I know you’ve heard it: “Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” There’s SOME truth in that. But we need to be careful about how we spread the message.
I was chatting with someone recently who was on a long tirade about how she hated her job. She is at a crisis point in her life with regard to work, relationships, and the future. And she asked the question: Will a new job really make her happy?
Whether or not we like to admit, there really is a relationship between our job(s) and our happiness. A horrible boss can make you miserable. For many of us, a horrible boss led us to take the plunge and start our own company! I firmly believe that a huge percentage of business owners became independent because of bad bosses. I did.
And we all know people who absolutely love their jobs. Maybe not every minute of every day. But most of the time, most days. Maybe it’s because they have a great boss, a great profession, or they just love the work and are grateful to be doing it. Over the years, I’ve been lucky to love many, many jobs. What I loved changed over time, so the jobs I loved changed as well.
As you know, I highly encourage you to find – or create – a job you love. It does not mean you won’t work another day. It does mean you’ll dig in, work your tail off, and be glad that you get to do it. The older you get, the more you realize that a really great day is not the day when you stayed in bed and did nothing; A really great day is when you knocked out one task after another, and did excellent work on all of them.
One of the big movements toward the end of the pandemic was called “quiet quitting.” It involved people trying to define minimalist working habits and really high paying jobs. For some, it involved fake work. They took jobs, cashed the checks, and didn’t actually do any work. Or they took two fulltime jobs and did less than half the work of each. That didn’t last long as people realized that the best way to lower your spendable income is to increase your quitting. Like it or not, you make more when you you do actual work.
Having said that, today (April 2024) is a GREAT time to go find a new job. Unemployment is at historic lows. “Minimum wage” jobs pay more than ever. Employers are a little more generous with softer benefits like flex time and remote work. And I feel good about repeated one of my favorite pieces of advice:
You can make money doing anything: So do something you enjoy.
And my advice to that woman was along those lines. If you hate your job, today’s a great day to find another! It will not fix all the other problems in you life. But to the extent that hating your job is affecting your overall happiness and quality of life, maybe changing jobs will help move some other things in the right direction as well.
It’s irresponsible to tell young people (or any people) that they can build wealth doing nothing. And it’s just as irresponsible to tell them that they should stay in a job they hate because it builds character. We have enough characters! Let’s build happy employees who get fulfillment and satisfaction from their jobs.
Everyone, at all ages, should remember that working is a journey. In every job, the work will evolve over time. Jobs will change over time. Ultimately, it only ends when you decide that you’re going to stop looking for the next job. And you can even change careers as late in life as you choose to! (Grandma Moses didn’t start painting seriously until she was seventy-eight.)
Focus on the Love
So, where do you find the “Love” in a job or career? Believe it or not, it’s easy: Make job enjoyment or fulfillment one of your criteria! Really.
Think about all the elements of picking a new job. The obvious criteria are salary, location, and maybe whether it’s the same job description as your current job. As you evolve, you might look for a related career in the same industry or profession. If the job isn’t local, you might consider the city, state, country, and even the cost of living. And so forth.
We should encourage people to add personal happiness to the list. Does the job challenge you intellectually (if that’s what you want)? Does it challenge your skills or push you to a higher level of training in your chosen profession? Do you get to work with people you like?
Does it make you happy?
If you add these happiness-building elements to every job search from now on, you’ll gradually move yourself into jobs you love with people you enjoy being around. It will take time. And you probably won’t go from a job you hate to a job you love over night. But changing your criteria will set you on the path.
As you move along in your work career, you’ll find bosses you like and those you don’t. You’ll find tasks you like and those you don’t. The same goes for co-workers, clients, suppliers, trainers, and more. With each change along the way, you can fine-tune your criteria, and simply not take jobs you know will move your happiness quotient in the wrong direction.
And if you decide to start your own business, you should know that the happiness challenge isn’t any easier. I’ve worked with a lot of people who built jobs they hate. If you’re going to create the job from scratch, be careful to avoid this trap! The only thing worse than having a boss you hate is to have a boss you hate when you’re self-employed!
The bottom line is: You CAN find (or create) a job you love. But you won’t stumble onto it. You need to make it a long-term goal, figure out what you love in your work, and make that a priority from now on!
It’s definitely not easy, but it’s definitely possible!
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
🙂
