Don’t Do What You Love to Do for a Job
They say “Do what you LOVE to do and you’ll never work a day.”
I say, “Do what you’re good at.” Work is just work. Â And when you DO what’ you’re good at for a job, work is just gonna be easy.
I’ve been there, done that.
Sometimes, when you do what you LOVE to do as a JOB, it gets political and people, clients and everyone else would dictate how you do your job (which you love). Â It would take its toll on you. Â The great PERIL in this situation is that you would lose interest on the thing you LOVE to do. Â It happens to me quite a lot of times and to a few friends as well.
A friend LOVED video production. Â But when he started doing it as a job, he lost interest.
Another friend loved graphic design. Â But, when dictated here and there on how he needed to do his job, he lost interest. Â Instead he’ll focus on the thing he’s good in doing.
Don’t get me wrong, you might ALSO be really GOOD in the thing you LOVE doing, but the main peril is – you could lose interest. Worse, you lose PASSION. Has this happened to you too?
But, if you do what you’re good at (but something you don’t love as much and doesn’t mean much to you)… you would finish work on time, and even if they dictate how you do your work – it would be easy for you to adjust because you are AWESOME at what you are doing. Again, work is just work… It’s what we do to get our bills payed, and fuel the expenses in doing the things we love.
If you’re good at your job, it shows – and your career path will headed towards the sky.
I just realized that I am AWESOME with Excel problems. Â I work fast and I know the functions and stuff. Â If anyone wanted me to fix an Excel problem, it’s just easy for me.
It all depends though. Â Some people can work their way around and are happy doing what they love as a job.
How about you? Â What are your thoughts? Â What do you think? Â I might be wrong so share them away on the comment section below.
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11 comments
It depends on your term of love imo. If you equate loving something to “enjoying” it then it’s understandable that if things start to become “too tiresome, boing etc.” then you’d eventually lose interest.
However, if you equate love = passion, commitment or anything related to that then regardless of whatever circumstances (good or bad) you face as you chase after it, then you’d willing to go through politics, or whatever it is you’re facing head-on without faltering in following through with what you love.
I see it as taking the good with the bad. Any job you work in, the politics, and the loss of interest unfortunately comes with it. One can ask why deal with that stuff at a job you enjoy? Because they don’t matter. When one is passionate and commit at a job they love, facing the politics and those people becomes another tiny hurdle.
I think it also boils down to the people you’re working with. A good and healthy working environment is rare nowadays, but it will make you more productive. I think I’ll make a good boss lol
I agree. it also boils down to the people you work with… Let’s conquer the world! hahaha
Good point 🙂
Thank you for taking time to share your thoughts ^_^
Awesome post. I just discovered this blog today, and this particular one was very timely for me. So thank you.
This is something I have wrestled with since leaving the corporate world 5 years ago. While I do agree with the whole notion of “doing what you love to do for a living,” I don’t think its for everyone. You’ve brought up an excellent point– there are perils in pursuing this notion. Not only do you face the risk of losing interest in it due to people or politics, but even worse you may find out that you’re actually not that good at it and you aren’t able to generate any income out of it. I have learned this lesson firsthand.
The romantic in me says: “If you love what you’re doing, then neither people nor politics can stop me from pursuing it.”
But the pragmatic in me says: “If you aren’t any good at what you do, maybe its meant to be a hobby/interest and not for earning a living.”
Like you, i agree that work is work. Nobody ever said that you HAVE to enjoy your work. In fact, in the book of Genesis, it says that work is part of the curse. If you do get to do what you love for a living, then you are one of the lucky few. If you want to do what you love for a living, then get a stock up on good ol’ commitment & resolve, and get good at it. (Good enough that someone would pay you for it) But if you aren’t willing to take that leap, then you simply have to learn to love your current job.
Simply put, you have two choices.
A) Do what you love. (but know the risks entailed)
B) Love what you do. (learn to love and deal with the work you are doing)
Hey @aRj ^_^ I am so pleased that you wrote down your insights on this! I too have been pondering on the “perfect job” (for me at least) and your input adds a lovely point to this whole discussion. Ako I’d rather love the things I love. Have a job, whatever it is and learn to love it when you can.
“I’d rather love the things I love. Have a job, whatever it is and learn to love it when you can.”
hmmm…I like that. (where’s the like button here? haha)
I couldn’t agree more..happened to me. 🙁 I love writing but when my job required me to do all those documentation….I lost interest in writing….7 months without a blog post in my site….dunno if I would regain my passion for writing in my blog. 🙁
oh yeah huh… I used to visit your site quite often too… nakaka discourage noh? but I’m sure you’ll discover more things to love as long as you explore. or maybe try to blog again.. sometimes, an urge to write for the blog just happens. you never know 🙂