"Do what you love and never work a day in your life."
That statement is bull shit.
If anything, it highlights how miserable people are in their jobs.
Besides, love is too often associated with feelings derived from short-term pleasure.
Work is hard.
Work is important.
Work is your purpose.
That doesn't mean your job is your purpose.
Work has lost meaning for many individuals. It's associated with clocking in and clocking out as a means to an end.
In many cases, that clocking in and out does indeed fulfill a purpose - providing for a family.
Suppose you love the results of your work. You can love your work and can love a job.
If you feel like it's all meaningless, you may need to find the work that matches your purpose. You might need to find your purpose first.
Discovering your purpose takes time. Time is linear, but success isn't.
Even if you do what you love, everything becomes a job at some point - no matter how glamorous it may seem.
Even pro athletes need a pep talk to get to work on some days.
It requires sacrifice and doing things you don't want to do to pursue any dreams you may have.
Pursuit = Suffering
Work is a part of life.
Suffering is a part of life.
You need to choose how you suffer.
Men need purpose. It is our greatest anti-depressant aside from the gym.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work."
Steve Job
How do you find that purpose?
It's not as existential as you may think.
Here are 4 questions to ask yourself:
- What you are good at?
- What can you be paid for?
- What does the world need?
- What do I love (I put this last on purpose)
I often think about ranchers and farmers. A community I spend a lot of time with as a film maker and being a native Texan in general.
The idea of working the land and caring for animals sounds like a great life - and it is.
Will I still love it when a pipe bursts in the middle of a winter night and there's no one to call but myself? Not likely.
For many, yes, it's their purpose. It's a hard life, but a good life.
It's not for everyone.
You might have a hobby that the world needs, but you can't seem to make a dollar off of it.
In those instances - keep it as a hobby. Hobbies are good.
Many of our music careers failed to take off, but music is a great hobby.
A lot of this comes down to expectations.
When your expectation is to love what you do everyday, your expectations are going to set you up for failure.
When you are constantly failing, you will find yourself drudging through life and you'll hit a wall.
That wall is burnout
Burnout is depression.
You can look for a warning signs of burnout:
- Physical Symptoms
- Headaches and general discomfort.
- Isolation
- Avoiding social settings more than usual.
- Excessive Day Dreaming
- If you are stuck in fantasies, you may need to change things.
- Irritability
- If you are less patient and snap at people, your head isn't in a good space.
- Getting Sick
- Listen to your body. It manifests things through your immune system.
If this is common for you, it's time to look at changing some things.
Our expectations will either lead us into disappointment or set us up for a happy life.
Don't expect to love every moment of every day.
Suffering and perseverance are good and natural parts of learning.
As you grow strong through adversity, your perspective becomes a power tool.
Now, go love your work.
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