http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/do_what_you_love_love_what_you_do_an_omnipresent_mantra_that_s_bad_for_work.html
“Do what you love. Love what you do.”
The command is framed and perched in a living room that can only be described as “well-curated.” A picture of this room appeared first on a popular design blog and has been pinned, tumbl’d, and liked thousands of times. Though it introduces exhortations to labor into a space of leisure, the “do what you love” living room is the place all those pinners and likers long to be.
There’s little doubt that “do what you love” (DWYL) is now the unofficial work mantra for our time. The problem with DWYL, however, is that it leads not to salvation but to the devaluation of actual work—and more importantly, the dehumanization of the vast majority of laborers.
Superficially, DWYL is an uplifting piece of advice, urging us to ponder what it is we most enjoy doing and then turn that activity into a wage-generating enterprise. But why should our pleasure be for profit? And who is the audience for this dictum?
DWYL is a secret handshake of the privileged and a worldview that disguises its elitism as noble self-betterment. According to this way of thinking, labor is not something one does for compensation but is an act of love.If profit doesn’t happen to follow, presumably it is because the worker’s passion and determination were insufficient. Its real achievement is making workers believe their labor serves the self and not the marketplace.
You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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.
short and sweet it fosters false sense of achievement but more damaging a false sense of failure, there's another more poignant phrase, "be careful what you wish for" that one can literally stop you in your tracks. these are defeatist as well as positive which i think the latter is less likely to happen.
very few get to have the job they end up loving, i don't think you can love a job before you do it. i am speaking from personal experience, i was introduced to my career while applying for any job i could get.
i am not an ex con but i wandered in to this place called EFEC (efforts for ex cons) they sent me to a major appliance shop the head tech did not drive, my job drive him to the different jobs and help where he needed me.
that was 44 years ago, i learned fast and what i could then moved on to a job that did more different appliances after 7 years i went in to business for myself, i loved it before that move but then when the realities of owning a business started to slap me in the face that love i must admit at times became the bane of my existence.
10 years later and very successful i was diagnosed with a brain tumor i worked 2 more years and shut down worked for others briefly then when i could my reputation was such that i could do that with other small business's i knew.
i guess i agree with article my take away you can damage your self by embracing a saying on the wall or a clever phrase don't know stats but i think few make it and love it as advertised than those who look elsewhere for an unclear preconceived notion that is not theirs. like anything else sometimes the first time is not it and a different path maybe best. expecting life to deliver on your thoughts is a losing game you have to feel comfortable even if it comes after 20 years on a job you think you hate it you did 20 years doing it what does that tell you? here's another "If you think the grass is greener on the other side, you may be peeing on your lawn". best of life to all God Bless so much for short and sweet!
