This entry was posted on 2/1/2006 7:46 PM.
Yesterday I wrote about how I chose a career in real estate. With that decision, I did not stop my search for a meaningful, productive life. Instead, this career has intensified my wrestling with what I want my life to do for this world. What I have realized is my impact on this world is only limited by my finitude, imagination, and work. There are three ways in which my work selling houses can impact this world positively. The first I experience every day, in helping people make smart choices about their homes and investments. I like educating people about the housing market in Nashville and how they can actually improve their family’s financial situation and even way of life with well-made real estate decisions. I find a lot of fulfillment in helping my clients make their own plans and follow through with them. When my work is done, I get to enjoy their successes and achievements with them.
With my work I receive the benefit of commissions. Although I can’t run a non-profit or endow a chair at a university with my income, yet, I can give ten percent to organizations I care about. One of the cool things about working at Village Real Estate is that we have the Village Fund. The Village Fund of the Tides Foundation takes what I give out of my commissions, pools it with other donations, and makes gifts to the organizations I select at the end of the year. So far I have given to the Magdalene House and the Crisis Center. What I hope to do this year is make enough that I can also sponsor a day on a Habitat Build.
With one of my non-monetary resources I give to the American Red Cross because it gives me a very tangible way to help others. With my vacation time I spend part of my summers as dean of the Japanese program Mori No Ike for Concordia Language Villages. There I get to work with an amazing, talented group of people to create a community where young people from all over the world can learn a second (or third or fourth) language and culture while living in a safe, nurturing community. It nourishes my educational, creative, and administrative abilities while allowing me to return to a place that meant a lot to me as a child. I always return ready to jump right back into real estate!
So those are the places where I find meaning in my work life. I hope as my business grows I am able to give more.
Comments
2/2/2006 7:33 AM jo wrote:
Hi kate I have read both of your articles and I feel like we have just been causght up on your life and your purpose for living this way. I enjoyed reading every bit of it! Thank you
2/6/2006 10:50 AM Nancy wrote:
great article. I love your writing and love where your heart is. I can’t wait to spend more time reading all your articles.
N
