and at speeds I never before imagined possible.

Fight for it (whatever it is) even when it seems worthless to fight for. Find the tiny piece of inspiration or passion (or selfishly find the tiny piece of whatever you get out of it) and focus there.

Earn it! Be grateful for it and choose to keep going after those wins instead of waiting for them to come while you hang out with complacency, frustration, boredom, and other lovely emotions that come when you allow your world to choose for you.

When the possibilities and the dreams start to come true, that’s when you fight even harder. You wake up every day with a fire to keep the earth moving in this direction. That fire must be nurtured though, taken care of and fed.

For my workaholics (I used to be one) this doesn’t mean you must work 50-80+ hours a week to earn something. You can absolutely earn your tomorrow within normal business hours.

Simplistically, it boils down to this—I don’t wake up each morning to carry out a mediocre day. I wake up every day to live powerful, free, and at choice. For me that choice is to love deeper, work harder (constantly feeding my fire), challenge my “normal” and ALWAYS be grateful for what is.

Bill is known to ask his students when teaching The Responsibility Process “Do you want be the victim or not?”

I am asking, will you choose a mediocre day or choose to fight and earn all that is possible and great out there?

Jessica Soroky, CSM

Jessica is a Certified Scrum Master with over three years of practice in agile delivery and seven years of team leadership. She is also the youngest participant in The Leadership Gift™ Program and its growing worldwide community of leaders and coaches. After five years of nonprofit development through Nellie’s Catwalk for Kids, Jessica continues her leadership journey in state government, not-for-profit, and private sector leadership studies.