Doing What You Love

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle…
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
In this immortal commencement speech to Stanford University Steve Jobs talks about following your passions and doing what you love. Unsurprisingly, over the years his words have been met with criticism from small minded thinkers seemingly regretting their own career choices. The words they write are not “Find what you love”, rather they are “learn to love what you do”.
Learning to love what you do is the wrong advice for anyone. Work does consume a large portion of our lives. 8–10 hours per day for 40 years. That is not counting time in traffic, weekend meetings, business trips and the stress of downsizing. We tend to spend more time at work or in work related activities than we do with our families. It is not only a good idea to do what we love, it is vitally important if we wish to remain happy and productive.
Doing what you love does not mean that you will be exactly what you wish to be. This is the part of the message lost on critics. Although you might dream of being an actor or musician the reality is that you might not have the talent to achieve that specific dream. It is the same in every industry. You might not have the education level or opportunity needed to become exactly what you wish to be. However if you decide to follow what you love, you will be able to make a career in that industry. Achieving that goal will bring you satisfaction and fulfillment that would be lacking if you chose not to chase your dream.
Every industry has the same needs. Finance, communication, marketing, sales, management…It does not matter. You might dream of the lights of Broadway but like me can’t sing or act. So what do you do? Give up on your dream? NO! Work in promotions, work in finance or management. Be part of the engine that makes the show go. What about technology? No, you are not going to be the next Steve Jobs-Or maybe you will be. Steve Jobs didn’t really become “Steve Jobs” until he returned to Apple and saved a struggling company. Get into tech anyway. Maybe you are terrible as a programer. What about team building or sales?
Your talent can provide your job, your passion should provide your career. Of course there are risks, there are always risks in life. You take a chance to make something for yourself or you live in fear and regret and accept what someone gives you. Those that lack the heart to pursue their dream deserve to be unhappy. Those that chase their dream deserve their success and happiness. Everyone gets to make the same choice.
Those that learn to love what they do end up stuck in dead end positions, lack excitement for their work and dread Mondays. Work is not a dirty word yet we have been led to believe that it is. We have been force fed that happiness in our career is not possible, we are stuck in servitude dependent upon our “boss” for our livings.
It is time to break away, take the chance and embrace what you love. Screw the small minded critics warning you against taking a chance. They are projecting the dissatisfaction of their lives onto you. They are jealous that you might be happy for having the courage they lack. Let them, it’s their life, if they want to be angry and jealous at you that is their choice. You just worry about your life and doing what you love.
