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

[bornninthe80s]

Does this phrase resonate with you? What do you do (for a job) if you completely agree with this statement - and what makes you love it so much?

I don't agree with this unless you have a job you can pick and choose your hours. Having to do something 5 days a week for 45 weeks or so a year can be a drag at times even if you really enjoy it

I love what I achieve in work in terms of the projects (I'm a civil engineer) but I don't love every days workload, admin, etc. Even if I jacked it in to knit teddy bears or something, I would still have to run a business, meet deadlines, etc. Be careful what you wish for!

*rose tinted

I think it's true to an extent but every job has crappy bits. And society as a whole needs some jobs to be done that are unlikely to be anyone's dream job, or not the dream job of as many people as are needed to do that job. Eg cleaners, bin collectors, shelf stackers.

I love my job, if I won the euromillions I would probably drop to four days a week though.

It helps that we are financially comfortable, and colleagues I enjoy spending all day with are vital.

Yet each man kills the thing he loves

Is no truer when it comes to turning your passion into your job. Do something for long enough and under enough pressure and dont be surprised if you no longer love to do it.

Better to decide what it is you want from work: a lot of money, enough money and plenty of free time, power, prestige, community, altruism etc . A mix of course is fine and aim for a career that will deliver on that.

No, I love my job and it's definitely still work because I don't get to choose when I do it and I don't get to do it without deadlines and targets.

Do what you love and you won't mind that you have to do it, but you'll still enjoy your time off..

Especially because when lots of people want your job they pay you fuck all

I am a psychologist and ‘love’ it. I find it rewarding to try and make a difference in people’s lives, purposeful, interesting, lots of variety, intellectually stimulating and demanding. Lots of things that are important for me. At the same time there is invoicing, dealing with no shows, clients where you both feel stuck etc. I think I agree with both points of view - doing something you feel a sense of purpose/passion about can be good but also no job is 100% joy. And it can be the colleagues you work with/place you work at/ability to provide etc that being the sense of purpose rather than the task itself.

I hate that phrase.
I worked with horses which I loved but it was long hours in the freezing cold, very under paid, every weekend, very competitive which meant dealing with not very nice people or people looking down on you and judging you, very bitchy.
Most of the time was spent mucking out the entire day because you were under staffed.
When I had a child it meant I couldn’t afford a mortgage, Or a decent lifestyle. It also meant every day was spent at the yard and had to go back in the evenings too.
I now do a mundane key worker role and although it doesn’t fulfil my passions, I have more time with dd, more money and a day off at the weekend.
Sometimes the dream is better than the reality.

I loved being a volunteer too OP and was sure this was my dream job. Now I’m doing it as paid role in the same company... can’t say I love it tbh and it definitely feels like work!

I don't think anyone is going to pay me a living wage for drinking wine in front of Netflix in a pile of kittens.

Does this phrase resonate with you? What do you do (for a job) if you completely agree with this statement - and what makes you love it so much?

My job as an academic is my dream job as far as the work goes, but so many of my colleagues are struggling with stress-related disorders and overwork. Students not a problem, lack of job security is.

It's a glib cliche.

I'm lucky enough to enjoy my job, but it is still work - there are still deadlines. I still have to set an alarm and get up in the morning even when I've not gone to bed until late and would prefer a lie in. I'm still committed to that meeting even if the sun comes out and I would prefer to sit in the garden doing nothing for an hour.
I suspect everyone has parts of their job that are frustrating or annoying - far too many to begin to list here.

I do agree with "You spend to many hours of your life at work to do something you hate", but even if you have one of the jobs millions of children aspire to - perhaps a pop star or a footballer, there are downsides. I can imagine playing a massive stadium of adoring fans, doing something you love must be fantastic, but to do that, you have to tour, and be away from home and spend hours and days traveling, waiting at airports, living out of soulless hotels, etc., and being constantly photographed when you just want to be aone for a bit. Or as a Premiership footballer, having to constantly watch what you eat or drink, and not being able to relax even on Christmas day (plus the paparazzi things again). For most of us the downsides are a bit more mundane.

@Boatonthehorizon

Teaching used to be like this and can still be in the right school. I assume acting (TV / theatre) is the same? They're similar professions, only teachers have to contend with a hostile audience!

Millennial teachers (arseholes) / millennial management and millennial competitive long hours (6.30am to 7pm anyone?!!) are problems but the more they leave (they leave a lot) the more I'm rising above it. I do 8am to 3.30 /4pm and not sacked yet 😂. (But I do get 90%+ pass rates and love teaching.)

I could have written this-but then I bailed from teaching. Love what I do now; life is too short to do something that doesn’t bring joy if there is ANY option to get out of it.

My brother has a job he loves, done it for over 20 years and still loves every day, he gets real job satisfaction from it and misses it if he goes on holiday......I wish I felt the same way about my job.

I love my job. Iam literally skipping into work MOST days.

But it's still work, with all the faff of working. Like getting up early, being conscious about time keeping, having to liaise with the annoying college, have a set number of holidays, doing mondane daily tasks ...

Hahahahaha...

Do what you love and people will take the piss, expect you to do it for free (cos you love it right?) and that is why I am sat here at nearly 10pm, DYING to get on my sofa, eat my dinner etc etc.

I do love what I do for the most part, but I have a VERY hard time switching off and it being 'me time'.

I think if you truly love something then commodifying and making it your living may diminish your love for it, because you’re under pressure to make money from it and will begin to associate it with the grind.

Personally I prefer to compartmentalise my job as one very small aspect of my life and who I am, and my nurture my passions and things I love in addition. I like my job but for me it’s just to keep a roof over my head, and the rest of my life fulfills me. Works for me.

I really love teaching and chose to keep working when childcare cost more than I earned and still do it now, nearly 20 years in, when I don’t need to financially. I was really excited to get back to work today and see colleagues and new classes and the general buzz of the start of a new year. But I only work three days! Five was utterly exhausting and I wouldn’t go back to full time now. I’m lucky to work in a fantastically well run school and be able to do it part time so it never overwhelms me.

@1Morewineplease I work for the council (although county not city) and it definitely is my dream job. I get to help people in a way I wouldn't in the private sector, which I have also worked in, leaving the LA but I came back when I realised what I was missing.

I love what I'm doing now and it fits a lot of the themes people have already identified - I'm a private music teacher. Set my own hours, flexible if I need it to be, and I find I get energy from my students. I have several times been having an off day and had to push myself to be ready for an afterschool student, then when lessons finish I'm feeling much better.

My absolute downfall is admin - to the extent that I'm regularly behind in invoicing parents so as to actually be paid for what I'm doing. I had great thoughts that by the end of last week I'd have emailed for preferred lesson times for the new year, so that this week I could set up my new timetable - has it happened? ....

Interestingly, I deliberately didn't consider studying music from school, as I knew that it would spoil it for me, and at the time there were other things I was definitely better at. But teaching (or explaining things) has been a general theme throughout and after my first career directions proved incompatible - for me - with small children, I eventually fell into music teaching, and have done it for several years now albeit still fairly small scale.

Reading one of the lottery threads the other week I realised that one of the things I'd do, if money was no object, was set up ways to teach more students who couldn't otherwise afford lessons. That's how much I enjoy it.

But I also thrive on variety; a CPD course I do has prompted me to look up our local psychology research department and maybe next year some time I'm going to talk to them about possibilities for developmental research and music learning, see what might interact with their current projects and interests.

I agree with the statement! I love my job because I'm doing something I am good at and it makes a difference for people. It's a career that offers me a pathway of challenging opportunities and it's also a way of life because I am doing something I believe in and care passionately about. When I stop feeling like this, I will change what I do. I know what it's like to work in a job you hate and I wish everyone could find something they love to do for an employer that makes them feel valued.