How to Do What You Love
"How to Do What You Love," an insightful essay about both figuring it out and getting it done.
Comments
This is the Mantra of Peter Adkinson.
There are so many places in this smug little essay where I realized the author has insulated himself so thoroughly from relaity that he actually believes his own bullshit.
You cannot seperate all the factors (money, tedium, prestige, etc.) he claims you can out of your work unless you are an heir and just bounce from project to project.
I love my job and would honestly do it for free if I had to, but a job also requires a living wage and a small amount of respect from others. By the way, the reason you might respect the opinions of other people besides your friends on how well you're doing your job and how much prestige you might deserve is simple: They *might* just know a little more about it than your friends. Or you.
Interestingly, he missed a big part of what motivates me in my work: Helping others.
Apparently, work is all about you. I have worked with people like that, and I can assure you they have been terrible at their jobs.
Sorry for the rant, but damn! I thought his analysis of how children were taught about work was interesting, however.
I didn't think it was smug, but I guess I can see it.
What I thought was particularly insightful was that he addresses, head on, the idea that having a job you love doesn't mean that, at any given second, you would rather do your job than any other thing, such as lying on a beach and drinking Coronas. I think that people get that idea, and that it's neither right or useful.
I also thought that his points about the futility of working for prestige were worthwhile. Since you can't control what other people think about you, working solely (or even primarily) for recognition is a recipe for, at best, random rewards, and at worst, crushing depression.
I do think it's clear that every job for those of us in the working class must necessarily be a mixture of what-you-love, pay-the-rent, recognition-seeking, and other factors, but l think he's put a lot of good thinking together in one place, so I stand by "insightful."