Is it work or is it play?

Is it work or is it play? So often what is work for one person is play for someone else, and sometimes our play becomes our work, or our vocation. For example, a child seeing a block or toy car for the first time works to understand it and make it move, yet for an older child, or an adult, it’s play.

How many people do you know whose hobby eventually became their profession? I’m not talking about the child who excelled in music and became a concertmaster by the time they were 25. No, it’s those who studied and pursued one career path while perfecting a skill or developing a product in their garages during the evening. How many artisans developed their skills at home before “going public?” The “play” of many jewelers, artists, cabinetmakers, and of course, writers and photographers eventually became their work. Just think how different our lives would be today without the entrepreneurial efforts of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne who developed the Apple computer in their garage. Don't forget Bill Gates and Microsoft, or most recently, Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg.

Photography was my “play” in the Navy, and later, I honed my skills in the darkroom of a master photographer while in college. But I spent more than twenty five years in the corporate world before I turned my "play" into my "work." It's one of the most satisfying things that I have ever done. How about you?