On Doing What You Love
I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I can’t help it — it’s just how I am. So for me a statement like “Do what you love and the money will follow” makes a lot of sense.
(Mostly because I’m going to do the things I love anyway.)
But, the thing is…
It’s still work
Even when you are doing work you love, it IS still work. Some days it feels like total play, but others…not so much.
I mean, imagine you love riding the tilt-a-whirl at the fair. It’s fun, right? But what if you had to ride the tilt-a-whirl every day for 14 hours for 2 years straight before you started seeing a good income? Getting on that tilt-a-whirl every day might start to feel like work.
(Ok, so more likely you’d start to feel like barfing long before then.)
For a more realistic example, even going to Disneyland every day would start to feel like work if that was how you made your living.
What’s your motivation?
I suspect that what motivates many people to dream of becoming their own boss is not so much the idea of financial freedom. Instead, it’s probably a vague sense of discontent, or the idea of freedom from “having” to do something. But we all have to eat, so we’d all better do something. Whether or not you have an employer is irrelevant.
Even being a bum is hard work. After all, there’s the weather and rude people to contend with. But if that’s what you love, there’s no reason you can’t stake out a spot.
It’s about being content
If you’re content right where you are, probably you’re already doing what makes you happy and earning enough money to support yourself.
If you aren’t content, the real meaning of “do what you love, and the money will follow” applies: don’t let excessive worry over money stop you from pursuing your dreams.
The dreams themselves — whether they are to work as a teacher for 20 years or to start a business in your garage — are up to you. Go get them.
I wrote something similar a while back about when your passion turns into work. I agree with you that doing what you love it important, but not everyone can make a living from it. I do what I love, but sometimes I have to do it in my free time. I keep my sanity and don’t have to worry about keeping my family afloat.
I’m definitely way happier self-employed than I was ever in any other job. I don’t know if I’ll do this forever, but I will always try to spend the majority of my time in life (even working hours) doing something that is at least satisfying. :-)
It is really a different feeling when you are working for money alone or you are working because you are happy with what you are doing. You won’t feel bored and become more productive if you are loving what you are doing for a living.