Lots of life coaches and inspirational speakers preach the doctrine “Do What You Love.” But is this actually a good idea? I’m trying to find the answer to this question in my life right now, and as of yet, the jury is still out. Let’s dig in and see if we can’t find some clarity for how to figure out the best path to pursue in your life.
For starters, I think we can all agree: doing a job you hate just to make money doesn’t make any sense. If you remember each day that you will one day die, then there’s no way you should squander your precious moments on Earth doing something that fills you with loathing. Surely you and I can see eye to eye on this matter, right?
However, that still leaves the question open: Do I decide to try and pursue my passion full-time as a career, or are there ways that I can figure out a compromise between what I love and what clearly brings in plenty of money? What if my passion is actually something I haven’t yet discovered and will only fully discover once I dive into a project that has more commercial potential?
Although I ask these questions often, I’m still not set on the answer. For now, I’m trying to do both at once, and I am definitely finding that I like a lot more things than I initially realized. While music is my passion, it turns out that building websites is as well. Why not pursue both things in balance?
The more I explore these new skills related to web design and website creation, the more people ask me to help them set something up online. That seems to be a confirmation that I’m heading in the right direction. I enjoy a nice mix of teaching the music that is my passion while fitting in all sorts of web work whenever I don’t have a student. I feel deeply fortunate to be able to live like this right now.
One thing remains totally clear, however: it is really, really fun to do what you love and get paid for it. I’m figuring out how to do that in my own way, and though the road is slow and winding, I have to say: I have no regrets. There may be some real wisdom in that “Do What You Love” business after all.