Should You Do What You Love?

Many successful people recommend to follow your passion and do what you love. I’ve recommended doing this several times as well but I’d like to bring up a few things for those wanting to follow this path to consider.

Firstly, doing what you love can bring a lot of joy and happiness to your life. Imagine waking up on a Monday and looking forward to working. How great would that be, right?

When you love what you do, you will naturally give it everything you have and will therefore have a higher chance of succeeding. This isn’t required to succeed at a high level but it helps.

Now before you quit your job and pursue your passion, realize that it doesn’t always work out that way.

It really comes down to how valuable to the marketplace your passion is. I know money isn’t the most important thing but when you’re lacking money, struggling financially, it can negatively affect your quality of life as well as your happiness.

Not only that, many people find that the financial struggle can decrease the love they have for their passion. I’ve talked to people who got into their profession (such as teaching and music) because they love it but because of the lack of money, they ended not liking it as much.

One of my passions is creating music but it’s not something I pursue as a career mainly because I know of many very talented musicians and songwriters who struggle to make a living off of their music. There’s a big difference between doing something out of your love for it and doing that same thing to put food on the table. The latter can be quite stressful especially when you have a family that relies on your income. Some people can certainly strive under this sort of stress but for many, it’ll just make them depressed.

So, should you do what you love?

This is just my opinion but I think the answer lies in what makes you happy or at least what makes you less unhappy.

The perfect situation would be to be able to make a great income doing something you love but that’s not an option for everyone. Some people would rather choose a higher paying career they might not like if doing something they love doesn’t make as much. Others would rather do something they enjoy even if it doesn’t pay much.

If doing what you love doesn’t bring in that much money but you’re happy, then do what you love. If the lack of income will only stress you out and make you unhappy, then choose the higher income route and perhaps work on your passion on the side instead of having it as your main source of income. Or, work on transitioning to a job you’ll like better.

I used to recommend that people follow their passion and do what they love but I’ve realized that this advice simply doesn’t apply to everyone.

My advice now is to choose the path that you believe will make you happy after considering the financial aspect of your decision. I wish money didn’t play such a big role in our lives, but the fact is, it does. If it didn’t, no one would work at a job they hate.

What do you think? Should everyone do what they love for a living regardless of the income even if the lack of income will make them unhappy?

Have a great weekend