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Unpopular opinion... 🙃 "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life"..... Is BS.

I've heard this a million times growing up. "Find what you love. Do what you love."

1- Do the math. Not everyone can do something they love. The numbers just don't add up. The world would fall apart without people, every single day, doing jobs that they don't love.

2- It's a trap. You tell yourself that 20 hour day you just worked was worth it, because you 'love' what you do. In five years time, will you still love it? Or will you simply resent the life it has sucked out of you?

Instead, how about "build something you're proud of". Thoughts??

What's mantra's / mottos / advice do you live by?

For full thoughts, check out: https://letterdrop.com/@the-cartoon-crowd/before-we-begin

  1. 2

    Yeah agree. Lacks real world nuance, that oft-quoted line. More and more it feels like it's co-oped by people who will benefit from exploiting your hard work for their own benefit, especially if it comes from an employer. I might enjoy the core work eg coding but not enjoy other parts of the work that's secondary but essential eg accounting, paying taxes. I think a better, more nuanced way to say that line is "How much do I love this work that I will willingly do the less desirable aspects of it as well?"

    1. 1

      Great explanation, and I totally agree. The reality of building a business (and just living life!) is that we can't love all of it. It's not sustainable or realistic. I like your alternative!

  2. 1

    Put it this way.

    Nothing is ever fun when you have to do it.

    Yes, even some of the things we think of as super-fun like travelling or eating or sex.

    When you have to do it, even when you don't feel like it, it ceases to be fun.

  3. 1

    What's mantra's / mottos / advice do you live by?

    8 hours is enough

    • Fewer hours = Less bullshit
    • Less bullshit = More Happiness

    (C) It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work

    1. 2

      Love the simplicity of this.

  4. 1

    💯 — i love what i do but it's fucking hard work!!

    i love your thought too. being proud of your work is a good indicator that you're on the right track.

    one of my favorite sayings:

    if you want what no one (typically) has; you must be willing to do what no one (typically) does.

    courage is in short supply.

    1. 2

      "being proud of your work is a good indicator that you're on the right track." This, totally this!

      Appreciate your thoughts :)

  5. 1

    I think the inverse is a bit better
    I think Peterson has "don't do something you hate" and specifically "don't let you child do something that would make you hate him", while there is a lot of context around to be added...

    I'd probably try for something like
    "Don't let yourself repeatedly or for a prolonged periodtime do something you hate"

    I think it's more pragmatic and closer to being accurate in a way

    Old Disney advice used to be find the fun and the jobs a game, like with whistle whole you work or a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down
    I think some form of that should be incorporated

    Also I think the specific problem with the do what you love advice is, people change it to, what you most love, and I think like in Japanese icagai, they show how you need to balance things between the different constraints

    And as Peterson specifically address probably the most creative have the biggest problem especially if the creativity is of the arts type and can't be redirected

    1. 1

      Great point, adding a timeframe to what you do can help make keeping the 'love' around way more manageable.

  6. 1

    I agree with you. I love learning languages but when creating linguaso.com I had to deal with things that many times were not so satisfying: bugs that you find, UX difficult decisions, bigger scope than initially planned, etc.

    I like your idea of building something you're proud of. Something I knew from the beggining of my project, too, was that I needed to be persistent and not to leave everything to motivation or doing what I love.

    1. 1

      Whoa, Linguaso looks awesome! Well done to you.

      It's a good point you make. Persistence can be just as crucial as passion!

  7. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 2

      Love that. Just don't trip up, so simple... ;)

      I think we get caught up in feeling like we must love every aspect of what we do. But, it's just so unrealistic.

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