Why Steve Jobs’ Advice “Love What You Do” is Essential to a Meaningful Life
And why you shouldn’t “do what you love”.
I. A Common Misconception
In his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech, Steve Jobs delivered this dime of timeless wisdom:
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.
Notice that if you swap the first and last words of the phrase “love what you do”, it would say “do what you love.” This is subtly different from the initial line, but it holds a separate meaning altogether. Yet, it appears that a vast amount of people take his “love what you do” and interpret it this way instead. Let me clear this up.
To “do what you love” is to follow your passions. It’s an activity that is loved before the act of pursuing it to its highest degree. If you are a salesman but love painting, you’d for instance drop your sales role to pursue painting as a career instead.
On the other hand, “love what you do” implies learned love after the fact of the doing. Growing into your work and developing…
