Do something you love to do
The slogan printed on my coffee cup is “Life is Short. Stay awake for it.” It is a registered trademark of Caribou Coffee. As a fan of coffee in general, I thought it was pithy.
But in this moment, I am thinking back to a more familiar refrain – “Life is Short. Do something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
It’s meant to remind you that when you do something you love, time flies, and you are happier.
So often, we make our career decisions based on money. The career counselors, and parents – both well meaning, mind you – point you to the higher paying jobs. They don’t want you to become poor and destitute. They want you to be able to provide for a family and have a better life than they did.
But if you pursue a career that isn’t interesting to you, while you may be able to technically do the work, enthusiasm suffers. You are there in body and mind, but not in spirit. And when enthusiasm suffers, so does creativity, and that lack of creativity shows in the quality of the work. You are clocking in to get the paycheck, and a bad transactional process follows.
What follows next is you justify why you are behaving the way you are, and you compensate for that lack of joy with stuff – being toys (large and small), or self medications ( food, drugs, alcohol) or whatever. In time, you will show the effects of your lifestyle. And you probably won’t be happy.
Rather I would suggest what you should be doing something you love to do. The money is just money. Once you hit a basic level of provision – food, shelter, clothing – the rest is gravy. And is it worth trading your soul and your happiness for misery?