Personal growth: Misconceptions on “doing what you love” December 28, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: life, life purpose, personal development potential, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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One of the ironies of our wanting to earn our living by “doing what we love to do” is that we may not be very good at what we love doing, and in fact, are actually more talented at doing something else; something we do not find as fun and enjoyable.
Moreover just because we may love doing something, it does not necessarily follow that, financially, we should be able to make a livable income through doing it.
To keep insisting to ourselves that we should be able to earn our living by doing what we love can be a needless source of frustration and, ultimately, disappointment
We need to seriously consider, for example, if what we love doing, such as creative writing, is a vocation for which we are actually willing to spend a huge amount of time in learning the skills needed to convert our interest or “love” of “doing” to a professional level of ability.
I think the word “love” is overworked and perhaps misused and misdirected in the self-improvement context of it being a requirement to love what we do in order for it to matter, or be fulfilling.
Does a brain surgeon “love” doing the work of the surgery itself, or does the surgeon enjoy the work, but love the endgame of improving and often saving the lives of their patients.
We sometimes ask too much of ourselves in our personal growth efforts, and in thinking we are not respecting ourselves unless we “love” our work is an example of this.
What’s wrong with simply “liking” and enjoying our work, but saving our love for something deeper?
We can like our work, but love the ultimate objective, or reason, of why we are doing the work.
—Dennis Mellersh
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