To do something well you have to like it. But it's difficult just to tell people that and definitely tough for people to understand. Doing what you love is complicated.
After school graduation, the prospect of an actual job was on the horizon. By the time we reach an age to think about what we like to do, most of us would have been thoroughly misled about the idea of loving one's work.
What we should not do, I think, is worry about the opinion of anyone beyond our friends. We shouldn't worry about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world. This is easy advice to give but it's hard to follow, especially when we're young. Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you'd like to like. what I mean is, if you do anything well enough, you can make it prestigious.
The other factor leading people astray is money. Money by itself is not dangerous. The danger is when money is combined with prestige. A well paid job is tempting to someone young, who hasn't thought much about what they really like.
I was in these cab the other day and these cheery cab driver told me I was his first customer. Later he told me that he had just left an airline industry after working there for 40 years! He goes on to say that he had endured the good and the bad times while working there. And he said something that I will always remember. "Don't be greedy". Just this three simple words which has a deeper meaning to life that people always forget.
Whether people love what they do is whether they'd do it even if they weren't paid for it—even if they had to work at another job to make a living.
Of course "not everyone can do work they love" are too true, however. One has to make a living, and it's hard to get paid for doing work you love. As everyone thinks they want financial security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but those who like what they do.
Someone working in an IT industry which manufactures luxury gadgets told me, "I don't like what am doing, selling 'toys' to rich people.. I wanted to go into the pharmaceutical companies doing things where I know I am helping people regardless of their status." He smiled.
Whichever path we choose, expect a struggle. Finding work we love is never easy. Even if you succeed, it's rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. If you know you can love your work, you're more likely to arrive at your destination.
If you want to stay happy, you have to do something.
1 comment:
I strongly agree with the essence of pursuing what we love is so true; we need to be satisfied with what we do. On a daily basis, I meet so many people who ask this question: "How much does the job pay?" or "What title will I get?" We all seem to have forgotten that life is about growing ourselves as human beings and doing things that can contribute to making us a better being and contributing to our fellow beings; life is not solely about dollars and cents for oneself and a title does not make the person.
I agree with the comment by the cab driver about not being greedy. We are blinded many times by this greed and this blinds our decisions. We should focus on living fruitfully and being true to our passion instead of conforming. At the end of the day, we only have to be true to ourselves and that determines our personal value.
Follow your passion and be true to yourself and your dreams.
Post a Comment