Do You Need To Love What You Do?

I was having a conversation with a client recently.

They have a Goal that they are working toward, and they had broken it down to get to an Action that they could Consistently do Daily...

At least in Theory.

Just like most Humans, myself included, my client hit a roadblock on the Path to their Goal.

As we dissected the different things that got in the way (of which there were a few, also pretty normal), my client got to one of the Reasons.

They didn't Feel like doing it.

They didn't have Energy when push came to shove, didn't have Motivation, and decided not to do it.

I get it, I've been there many times in my Life.

Now, there are many ways people say the same feeling, but with a variety of different words.

I don't Love doing it.

I'm not Enjoying it.

The Process feels Painful.

I get it.

We live in a Society that says things like, "Do what you Love and you'll never work a day in your life!"

We have these obsessions with Loving work and feeling constant Happiness.

But they are Siren's Songs that will lead us to Catastrophe in life.

What do all of the things that bring Instant Gratification, Enjoyment, and Ease all have in common?

In the long-term, at BEST, they all lead to Misery.

At WORST they also come with Addiction - either Chemical (Caffeine, Alchohol, etc.) or Organic (Cortisol, Dopamine, etc.) making it more difficult to escape their cold grasp.

That Addiction promises to fill a void but instead makes that void larger.

Why do you think we have an Epidemic of Loneliness and Depression in the Richest Countries of the world?

The majority are chasing the Siren's Song into the Void.

To get out of this, we have to understand something about Reality.

You don't need to "Love" what you do!

Now, is it preferable to at least "Like" what you do?

Absolutely!

But no matter what you do with your Life, you're never going to "Love" it every single day!

There are going to be days when you are not Enjoying what you are doing.

There will be days when the Process will feel Excruciatingly Painful.

There of course will be days you feel Exhausted and won't Feel like doing anything.

That's Life.

But there's another side to this that you must understand.

Often things like "Motivation", "Love", "Energy", and "Enjoyment" are not found "In" the Moment.

Most of the time, these are things that do not come "First".

They tend to be Results.

You aren't "Motivated" to do something.

Rather, by doing something you begin to Feel Motivated.

You rarely Enjoy things at the beginning because they are Hard.

Rather, by getting Better at something you begin to Enjoy it more.

You rarely gain Energy when you start doing something, especially at first.

Rather, the more you do it, the more Energy it provides you.

You don't usually "Love" something at the beginning.

Rather, by doing something you begin to Fall in Love with it.

As long as what you are doing is Aimed toward the Goals you want in Life, you "Gain" these through the Process of "Doing".

For Instance, I LOVE Writing every day!

But I rarely "Love" getting "into" the Writing.

Rather, it is AFTER I finish Writing that I Feel more Energy, and Feel that Motivation, and Enjoy my Progress, and Love how far I've come!

Even with Writing this right now, I wasn't really "Feeling" it at the beginning of putting words to Paper.

But I didn't let that control me, and I "did" the Writing anyway.

As I come close to the end, I am NOW getting all of these Benefits.

They come eventually, but not before you put in the work.

There is a great quote about this which is attributed to the famous Stoic Philosopher and Ceasar - Marcus Aurelius.

"The imediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

The "Action" towards our Goal IS the way to get to the Goal.

You don't need to "Love" it - you'll fall in "Love" with it by taking Action.