Hobby vs Job vs Career vs Calling
This distinction should be common sense.
Published in
4 min readMay 20, 2019
There’s a wonderful video of author Elizabeth Gilbert distinguishing between a hobby, job, career and vocation:
- A hobby is something you do to keep life fun and interesting. With a hobby, the stakes are zero. You don’t need it to succeed. It’s simply something you enjoy doing. Hobbies are a reminder that you’re a human, not an automaton.
- A job is an exchange of your time and effort for money. We live in a material world and money is a common currency to survive it. A job is doing a thing someone needs doing, and getting paid to do it.
- A career is a job you’re passionate about. A career requires cultivation and sacrifices — which you’re willing to do because you believe in your career’s mission. Disliking a job might be okay because there’s a straightforward exchange — task for money. But disliking a career is a tragedy. Better off finding a new career, or just getting a job. “You should love a career, or not have one.”
- A vocation is a calling. It’s sacred, mystical, maybe even spiritual. It’s something you can’t not do. Someone can take your job or a career away — but no one can take away a calling. No amount of money could stop you from pursuing a calling, nor seduce you to start a new one. It’s on a higher plane…