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Recently fellow Real Estate blogger Teresa Boardman posted that Fridays are her “fun” days and that Friday she was playing in the dirt. When I read her post I realized not only did I become a gardener at age 8, but I think I also became a real estate agent around the same age.

“Play, learn and pass it on”. - Dusty Skye

All these years I’ve wondered whether I garden because I love it or garden because I have to maintain my yard. When I was a little girl I played in the dirt on a vacant lot next to our home. I built a play house with extra wood, all the sheets of plywood I could find and I planted flowers (most likely weeds).

You hear about “doing what you love” or are passionate about for work. Donny Deutsch on The Big Idea TV show said “pay attention to your kids’ dreams and passions, and how they play, because one day they could become the next Bill Gates”. Like the words in the Honda Accord commercial ….”Hold on tight to your dreams!”

A friend of mine played with match boxes and built houses when she was little. Today she’s an architect and builder. Another friend of mine built those small model airplanes that come out of a kit. Today he has a company producing large remote-controlled replicas of World War II planes. The son of a woman I know used to play with small cars all the time and today he loves selling cars.

We were immigrants and didn’t have a lot of money. I didn’t have dolls to play with. As a kid my imagination was in full gear and I figured out a “game” of my own to play with the limited resources I had. My mother went to the bank and I’d pick up those deposit and withdrawal slips and take a stack home. I made up “clients” and had customers who made deposits and withdrawals at my own bank with names I had given them.

Maybe I didn’t exactly become a real estate agent at age 8, but business was definitely on my mind at that young age. Later in school, I won the Bank of America Business Award (did they know I took their bank slips home??)… I guess I was destined to be in the business world or own a business of my own. On second thought, I did build a house with those scraps of wood on that vacant lot!

Perhaps your child’s play will be the beginnings of becoming a real estate agent (heaven forbid!) when they grow up or maybe they’ll be the next Bill Gates! Maybe you’re unhappy with your current job. I heard today that 84% of workers are unhappy with their jobs - that’s 4 out of every 5 workers. Ask yourself what did you love to play when you were a child and maybe you should be doing that instead?

Today’s Monday….it’s my “fun” day and I’m probably out playing in the dirt!

(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter - JUNG’S JOURNAL - on my website www.bettyjung.com).