Are you living to work or working to live? That is an important question that many would love the answer, but unfortunately it just isn’t that simple. The majority of people everywhere, need to work to make a living and provide for their families but their job isn’t exactly what they would love to do with the rest of their lives. Others are fortunate enough to love their “work” and enjoy it to the fullest, so if they didn’t have to do the work to live, they still would. I believe that for a lot of successful peoples’ original “work” becomes their passion.
It transfers from a need to a want.In Steve Jobs’ Commencement speech at Stanford in 2005, he suggested finding what you love, and the money will come after. Luckily he found what he loved to do early and opened his extremely successful business. Although, there were a few bumps in the road along the way to his success, it was all worth it in the end and encourages young people to do the same. Jobs says, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
” You have to trust that the dots will connect in the future, and this approach worked for him and made all the difference in his life.Contrary to Steve Jobs’ speech, Meagan McArdle wrote an interesting article putting a practical spin on the loved inspirational speech. She says that doing what you love and following your bliss in life is a great idea but it is not realistic. She says, “Doing what you love, and never settling until you find it, is a costly signal of your career prospects. ” She believes that your career should be something you enjoy, but it is important to look at big picture. There are not only limited jobs out there that are fun and high paying but those jobs are the ones most people want.
So maybe settling for something less great will still give you a great outcome. I think that you can have a good life and be in anything you choose to do. I feel that it is extremely important to do something that you love in life but expecting it to be successful in the future is not realistic. Finding work that you love and literally living to work is awesome and you a very lucky person if that happens, but realistically it can’t for everyone.
For example, my dad fixes appliances for a living; not really an ideal job, but that’s what he has to do to provide for his family.But he absolutely loves to play golf and does almost every weekend rain or shine. If he took Jobs’ advice and waited around to be a professional golfer to make millions, it would be absolutely insane. Instead he took the practical route of how to make a living and still enjoyed his passion and is happy with how his life turned out and the family he has. Some people could love what they do and make millions but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy and satisfied with their life.
Maybe settling for a little less than perfect job and doing what you love as your hobbies could really work out for you in the end and possibly more successful.
