#Looking4Love

”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." –Steve Jobs

Perhaps it’s appropriate that this is Valentine’s Day week – a time when the acknowledgement and celebration of love are all around us. So, what is “love?” According to Wiki, “Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment.”  

Is it possible to “love” your job? As someone who has both loved and hated (that’s a topic for another blog) various jobs, my opinion is absolutely YES! I believe that it is entirely possible to love what you do, but that love may not be easy to find.  Most of us enter the workplace as a result of a path – typically it’s a route which we felt we had to take or were told we should take. As a parent, I’m guilty of attempting to establish a path for my kids which involves education, job, and independence among other things – does this sound familiar? Admittedly, while there’s quite a bit of “like” in this direction that I’ve outlined for my kids, I’m not sure how much “love” I’ve been advocating.

To be fair, I don’t necessarily believe in “love at first sight” – whether it be in the context of a relationship or a job. Not that it’s impossible – we all know people whom we admire (and perhaps envy) that have aligned their job with their passions. We also hear stories of famous musicians, writers, scientists, astronauts, and others – who share their journey of love for what they do. Love is a key ingredient in the fuel which has helped propel them to achieve their goals, aligning their dreams with their professions. But what about the majority of us – whether at the beginning, middle, or even at the end of a particular phase of your career – who are searching and haven’t yet “fallen in love”?

What I can share is that it is a continuous journey in the context of your entire life. And, with people spending 90,000 hours at work1 (that’s right 9-0-0-0-0) on average over their lifetime, it’s even more important to forge ahead on this quest to discover and embrace what you love!   

Knowing that you’ll spend a good portion of your lifetime waking hours at work, how do you find a job and a career that “fits,” that you can “fall in love” with? A good start is to explore what drives you, what interests you, and what feeds your curiosity? It’s never too late to start. I believe as you progress through the various stages of your life, it’s possible to fall “in” and “out” of love with your job, too. It makes sense that there are jobs you thought were the most interesting or important at that particular time. Then, as fate would have it, you are exposed to something else that you didn’t know existed or was even possible - and your perspective changes. Have any of you experienced this?

To share a bit of learning from my journey, early on in my career, I used to think that I was searching for a particular role that was perfect for me. And if you had asked me back then what jobs I loved, I would have said something like…”I loved being in sales,” or “I loved being a product manager.” (Yes, I’ve seriously said those things in the past). But now, I’ve come to realize that my “love” of a job has much more to do with the characteristics of the role – and for me, loving my job is all about the people, the strength of relationships, and opportunities for both learning and positive impact.

Have any of you heard about the differences characterized by viewing your job as a CHORE vs. CAREER vs. CALLING? Here’s my simple take on this:

• If your job is a CHORE, you’re only doing it because you have to – this is not a bad thing, by the way, but it’s important to recognize what the motivation is behind you doing that job. In this case, it’s critical to supplement your job with other activities so that you can find and fuel more meaning in your life.
• If you view your job as your CAREER, that’s good, because careers are journeys with ebbs and flows. They head “somewhere” – and the journey of your career should also be the journey for you to find and/or develop love for what you do.
• Lastly, and perhaps the ultimate goal for many of us is for your job to be your CALLING. For those that achieve this, your motivation comes from within – you are doing what you’re doing because you were made for it, because you are committed to it, because it is who you are, and yes, because you LOVE IT. Some call this your “passion project” and yes, for some, this may be something outside of your “day job” or your “traditional career.” But for a lucky subset of people (and I consider myself very lucky to be in this subset), your day job is your calling – and you love it!

Does any of this make sense? Have any of you experienced times when your job was a CHORE or an active part of your CAREER? Anyone out there feel that your job is your CALLING?

I love the Steve Jobs quote above. To me it embodies the essence of #LoveYourJob, and I feel fortunate to have recognized those key characteristics that increase the probability of love for me. By the way, I’ve had plenty of failures and experiences at falling in and out of love with my job. Through all of this, I would encourage you to not give up! Be persistent in your pursuit - it’s your life, and it’s up to each one of us to set our own course. We know ourselves best, and only we can know whether or not we’ve found true love! Please take a moment to join me in this very personal dialogue, I look forward to hearing where YOU are in the journey to #LoveYourJob.

 1Joe Weisenthal, “Check Out How Much The Average American Works Each Year Compared To The French, The Germans, And The Koreans”, Business Insider, August 17, 2013.