response to NYT "Love What You Do" article

[Tim1965]

Was reading the comments on a NYT article on the importance of loving what you do as a key to happiness, and found this response, which nicely sums up my feelings (and I suspect the feeling of many Mustachians):



I respectfully disagree with this all-too-common advice, which I followed until my mid-30s. If I could go back to 22-year-old me, I would say: "Go forth and EARN."

You know why? Because working 40+ hours a week is really not that much fun. Even at a job you enjoy.

Plus, how can a 22 yo know what job they will love? Work isn't school. It's hard to know you'll love something you've never tried. Part of the path is trying new things.

I spent the first 10 years of my career in the nonprofit sector, doing work I felt great about. But despite believing in the value of what I did, working just kind of sucks. There's always office politics; there's always that mean coworker or boss; there's always egos and nonsense. Always. Loving the content of your job is not enough.

Also, as I began to run the numbers on retirement, I saw I'd never have anything like financial security if I stayed in the nonprofit sector. Literally never. Not at 50, or 60 or 70: never. And that is the problem with most passion jobs. Do you really love it enough to spend your old age in fear of poverty & illness? To never own a home?

So now I work for a large corporation at a job that is intrinsically meaningless. I make several times what I made in the nonprofit sector, and in 3 years I've saved as much as I would have saved in 30 at my nonprofit job.

In another few years, I'll have saved enough to do what I really want to do: whatever the heck I want.

I just wish I'd started down this path at 22.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/upshot/first-rule-of-the-job-hunt-find-something-you-love-to-do.html

[Metric Mouse]

Have a crappy job you kinda like for low pay or a soul-sucking job you hate for more pay. With that kind of binary choice, no wonder people are unhappy.

[misshathaway]

I think it's trinary b/c some people can work for themselves as contractors. I did that for 12 years doing work I loved. But the downsides to that are you have to constantly hustle to find new work, sometimes you overbook and kill youself to make it, sometimes you can't find anything and worry. In my case my business depended completely on another company's product (made add-ons for it) and they discontinued the product. Oops. Back to megatron.

[Daleth]

The best career advice I've ever seen (and I've read seemingly everything) was in the book "So Good They Can't Ignore You."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076DDBJ6

Basic gist: "follow your passion" is stupid advice. Instead, find some stuff you're interested in and pretty good at; get jobs that enable you to get better and better at it; and eventually you will have skills, knowledge base, reputation etc. that you can trade for what you want--whether that's high pay, more freedom/flexibility/control over your work (e.g. working from home, part time, or choosing the projects/clients you work on), or all of the above. And you can get from point A (no experience/no idea what to do) to point Z (enough experience to know what you really enjoy and to trade your skills for the kind of job you truly love) in a decade or less, so get to work!

[Squirrel away]

I respectfully disagree with this all-too-common advice, which I followed until my mid-30s. If I could go back to 22-year-old me, I would say: "Go forth and EARN."

You know why? Because working 40+ hours a week is really not that much fun. Even at a job you enjoy.

Plus, how can a 22 yo know what job they will love? Work isn't school. It's hard to know you'll love something you've never tried. Part of the path is trying new things.

I spent the first 10 years of my career in the nonprofit sector, doing work I felt great about. But despite believing in the value of what I did, working just kind of sucks. There's always office politics; there's always that mean coworker or boss; there's always egos and nonsense. Always. Loving the content of your job is not enough.

I had a similar experience when I first started working. If I could do my time again I would get a high earning job as young as possible and volunteer my time or money for a non-profit/charity.

[MrMoogle]

I respectfully disagree with this all-too-common advice, which I followed until my mid-30s. If I could go back to 22-year-old me, I would say: "Go forth and EARN."

You know why? Because working 40+ hours a week is really not that much fun. Even at a job you enjoy.

Plus, how can a 22 yo know what job they will love? Work isn't school. It's hard to know you'll love something you've never tried. Part of the path is trying new things.

I spent the first 10 years of my career in the nonprofit sector, doing work I felt great about. But despite believing in the value of what I did, working just kind of sucks. There's always office politics; there's always that mean coworker or boss; there's always egos and nonsense. Always. Loving the content of your job is not enough.

I had a similar experience when I first started working. If I could do my time again I would get a high earning job as young as possible and volunteer my time or money for a non-profit/charity.

Without that experience, would you be fine doing mind numbing work for something that doesn't really matter, just coming out of school?  I think some experience is needed to come to your realization, and without it, you wouldn't be able to grind through the years.  You'd get discouraged and quit.

[CanuckExpat]

I have to respectfully disagree with the respectful disagreement, in fact, it sounds like criticism of the title, and not what was actually in the article (article headlines are usually written by someone else than the person who wrote the article).

From what I remember, the main meat of advice in the article was to find a high paying job, but the author pointed out that as the economy changes, more money goes to fewer and fewer people, so if you want to be well compensated, it is more likely if you are an expert at something. S/He goes further, and says that it is difficult to become an expert, and you are more likely to become an expert in something you enjoy.

So the advice wasn't to find a job you like, but rather to get good at something you like, become an expert in fact, and find a job that then pays well which aligns with that.

I thought it was a good way of putting it. And I think it might have accidentally worked out ok for me: several years of mostly enjoyable grad-school, which presumably counts as becoming an expert in some skills, then a few years of highly compensated (and mainly enjoyable) work using some subset of those skills: FIRE in a few years.

[Squirrel away]

Without that experience, would you be fine doing mind numbing work for something that doesn't really matter, just coming out of school?  I think some experience is needed to come to your realization, and without it, you wouldn't be able to grind through the years.  You'd get discouraged and quit.

I meant if I went back in time knowing what I know now. I would definitely go for the best paying job I could so I could be FI sooner and then do whatever I wanted after that.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Loving something, and doing it for a living, are two radically different things. Most people really enjoy sex, but wouldn't care to be a prostitute.

[ysette9]

Loving something, and doing it for a living, are two radically different things. Most people really enjoy sex, but wouldn't care to be a prostitute.

hahahahah.... so well put!