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You really can't do your best work unless you're at least somewhat passionate about it. I don't get why people can think you're more productive at a job you di

You really can't do your best work unless you're at least somewhat passionate about it. I don't get why people can think you're more productive at a job you dislike or hate and have to force yourself to get anything done, rather than doing something valuable that you'll get things done without huge amounts of willpower. Failing to find something that your're passionate about and valuable is cheating both yourself and other people out of the value you could be creating, if not for your masochism.

hso1 10y ago
What do we need our passion for? To motivate ourselves? IMO, we have a problem when we expect to feel motivated to do stuff. I think we need to learn to do stuff even if we "don't feel it" yet, that state comes later as a reward for doing. Long ago I read an article that made me think about this: http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/ http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-...
- twoquestions 10y ago
  No doubt going on passion alone is foolhardy, but you'll be less productive if you hate what you do. I know more than a few people who avoid seeking jobs they enjoy because they feel "work should be miserable and hard". I don't understand them at all.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Entering work life gets one disillusioned about that pretty fast. Those kinds of jobs you want us to find are very rare, and the only reliable way to love a job that's accessible to the most of us is to keep harming your own soul until you finally develop a case of Stockholm syndrome for your line of work. Seriously, most jobs are about you doing stupid - and often morally questionable - shit to enrich the owners, while only incidentally providing any value to society at large, and only the minimum amount of value the company can get away with. All of that in exchange for currency which you need to stay alive. Do you think grocery store clerks have passion for their work? In particular, are they passionate about all the shenanigans like washing old meat with dishwashing fluid to make it smell less? No, they do this to stay alive. Do you think programmers writing all those stupid superaddictive on-line games have passion for sucking money out of people who lack impulse control? Well, maybe they do, but that's exactly the soul damage I'm talking about. So sure, by not working on something I'm passionate about I am "cheating" the society out of the value I could be creating. Except that the society is not often giving away jobs I can be passionate about without utterly destroying my very self.
- twoquestions 10y ago
  There's times I forget how lucky I am to kinda like my job, and that most people are forced to sell their time to some distant corporate noble rather than providing value to their friends and neighbors. Thank you for reminding me.

hso1 10y ago

What do we need our passion for? To motivate ourselves? IMO, we have a problem when we expect to feel motivated to do stuff. I think we need to learn to do stuff even if we "don't feel it" yet, that state comes later as a reward for doing. Long ago I read an article that made me think about this: http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/ http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-...

twoquestions 10y ago
No doubt going on passion alone is foolhardy, but you'll be less productive if you hate what you do. I know more than a few people who avoid seeking jobs they enjoy because they feel "work should be miserable and hard". I don't understand them at all.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Entering work life gets one disillusioned about that pretty fast. Those kinds of jobs you want us to find are very rare, and the only reliable way to love a job that's accessible to the most of us is to keep harming your own soul until you finally develop a case of Stockholm syndrome for your line of work. Seriously, most jobs are about you doing stupid - and often morally questionable - shit to enrich the owners, while only incidentally providing any value to society at large, and only the minimum amount of value the company can get away with. All of that in exchange for currency which you need to stay alive. Do you think grocery store clerks have passion for their work? In particular, are they passionate about all the shenanigans like washing old meat with dishwashing fluid to make it smell less? No, they do this to stay alive. Do you think programmers writing all those stupid superaddictive on-line games have passion for sucking money out of people who lack impulse control? Well, maybe they do, but that's exactly the soul damage I'm talking about. So sure, by not working on something I'm passionate about I am "cheating" the society out of the value I could be creating. Except that the society is not often giving away jobs I can be passionate about without utterly destroying my very self.

twoquestions 10y ago
There's times I forget how lucky I am to kinda like my job, and that most people are forced to sell their time to some distant corporate noble rather than providing value to their friends and neighbors. Thank you for reminding me.