How to Do What You Love for a living?

We have all heard the saying: "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Is that true? We will talk about the good reasons to do what you love, romantic ideas to watch out for, how to find what you love, and how to learn to love the work you already do.

There are many good reasons to spend your life doing what you love. Some of them are personal but there is a broad consensus I believe. The most obvious is fulfilment.

Fulfilment

We can turn the question on its head. It is not "Why should I spend my time doing what I love?", the real question is "Why should you do anything else?" We spend a huge amount of our lives working. If you have the freedom to choose your work why not go for something you care about deeply? It seems like such a shame to spend 40 hours every week, 160 hours every month, 2000 hours every year on something meaningless. To be clear: sometimes your job just pays your bills and that is fine. But too many people are stuck in a job they feel disconnected from or worse hate¹. A fulfilling career can bring so much meaning and joy to your life. Why not try to find something you care about, something that resonates with who you are deep down?

Sustainable

Besides the obvious benefit of feeling more fulfilled and connected to your work also becomes more sustainable. Burnout is tightly linked to how connected we feel to our work^2,3. If you feel disconnected from your job it is no wonder that burnout becomes more likely. The corollary of that is good news though. The more meaningful your work is for you the lower your chance of crashing and landing in a burnout, all else being equal - emotional exhaustion is the other part of burnout. Doing what you love not only provides a sense of meaning and fulfilment but this connection also seems to be a buffer against burnout, making your work more emotionally sustainable. You have a higher chance of succeeding without burning out.

Inspiration for others

Seeing other people doing what they love for a living can be deeply inspiring. Often, being stuck in a job we hate blinds us from seeing other possibilities. The idea of enjoying your job and getting up on a Monday morning with enthusiasm seems alien to us. We've been stuck in a shitty job for too long, we can't even imagine what it is like to do something deeply meaningful that provides us with energy. That's why seeing someone else do exactly that can be a wake-up call. The sheer existence of a person like that reminds us that such a life exists. That also means we could inspire others if we decide to change our lives and do something we love.

We have talked about some of the undeniable benefits of spending your time doing what you love. The upside is obvious. But I do believe there is some necessary room for nuance. All too often I see these viral quotes about work and love floating around my social media feeds.

Do what you love and money will follow

That is unfortunately just not true. It might be true for some, but as far as the general advice goes, this is pretty bad - and here is why: Many things you love doing won't bring in any money. From the obvious ones like watching Netflix and having drinks with friends to cliche ones like the arts. Yes, there are exceptions to this. Some people do make it and can live off of their love for poetry and music and dance. But the odds are stacked heavily against you. Only 1 out of 10 professional musicians is able to sustain their life from their art⁴ and those are people spending all their time honing their skills. Your passions are a crucial part of your life, but not every passion or interest is a viable career path. The truth unfortunately is that money does not just follow. Being realistic about the odds is important in your professional life. Does that mean that I think no one should follow their artistic or less conventional dreams - not at all. Go for it - but go in eyes wide open - knowing that your chances are slim to null. Keep a 'normal' paying job to pay for your artistic journey, if you ever make it you can quit your old job.

Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life

This is another romantic fallacy floating out there in the digital ether. There is definitely some truth to that and I talked about it above, discussing fulfilment. It definitely feels less like a grind when you have the autonomy and freedom to spend your days however you want - that much is true. But that does not mean there are no hard days. There is no way around it. The romantic idea of just finding your dream job and then you will never experience hardship again is - frankly - childish. Anything worth doing will be hard. Life is difficult and unpredictable and we are fallible and human. If there are no hard days ever - then you're coasting way below your potential.

3 steps to a new career

There are only three steps to take charge of your career path.

1. Take the personality career test
2. Unlock your career matches
3. Find a meaningful career

What if you agree with the idea of doing what you love but you don't know what that is? What if you don't have any career interests or passions? That is the whole issue. There are a few ways to discover your strengths and learn more about what is meaningful to you specifically.

Personality

The best starting point is learning more about your unique personality profile. The science of personality has advanced rapidly over the last 30 years, converging into one major theory: The Big 5. Everyone should know about the Big 5 personality traits:

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Openness

Neuroticism

All of us have a baseline score on each of these 5 dimensions. By learning about your own profile you might discover new things about how you perceive the world, feel about others, and act in the world. Our personality can reveal a lot about ourselves. If you are high in Agreeableness, for instance, you will have high empathy and compassion for others, but might also be conflict avoidant. If you're high in Neuroticism you might feel anxious a lot, worrying about things going wrong. If you're high in Openness you will be more drawn to creative and intellectual pursuits, reading books, learning new things. Starting with the Big5 to discover your unique profile and strengths is definitely a good way to go. If you've never done a modern, scientific personality test go for it.

What gives you energy

Another neat little trick is to pay attention to the things that give you energy vs the things that drain you. This is a shortcut to discovering how your mind operates. What kind of work, social interactions, and time off gives you the most energy? Definitely pay close attention to the things that drain all your energy. These are often the things that are the hardest for you. There probably is a reason you don't like doing them. One way to get starting with this exercise is spending 1 week writing down every moment or interaction that gave you energy and every one that was dragging you down. At the end of the week see if you can find any clear pattern of things that land often in one of those two camps. Bonus tip: Try to connect these patterns to your personality profile you got before - anything you notice?

What are other people bad at?

Finally, try to notice when other people seem frustratingly bad at something. Often we don't even realize our own talents and strengths, especially when we're young. One way discover the things that you're good at is by looking at what others are bad at. What are times when you just can't grasp how other people can be so bad at something? This works best with people your own age to avoid comparing generational skills like how to use the internet properly. Often we like doing the things we're good at. Things that come easy to us provide more positive feedback and quicker progress, creating a positive feedback loop: You are good at something so you enjoy doing it more, you do it more so you get better at it.

This is perhaps the most under-appreciated way to do what you love for a living. It is counterintuitive. You don't go out searching for your perfect dream job or passion. You focus on what's in front of you right now - today - and give it all your attention and effort. You'd be surprised how much meaning we can create in our minds just by being more focused on the now. Our brains are designed to frantically jump around like a baboon on amphetamines. Training your mind to stay in the moment and make that the most important thing right now can be transformative. It will take some practice but it pays handsome dividends.

Craftsman mindset

One way to cultivate this focus on the now and on the work you're doing is the craftsman mindset⁵. Instead of focusing on chasing your passions you focus on producing things in your work and getting better at it. Make your current job the most important thing in your life for a week. Every little to-do and every project and every interaction has to be treated as the single most important act. Give it all of your attention, let go of your excuses, and strive for perfection. Run this experiment for one week and see if you can notice a change.

Build more autonomy

One final point: build more autonomy into your work. Having more autonomy and freedom to make choices in your work impacts how you feel about your career. Some jobs are much more rigid and inflexible, with horrible bosses who micromanagement every moment of your day. That sucks. Figure out a way to improve your autonomy. First within the limitations of your current job - if necessary in another.