“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whoever uttered that phrase had no idea what they were talking about. Unfortunately, that same useless phrase has been repeated so often that it’s now canon for job seekers and those unhappy in their current roles.
I have two separate issues with this statement. One is the obvious: it’s not true. For example, let’s say you love to bake. Baking is your favorite thing; nothing gives you more pleasure or helps you to relax more than mixing ingredients and popping something into the oven. Over time you’ve developed a real skill, to the point that friends urge you to open a bakery. What a great idea!
Except it’s not. Open that bakery and suddenly your love to becomes have to. What was once an escape is now a prison with no chance of parole. You’re working 16-hour days, trying to keep up, baking like a fiend, and trying to keep your head above water. So much for passion.
What was once an escape is now a prison with no chance of parole.
Yes, people open bakeries all the time and they can be successful small businesses. But it’s not because it’s a passion – it’s a business. They have a business plan, understand the market, and they work the plan. Passion has little or nothing to do with their success.
The other problem I have with the statement is the work part. “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Even if that were true…what’s wrong with work? Work is generally defined as an activity directed toward making or doing something or applying the mind to learning. Is that a bad thing?
Where we get hung up is our tendency to use the terms “work” and “job” interchangeably. A job is a specific piece of work done as a duty or for a specific fee. Maybe it’s not work that is at issue here. Quite possibly it’s the job aspect that’s causing the problem.
Maria Montessori said, “Play is the work of the child.” Her point was that children learn and grow through play. But also that the best play for kids is that which produces real results. Adults are no different. Who doesn’t enjoy using their skills to produce useful results?
Maybe it’s not work that is at issue here. Quite possibly it’s the job aspect that’s causing the problem.
Most jobs don’t scratch that itch though. Jobs are often frustrating, repetitive, even mind-numbing. The focus is more on controlling the worker than on getting useful results. Office politics and “face-time” with the boss outweigh the need to produce.
People don’t hate work, they hate their jobs. There’s a saying bouncing around social media that people don’t leave jobs, they leave bad bosses. Actually they leave both because the boss and the job are two parts of the same whole.
Jobs have sucked the meaning out of work.
Work is a good thing. It is productive and adds value. Jobs have sucked the meaning out of work. We should be more careful about how we use both terms. If you don’t want a job, I get it. Neither do I. The terms aren’t interchangeable.
Maybe we should focus less on avoiding work and more on finding work that has meaning. Spoiler alert: It’s probably not going to be getting a job working for someone else.