Don’t Do What You Love

Wait, what? Don’t do what you love? No, argues Charlotte Lieberman in Harvard Business Review — just do what you do:

And like many, I wonder if I am “following my passion.” Doing “what I love.” I do love writing — but I’m not necessarily passionate about describing the benefits of adding chia seeds to green juice. But after my yearlong search of trying to find that one thing that I was emotionally and intellectually invested in – be it poetry or treating liver stagnation with ancient Chinese principles – I realized that there might be something valuable in letting go of the assumption that “my career” and my passions would be one and the same.

My passions can go on existing fully, growing and changing – and I can “do” whatever it is I do to pay the bills with attention and care, learning new skills and things about myself regardless of whether or not it fills me passion and pleasure. So roughly one year after my college graduation, I stumbled upon a satisfying mantra for my work-life: Do What You Do. It’s an approach based in mindfulness rather than passion.

Read the whole piece here.