Some aspects of life are awesome, others not so much. I think we can all agree on that. What doesn’t cease to amaze me is: Very few things are universally loved or despised. Political alignment? No consensus. Pineapple on pizza? Not as important, but equally polarizing. Cooking said pizza? Some of us are passionate chefs, while others dread the kitchen. Fascinating...

Ever heard of “division of labor”? No? Well, I got great news for you: You don’t need to do “all the things”. We figured out a way how some of us can specialize in certain tasks, so others don’t need to do them. Like a very long time ago. You must have not been paying attention for a few millennia, impressive...

In a perfect world, everyone would only be doing what they love. However, chances are there’s no one around who loves doing the dishes. Let’s use disposable plates and cutlery, problem solved?

Well, not really. Certain things just can’t be avoided. When trying to be of service to others, there’s a category we might want to include outside of “Things I’m passionate about”:

Things I don’t quite like doing, but others seem to avoid like the plague.

Why? There are actually quite a few scenarios:

Helping out your friends

Surprising a friend with a gift is awesome. If you got that gift on sale, it’s even better! If there’s something your friends hate doing, but you’re ok with it, then this is kinda like a gift that’s on sale. You still paid for it of course, but they don’t need to know it wasn’t full prize...

Personally, I don’t mind lending a hand when a friend needs a handyman (I swear, it wasn’t meant to be a pun). I’m not crazy about it, but I’ll do it if you ask nicely, or give me something in return. As long as you’re not weird about it. I remember assembling a bed for someone, and then she offered to test it together as a reward...

Getting paid for it

If something you did can make a friend’s day, then someone else might be willing to pay for it.

Example: A urologist. You’d have to pay me a shitload of money to inspect other people’s junks. And while my urologist might not be “into it” (actually, I’d hope they’re not), they can tolerate it much better than I ever could. So they ask for less money than I would, and people consult them instead of me. My missing qualifications might also have something to do with it, but that’s not the point of this metaphor...

Is there a task or skill you can tolerate that other people try to avoid?

Better relationships

The same principle can be applied to relationships. I grew up on a farm, so taking out the stinky trash or cleaning the toilet hardly fazes me. My significant other might not feel so indifferent about that though. And that’s fine, I can just take over those tasks.

Strengths to focus on

Maybe you’re too young to have developed marketable skills or just can’t think of anything you’re good at. Relax. We can go a step back and apply the same logic to something more basic: personality traits. Certain traits are spread very unevenly throughout the population. And these traits might be the basis for something much bigger.

Thinking back, I always had a knack for discipline, sticking to a process, and following the rules. I didn’t love it, but I had a much easier time with those things than most. Can you think of something that other people seem to struggle with, yet you never really got why? Could these be some of your hidden strengths? Hopefully, they are more interesting and fun than mine...

To summarize it in 3 simple questions:

What’s something most people hate doing, while you’re very much ok with it? Could you use this to increase the quality of someone's life? How about your own?

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