Doing what you love? (for work)

Not yet, but I plan to.

 

I won't say I love my current job, but I like it quite a bit most of the time. I'm a technology geek and I work in IT doing a job I'm good at and make decent money at. I can't really complain. One day I'd like to run my own business though. My dream is a technology centric sports bar. Maybe someday.

 

I enjoy my work because I'm good at it and law fascinates me, but I don't love the field (I work for a big law firm).

I would love to work for higher education as a professor; since I've returned to school, thanks to my firm paying for my graduate degree, I now miss the dynamism and intellectual atmosphere of university life - not to mention the gorgeous female population.

Or, I'd open a private movie theater with a state of the art video and sound system (IMAX-like), cheap concession prices with organic food, high quality sofa seats, enormous screen, and a wide variety of indie/foreign films and old favorites like Casablanca and Star Wars.

 

In most cases, the best job is only the least-worst job.

People work because they have to, not because they want to - and most people have convinced themselves that they actually 'like' their job because the realization that they are spending the majority of their time doing something that bores them (at best) for little compensation would be unbearable.

Here's the question to ask yourself: If you never had to worry about money, how would you spend your day?

 

I wouldn't exactly say I love the actual work I do at my job but I love the people I work with, I love the hours (get every other Friday off with a 9/80 schedule), and the good salary, so I really can't complain.

 

i don't love my job, i love money

 

I would do nothing.

Seriously though, it wouldn't be working. I might invest in some houses to collect rent from, or maybe flip some time to time to give me a project if I wanted to work on something. Otherwise I would just go on trips about 90% of the time.

 

It's hard to beat daily masturbation - I'll tell you that much.

 

Its funny because I'm in the process of deciding right now. I have two paths, but one is much safer. Both will make me happy, but the riskier one will a lot more I think. Like a draft pick kind of. I'm scared I'll take the solid choice instead or the high ceiling one.

 

Nope. I would be ashamed to work for them

 

I'd spend my days exactly the way I do regardless of money. I write and direct plays for a living. If I didn't have to worry about money, I'd do it for free. That's not so much because I love it (though I sometimes do) but because I don't know what else to do.

 

Why make money to do things they love, rather than just do something they love to make money?

I've never had kids, but I've always thought it a questionable thing to have this kind of plan in place for your kids. There are people who will never excel getting a practical degree and earning a decent living, and it will bring down their self-confidence tremendously.

Basically, if your kid happens to be a carbon copy of einstein or michaelangelo or da vinci, they will most likely not realize their potential if they are chained to getting a practical degree or trying to earn a decent living, right?

Interesting stuff.

 

I like my job, cant say I love it, only because much of my experience is determined by patient attitude. In the overall scheme of things, I have very little control of what I do in the office.

However, what I love about my job is that I can live very comfortably while working 32 hours a week. The flexibility in that is well worth it and more than I could ever ask for.

 

This is a such a piss poor worldview that I have to ask if you've been affected by something lately? For me, the 08 credit crisis really shook my perception of the way things work, but this (and other posts you've made around the same time frames) have been more cynical.

I think a lot of good things to be experienced in the world requires hard work and personal sacrifice. A job might not bring that to most people, but not working at all is more like being a homeless bum. At the end of the day, is it about the ability not to work or is it about what you've accomplished?

So I've been a tool to the machine, and I feel exploited some days, but I also see opportunity in the things I do and the career I'm building. I never expected to be working at where I am. My science degree is going to waste. But I'm able to pick some life lessons out of it and consider myself a part of how successful my company is. I'm writing this even as I look for a new job as the bastards running the company see no value in my position, but that's their opinion and not one the entire industry holds.

And in the case that I don't get an offer somewhere else, that's life and I have to learn to deal with it.

I'm probably looked upon as one of those frustrating lazy bastards who don't live up their potential, but I've also had a point in my life where I didn't do anything and didn't work for a couple years.

Looking back, it wasn't as great as it sounded.

 

If I could do anything in the world, I would be an athlete (probably a basketball player, surprised it hasn't been mentioned). Or maybe a video game reviewer.

As it is, I'm on my way to become an astrophysicist which is also a passion of mine. Can't ever envisioning myself doing something I'm not interested in for long periods of time. I tend to struggle with motivation as it is.

 

You're not supposed to love it. Its called work, not play. That being said, my job is pretty cool and many people would kill for it.

 

I like my job and how much it pays as of now for my current needs. I'm only a second year undergraduate student so there's a lot of time till I find any other job. I know I won't be leaving my current one unless I get an engineering internship in the near future.

 

I am one of those people that left a job they loved in order to make more money. I like my job, the only gripe I have is that the time off is eratic. I never know when I am going to be off or for how long so I don't bother having an apartment, so I crash with my parents.

I work as mud logger, which is the low end member of the totem pole out here in the oil fields. The only person I beat on the pay scale is the gate guard, but I do have one of the least stressful jobs. I work 80% of the time in an air conditioned trailer. I walk to the pits, catch a sample, check our gas line, go back, chat with the derrickman and other hand and look at the rocks.

I have met some pretty cool people out here; some smart and some as dumb as a bag of rocks. I look at this as an opportunity to learn how to work, overcome the pain of working long shifts for long periods of time away from friends and family, travel around (currently outside Bryan, TX!), make some money, and to help understand who I am as a human being all while having a decent amount of fun.

 

My jobs (IT) had little to do with my degree or my interests until I went back to get my MA in my 30's. Starting a literary and music career in your 30's is daunting, but I've worked in journalism, then PR, and then advertising and despite making WAY less, I use my creativity every day. And I managed to write a book, work on a second and perform my music for 5 years+ at this point.

It's better to be great at something you enjoy than to be decent at something that pays well and bores you to tears. All the money I made was wasted to fill that vacancy in my life.