It's 8am and your alarm clock is screaching like a rooster who hasn't seen a hen in while. You can barely pick yourself up and out of bed to turn the darn thing off, but you manage, while saying to yourself "I need ten more minutes"-- hitting the snooze button and crawling back into bed -- as if 10 additional minutes would really do anything to cure your complete lack of interest for your job

Working in America (and Canada) is worst than bad gas on a first date.

Did you know that nearly 80% of Americans (and Canadians) wake up every morning to that annoying screaching rooster not wanting to go to work?

This reminds me of Billy, a 20-something whiz kid I met on a train heading to Kingston, Ontario Canada one weekend in July 2006.

It was July 8th, 10:54am and the train had arrived on time stoping just outside the train station on track # 2. The train attendent signaled those waiting outside to begin boarding the train -- all of a sudden I realized I had forgotten my book. "Argh...Dammit" I thought to myself. I never forget my book, it was the whole reason why I took the train in the first place --- to read and make better use of the time spent while travelling.

I quickly boarded the train, grabbed a seat by a window and neatly put my backpack on the seat next to me as to not have to converse with a stranger. That lasted a whole 23 seconds before a sqeaky voice came my way -- "excuse moi, is this seat taken". Ummm, ....I tried to find the words, nervous, scared...ummm ummm... I wanted to say yes, but but...."No" I replied.

Billy took his seat..

"What is your name?" Billy asked. "Jay and Yourself?" I..."Billy " he replied.

He asked me where I was headed and likewise --- we we're both headed to Kingston.

I asked billy what he did for a living. "I use to be lead software developer for a large corporation based out of Montreal" said Billy.

"You use to?" I asked.

"Yes, I use to work there" replied Billy.

Billy had actually quite his job earlier that morning and was now headed to Kingston to meet up with old friends from university. On the outside it seemed like Billy had it all. Here was a guy who was 24 years old, just out of University hired by a large corporation to be one of their top software developers. He had a company car, was making a higher than normal salary plus stock options and so much more. On the outside it looked like Billy " the whiz kid" had it all, so why on earth did he quite! I had to ask.....

"So, Billy why on earth did you walk away from it all?" I asked

"Jay, sure on the outside it looked like I had it all. I had a company car, great salary, nice home, stock options....but on the inside I had nothing....I woke up every morning dreading the 1-2 hour long traffic jams, the structured breaks, office politics, a boss who didn't appreciate me as a human being. I realized that life is too short. When you wake up in the morning dreading the day....you need to re-evaluate what it is your doing. So, I quite and decided to jump on the next train to Kingston and meet up with some old friends from university --- we're going to open up a coffee house -- sure the pay isn't as great, but now I'll be waking up evey morning excited about the day's challenges."

"wow..." I replied.

I think we can all learn from Billy. If your waking up in the morning dreading going into work, you really need to re-evaluate what it is you are doing and find something else that will motivate you. Life is indeed too short to be doing something you hate. So, grab a peice of paper and a pen.... and jot down times in your life that you were most happy. What where you doing? Use that as a starting point for creating your dream job.

=================================================================== Jay Gooslaki is a freelance writer and journalist. You can learn more about Working From Home at http://www.didyousmellthat.com ==================================================================

About the Author

Jay Gooslaki is a freelance writer and journalist.