Loving What You Do
I don’t disagree with the idea that “doing what you love” makes you happier, but I also think it’s partially over-hyped as a symptom of society flailing in search for happiness. The truth is, work is always work. You have to work hard. There’s no dodging it if you want to do good work and it doesn’t just become “not work” in my opinion.
Also, I think at a certain level what you work hard at and become good at, you enjoy more. We enjoy being good at things, and this positive feedback from a natural aptitude can encourage us to work harder, and therefore get better, and therefore enjoy our work more. In this sense, there may be an element of “you like what you eat”, which has been shown to be true in a variety of circumstances (at least that’s what I hear.) I don’t mind hearing people say “do what you love”, but I’d also like to hear some voices in the crowd start saying “Love what you do.”
A colleague summed up what he learned from reading Thoreau’s Walden succinctly: no matter how bad you have it, someone has it worse. Keep your head up.
So yes, go find what you love and do it. But if you’re not in your dream job, it’s no excuse to not love what you’re doing, unless it’s somehow evil and destroying humanity. Love what you do. Love life. Keep your head up. Keep whistling and moving on.
