“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.” — David Frost
“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” — Mark Twain
“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” — Marc Anthony
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” — Confucius
Those are all great quotes that say a similar thing. They are also quotes attributed to many different people in your Google search, including some guy named Unknown.
These quotes have gotten life coach disciples and spiritual guru wannabes in trouble for generations. Because these quotes contain nothing, they are just empty calories. You might a well serve cotton candy for a banquet because they bring the same results.
Absolutely nothing.
There is a key to finding work you love, and it is not secret. It is merely finding work you are both proficient at and don’t mind doing that pays you well enough to live a modest life.
Yep, find work you can do, don’t hate, and pays the bills. Need more?
Work you are proficient at is work you will have little trouble shuffling through if you find yourself suffering.
The conditions may be harsh, the market may not be favorable, but if there is a job in the industry available, you’re qualified. If offered to you, you can probably take it without much need to be caught up to speed.
Work you don’t mind doing doesn’t have to be soulfully fulfilling. You just have to be able to do it with little mental stress or physical discomfort. Plenty of jobs will pay you well, but the stress headaches and recovery from aching muscle will always reduce the value of the cash you will collect even if it is a lot of cash.
Work that pays you well enough to live a modest life is merely getting the bills paid with some left to spare. The hard part of living to this philosophy is the Western economy, and individuals need for personal greed.
It is not immoral to desire more out of life and more stuff in the process, but it becomes a severe strain on a person who finds themselves with too much stuff to contain, which is usually followed by too much debt to control.
Finding your passion is not the key to finding work you love. Finding a job that you like to do for an employer that takes care of your basic needs and lets you be you will lead you to enjoy the work that you get to do.