Your job! Are You Doing What You LOVE To Do?

Confucius said, “Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” For years, we have told our clients, if you do what you love it is not a job. A job or work is what you have to do. Meaningful activity in which you are fully engaged and love to do is not work. It is sad when you hear someone who has worked in their job for 25 or 30 years say, “Thank God I am retiring next week. I can’t wait.” In so many ways, it sounds to us like they have misspent their life in a job that was a painful chore and had very little meaning. What is pure joy…when you love what you do every day, in fact, you can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning to do it…and, someone is willing to pay you to do it.

In fact, there is research that tells us that if you want to live longer, find meaningful work that you love to do. Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University said, “It is vital to have a cause to wake up to every morning. There has to be something to get you up and keep you engaged.” I believe the opposite is also true – hating your job will take years off your life.

If you don’t love what you do daily, you are not alone. The latest results of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center found that about half the American workforce feels the same way you do. On a positive note, job satisfaction has risen every year for the past six years. But, as positive as this sounds, for the first time since 2005, the level just passed the 50 percent marker, coming in at 50.8. While the trend is encouraging, it is well below the highest level of American workers who liked their jobs which was 61.1 percent in 1987.

In a recent study surveying people who loved their jobs, the following characteristics emerged: 

Purpose: People who love their jobs have a belief they are doing meaningful work that makes a difference in the world.

Autonomy: Having work where you can think, make decisions and see the outcomes of your decisions seems to bring joy to a lot of the people who love what they do.

Hard work: Most of the people we interviewed who said, “I love what I do,” could also be described as hard workers. Others would describe these people as “willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Mastery: Hard work, the love of the work and the amount of time these individuals were willing to put in also gave them the ability to become great at what they did or gain mastery over their work and the environment. These individuals obtained great satisfaction in solving problems or leading others to a better tomorrow.

Recognition: People who loved their jobs feel that they are recognized and valued by people their work supports. It may be a boss, peer, direct report or even a client. If you do not show up, you know that you and your work will be missed.

Team Player: Talking about being a team player, after we talk about the characteristic of autonomy, almost sounds counterintuitive. But, it is so true. People who love their job and gain mastery over their environment, tend to gain joy in being part of a team. When they are able to help other individuals and the team win, it only reinforces the positive feelings one receives from the work they do.

Where’s the Money?: Although money may be the reason you took the job, there is almost always another reason why you leave a job. Some of the most common reasons we hear from people about why they leave their jobs…

• Poor relationship with their immediate supervisor
• Unsupportive co-workers who do not work as a team
• Not feeling valued or appreciated
• Work that is not meaningful or interesting
• What else?

When you are engaged in something that is meaningful and matters, you’ll find more purpose in your work. You’ll feel more fully connected and motivated.  Plus, when you’re swimming with the alligators in the swamp, you’ll have more resilience to wrestle with the beasts, achieving positive outcomes.  Money is important and motivates us to get to our jobs, but it never is the factor that causes us to love our work – meaningful work does that.