The Theory: Do What You Love

We’ve all heard the adage to do what you love. In fact, we punctuate this aspiration with the quote traditionally attributed to Confucius, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” While this may be an interesting theory, is it really true?

The Proof

First, the answer is yes, it is true. Doing what you love is what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote in his book, Flow—The Psychology of Optimal Experience. His research confirms that when we do what we truly love and are passionate about it, we get lost in it. (I highly recommend this read.) But here is the problem: how realistic is it to find a job where you (mostly) do is what you love?

An interesting twist to this question came to me in a conversation with a high performer. One hot-shot manager told me something like this: “Do you know what I love? I LOVE getting things done and marking them off my list. I can’t explain it, but it just motivates me to keep at it to the end.” Now, everyone enjoys getting things done. But for her, it was more than that. It was truly compelling for her. So she uses what she loves and applies it to her work. That is, she has found what she loves—getting things done—in what she does.

And that gave me a different perspective: what if we reverse-engineered the theory from do what you love to find what you love in what you do?

The Evidence

As I thought about it, I realized that this manager isn’t the only one to use this technique. Here are some other “loves” that people have told me over the years that keep them going.

• Love organizing things: putting them into an order that eliminates chaos and drives efficiency: files, work papers, client promises, work priorities, etc.
• Love conquering a challenge for the first time, so willing to take on new assignments without having any experience.
• Love giving clients something that they truly value, so will go the extra mile to find what satisfies them and then delivering it.
• Love refining something to complete accuracy, so will pursue quality in everything they do.
• Love seeing people “get it,” so will take valuable time to explain and train.

These are only a few of the “loves” that motivate people to persevere through their days.

The Flip Side

However, there is one glitch that can throw your “love” into a tailspin. The flip side is that, if your work diminishes the very “love” that keeps you going, you will soon lose your persevering edge and become more easily overwhelmed and immobilized by stress. What if the job doesn’t require, hinders or punishes what you love? That’s a problem because the “love” that keeps you in the game is missing.

I know you’re busy and chomping at the bit to get into your day. But take a moment to think about what your “love” is. By knowing your “love” and inserting it into your work, you will find all the mental and emotional reserve you need to persevere to the end—because you do what you love. Really.