Sheelagh commented, on August 21, 2012 at 3:17 a.m.:

We got to talk a little about this last week on the golf csoure, so you know that I've been back and forth about contentment and jobs and even places to live for about 4 years now.Contentment is hard to define, especially when it comes to a family because you really have 4 different views of contentment unless you are all united. Given your kids are, well, kids, it's hard to ask them to take on the yoke of adult contentment decisions.As I was watching your video (didn't put in the hair product, eh? you didn't let Tyler get to you, did you?) I realized that in my job (as a engineer of sorts) I find fulfillment in about 10% of my job. The other 90% sometimes makes me just want to walk away, but when I get to do that 10%, then I am fueled for a good bit. What is that 10%? It's writing articles, speaking at conferences, presenting new ideas, collaborating with other leaders, editing other people's writing, and when I get around to it, designing new things for on-campus. None of those is really confined to my job area of library technology, but I've realized that I'm good at them, and until I can develop them to go out on my own and consult (if I ever really decide to do that), I need to tap into that 10% as much as I can to get me through that other parts. And slowly, try to get that 10% to be more like 20% or 30% or 50%, etc.But that's just my story. Because I like to name drop well known people, I remember watching an interview Don Miller did with Michael Hyatt. I think he was running a small printing company or something like that when he was trying to decide about writing full time. He said that when he sat down with his pastor to discuss it, his pastor asked him to define an amount he would need to have to do this full time. So Don wrote down a number and shared it with his pastor. And he told Hyatt that for his contract for Blue Like Jazz, they hit that number exactly. Not a little more, not a little less, but exactly.So from the financial/practical side of it, I would encourage you and Erica to come up with that number for you. Maybe you hit that in combination by your savings and the upswing $ you start getting in writing and speaking. Maybe you hit it through your first major project. Maybe Tripp and Tyler offer that to you to write for their sit-com (remember, don't tell them your number).From the spiritual side, remember always that you are gifted in everything you are doing now: in the stuff you don't like and in the stuff you love. Your giftedness isn't changed by the dislike or joy you get from using those gifts. You already know this by being a father. I hate some of the things I have to do as a father, but I love being a father, and that I get to share my gifts with them.Speaking of that, it's almost lunchtime, and my 19-month-old son gets to come have lunch with me today, so I gotta get some work done.

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