Ask the Readers: Are You Doing What You Love? (& Book Giveaway)

Funny you should ask! No, I’m not doing what I love, or lovng what I do. Just this morning, I’ve been thinking that I need to find a way to work more passionately – there are so many things I care about, so why on earth am I doing what I do? For the past three years, I have been retraining as a psychotherapist, and that will hopefully put me on the right path. But all this time, and for the nine years before that, I’ve done jobs because I could – my skills led me into paths that meant nothing to me. Now I need to promise myself I’ll not do that again, and commit to finding work with meaning and with heart.

Right now, I’d have to admit I’m not doing what I love. I love to write fiction. I adore the challenge of it, it thrills me and I’m good at it. I also love to programme. Unfortunately, although my job title says I’m a programmer right now, I’m actually a glorified secretary. I’m moving on, moving up and working on my first novel too!

I’ve been doing what I love since August 2006, which is living in Europe writing for a living. After 3 years of struggling with a (on the edge of full success) business as a Professional Organizer, I realized that my dream wasn’t to be an Organizer and chase after more and new clients. My dream was to write – fiction and non-fiction.

So I sold my house, gave my cats to my parents and moved to France. Then I found love and ended up in Spain, still writing and happier than I’ve been in my entire life.

(Oh, and I’ve blogged the whole process for those interested…)

I’m lucky to love doing something similar to what my parents do. When I was really little, I thought that moms notes with all those funky symbols and long formulae look really cool.
Some fifteen years later along with some friends I decide to try for a prestige high school. I just loved solving all those problems to get ready for the exam to get in. Before I applied, I didn’t know, that my mom had also gone to high school there.
I got in and three years later I got in to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Still studying mathematics, still loving formulae and problem solving. I know I’ll work something related. If I don’t become a scientist in a university, I will at least teach math to others.
I’m glad that my parent’s are also in the same field, I can always ask them for advice. Though they never forced or asked me to become a mathematician.

I’m currently doing what I like, and working towards doing what I love. After following the ‘education is key’ mentality that took me through grad school and brought me back to the same questions, I’m working through library books, blogs, and online resources to distill what is most important to me in life and how I can create a career that lets me live a balanced one.

Still in the early stages, but the process has been started!

No, unfortunately, I’m not doing what I love. I want to be a veterinarian. Ten years ago, I was going through the admissions process when my now ex-wife gave me an ultimatum–vet school or her. I made the wrong choice.

Now, I can’t afford either the time or the money to go back and take all the prerequisites over and having two kids and (a new) wife, I don’t think I could afford the four years of vet school, either.

“To find your mission in life is to discover the intersection between your heart’s deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger.” – Frederick Buechner

I’ve been an executive assistant for 15 years. While I don’t love it, I do like it. What would I love to be doing? Writing novels. I wrote it off (pardon the pun) for many years for various reasons (too big a dream, had bills to pay, etc.), but with my husband’s encouragement I actually just finished my first manuscript and will soon start hunting for an agent. Here’s hoping!
Julia

I thought I was doing what I love being an at-home PHP/MySQL applications developer, but since I finished my last application, and the contract ran dry, I’m not so sure that’s what I want to do with my life.

What I really want to do seems to be writing. I’m working on so many stories at this point, that it’s hard to even keep them straight.

This blog and others has gotten me to read “Getting Things Done” and I’m beginning to see how everything I’ve been trying to do over the past few years is really just building up and weighing on me. As I’m processing my “in” box, I’m realising more and more that the things I’m truly passionate about have been getting put into the “Maybe/Someday” category, and I’m really not happy with that.

Now that I’m unemployed, I’m working harder and harder at getting organized so that I will be able to make time for everything I truly want to do. My goal is to move stuff from “Maybe/Sometime” into my “Next Action” list and get things moving.

So, long story short, no, I’m not doing what I want to be doing for a living.

I do like a lot blogging self help advice and writing self help books for a living. But, I miss the live interaction of when I used to counsel/tutor/advise people as a lawyer/teacher/consultant for a living. What I’d love to do is to get up in front of live audiences and provide my special brand of self help that way — or, maybe even have my own TV show and talk one on one with someone seeking specific advice, so anyone who wants to can tune in. Blogging is my first important step in that direction. I’m learning from my reader what they would like to learn from me about themselves and the world, so I can become better at addressing their concerns and issues. All grist for the mill!

Very excited about the book Sway, too! It was next on my reading list so winning a copy would be very cool!

I am doing what I love but I know I won’t make more money doing it. I left my cubicle working as a programmer/consultant to be a high school math teacher. I was very fortunate to find a “fast-track” teacher licensing program that got me into the classroom without going back to school to take 2 years of education classes since I already had the content experience.
In my opinion, teaching is much harder than it looks but is very fulfilling.

No – I am not doing what I love. I started my career doing what i loved, but the company changed and I changed too, just to keep working and supporting my family. Leaving was not an option since there’s not a lot of opportunity where I live. I did start writing for a while and had positive results (I even had a few articles posted here). But, I haven’t written for a few months and only started again this week.

Maybe I need to be “swayed” into long term action. Know of any good books on the subject?

I’m still trying to find what I love to do. I’m young, 20 years, still in college. I started off majoring in Computer Science, because it’s what I found interesting. Now, I’m not so sure, but I have no idea what else I could do.

Yes, I’m doing what I love for a living—I’ve been working for my church for the past seven years, coordinating the operational side of things as well as our service to our city.

Just as in anything, love is tricky. It doesn’t mean I enjoy everything I do, and it doesn’t mean I get to avoid things that are boring, messy, or otherwise unpleasant. That’s a good thing—too often, I just want to do what I like at work and dodge the rest, but that’s not how love works in other contexts (like my marriage), so it’s sabotaging to evaluate my work by such an irrational measure.

I may need to be reminded of that perspective on Monday, or even later today.

I spent the last two years doing something I most decidedly did not love! It’s amazing how much energy that drains.

Happily, I’ve just started a new job that I predict I will love! I feel like a whole new person, and so much more like my true self.

My story starts out similar to Alaina’s, above. I started college studying Computer Science for a semester before I realized that it wasn’t where my heart was, nor did I fit in with the crowd. I changed my major to allow me to get more indepth with web design/programing and I’m much happier now with my studies.
I had been working in a gourmet kitchen supply store for a few months before I realized that A)I wasn’t doing something that motivated me to work and B)Retail sucks. So I set out to find a more technical job and recently I was hired by my university to update their various websites and to write web applications.
Making the choice to find what I love doing and to align both my studies and work with that passion has been the most important and beneficial decision I’ve made so far!

I am not doing what I love, but I love what I am doing. I work in the manufacturing sector as a Quality technician – its not something I would ever have chosen. But now that I am here, I am very happy with where I am. I find my work interesting and challenging, I work with great people who are supportive and help me to continue to grow, and I am making great strides. The “doing what I love” part comes in more in my outside life – my boyfriend and I run a small charity helping underprivileged children, I coach youth soccer, and work with a battered women’s group. Would I want to make any of that my full time job? Probably not.

I like what I do. I’ve been an executive assisant for 15 years and, while the job is varied enough to keep things interesting, I don’t love it. I would love to write novels (to Alex Fayle: you are my hero). I wrote off the idea (pardon the pun) for several years, but with the encouragement of my husband I just finished my first manuscript. By summer’s end I’ll be searching for an agent.

Most of the time I’m doing what I love. We have two young kids who have dramatically changed my lifestyle. I still get twinges when I read travel stories, but I figure that I’ll get to do that again in a decade or so, and we’ll be able to give the kids some fabulous life experiences. My work combines creativity, collegiality and longterm friendships, and most days, I look forward to being in the office. I fell into it accidentally, after university graduation, but I’ve been here for 19 years now and still enjoying it because every week is a little bit different and there’s plenty of change.

I am not happy with what I do.

I would love to sell wrestling memorabilia on ebay full time. It would be awesome.

Right now, I just program websites for people and make very little in this very saturated market.

Unfortunately, I am not doing what I love… I’m still trying to figure out what I do want to do… it’s much harder than I thought it would be. At 25, I really think I need to figure it out…

I am not doing what I love. I majored in computer science and now work in IT. I love using computers to surf the web, and I sometimes like writing a program or tinkering with Linux. However, I don’t love working with computers or technology. What I love to do is to work with myself — analyzing my own movements and showing off myself. I originally wanted to be a model. I have the height but not the bone structure. Recently I’ve taken up dance. 20 years of forward head posture and hunching over (I’m in my 20s now), plus an utter lack of stage presence, are not helping.

The problem with doing what you love is that you could very well love something that you can’t get paid for. And if you can’t get paid for it, how will you eat?

Something I think is very helpful is to not just think about what you love to do, but also to pay close attention to what other people tell you you’re good at. After all, if you’re going to get paid for something, there have to be people who think what you’re doing is worth paying for.

Whenever someone tells you “you’re so good at making people feel better” or “you come up with the best ideas on how to resolve conflicts” or “you write the most amazing stories,” these are all hints about what you should do!

I was doing what I love, mostly. Then, doing what I thought I would love, but didn’t. And now I’m doing what really floats my boat! I was a 5th grade science teacher. I loved it. I loved getting kids excited about science, I loved the discussions, I loved the kids. What I didn’t love was the state testing and the pressure and red tape for working in a public school.

Then I moved into administration as the elementary science coordinator. OUCH! Political mine field. I thought I would be artful at maneuvering through the politics because working on a district level with science was going to be sooo awesome. WRONG! I had no idea the depth of politics that went on. I felt like a constant casualty of war.

So what’s a teacher to do? Start her own business! It is all the good and none of the bad. I get to be creative innovative. I get to teacher and have great fun working with kids and getting them about science. I get to decide to throw out the red tape and the mines in the field and enjoy what I am doing.

What is this freeing business? It’s called Trinity Science Solution. I have started this with a friend and we go to schools and present our giant inflatable canyon. It rocks! (pun intended) But it is a wonderful way for two creative science nerd teachers to live true to themselves and have a wonderful time doing what they love!

Check it out! http://www.bigcanyonballoon.com
:O)

I’m not doing anywhere close to what I love. I’m also trying to figure out exactly what that looks like. I know what it doesn’t look like…now I just have to figure out how to get away from that!

Peter, I apologize for the double post. When I didn’t see my original post in the comments secton I thought perhaps I did something wrong and I tried again. I’m not trying to cheat!!

As someone who loves to learn, I’m about to be doing what I love. I’ll be entering the University of Chicago this fall, and yes, I love where I am right now.

I’ll be a teacher after that – and then I will REALLY be doing what I love!

I am fortunate that I’ve always done what I loved. When I stop loving what I’m doing, I change to a new love.

I always wanted to be a teacher, writer, speaker and mom. I enjoyed a 40 year teaching career, switching from junior high level to university and finally to community college. Throughout my teacher career I also became a writer, speaker, and entrepreneur starting several businesses. Now that I’ve retired from teaching I’m learning how to make my websites and blogs profitable.

Oh, I’ve been traveling and lately started writing a book that will help people create their destiny by making their own choices.

Realizing my personal dream of becoming a wife and mother of 4 was the most gratifying of all.

Good luck!

Ha ha! Yes funny you ask, I might know a book…

If I didn’t have the responsibility of providing for a family I would not be working at my present job. I don’t have any regrets though. It just means things are a bit harder and may take a bit longer. At the moment I am trying to take baby steps in the direction of a career that better reflects my interests and passions…. I am definitely moving in the right direction, but sometimes I just get frustrated that I am not there yet.

Now that’s the type of inspiring story I was hoping to hear . Good for you Laurie

Oh well, you’re not the only one Kevin. The good thing is you are honest enough to admit to yourself that you don’t like what you are doing. That honesty opens the door to change. Best of luck with working things out.

are you doing what you love for a living? I’m happy but I’m not at the place of “vocational bliss” yet.

If not, what is it you would love to do?
I would like to be a non-profit executive for special Olympics or work at a dolphin-assisted therapy center for children with developmental disabilities and chronic conditions.

My dream job would be a non-profit executive for Special Olympics.

Thanks Julia! I’m not yet earning off my fiction writing, but I am off my non-fiction and web work (plus a few hours a week of teaching English).

I’m at the point of looking for an agent for my first novel and starting to write my second. I’ve had some short stories published, but it’s a 20 year plan and I’m only 2 years into it.

I’m fortunate in that I don’t have kids to support and I have a very supportive partner who is willing to live with me earning significantly less than possible so that I can follow my dream.

Good luck with your own writing – and for learning/support/inspiration, have you visited http://www.fmwriters.com – Forward Motion – it’s a great online community of writers.

Cheers,
Alex

Hunter –

I agree. Sometimes earning is just that – working to live, earning a wage doing something you don’t hate so that you *can* do what you love in your off hours.

Cheers,
Alex

After a career as an engineer and raising two kids as a single mom and finishing college, I was laid off, got remarried, didn’t work for 1-1/2 years and then got my dream job: a part-time shelving page at the local library. I’m at the bottom of the pay scale, but would probably work for less. I love what I do because I shelve in all the areas such as fiction, non-fiction, childrens, magazines, young adult so I am in every department. I get to ‘be with the books’ which I love. I’ll take a look at tables of contents, check out many items (as employees, we don’t have late fees) and enjoy the very low stress. I love my boss, who is open to my taking off to travel with my husband for business in Europe or to family here or camping locally. I consider myself semi-retired and am thankful every day for being able to do what I love after what seems like a lifetime of struggle (to put it mildly).

Almost nine years ago now I decided that my first career choice wasn’t working for me and that I had to make a change. People, including my then colleagues, said I was mad leaving the ‘security’ of a small but important government agency and the public sector generally. I had a wife and two young children and was very apprehensive about the leap. I couldn’t justify staying and being increasingly more miserable just because it was secure (whatever that means these days) though. I started again in the private sector with a lot to learn and a strong belief in myself. I have made some mistakes along the way but I have not only been successful, I have been happy. I enjoy the work I do a lot but don’t worry, I have some bad days and issues bother me from time to time too. Importantly, I have the freedom to continually develop and learn. And I learned a long time ago that when I’m happy at work I can forget about it when I’m at home. This is important.

Simon

I am searching for my calling. I’m 33, been quite successful in my professional life but… I really (want to) believe there is something out there that will absolutely and utterly energise me!
I don’t know what it is yet and have been soul searching for a while. But I will find it!

Yes!!Yes!!! I love what I am doing!!! I get up everyday and say I love this day!!

After finishing school I studied teaching. I didn’t mind it but living in the country wasn’t for me. So I went back to uni and studied computing. Worked for 10 years as a programmer which I did like but the atmosphere of bullying workers on salary to work long hours for the profit of the company got me down.
Quit when my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and now work at Woolies at night as nightfill staff. Don’t love it but it pays the bills. Am 40 and don’t know what I want to do with my life.

I like my day job (computer security analyst), but I don’t love it. I love what I do, but I don’t love the hours I’m forced to work. After all, computer networks can’t be fixed during the day when businesses are using them. I also love to blog, which I’ve started doing a few times a week. So for now… I’m content.

I’ve been a self employed musician for a couple decades now, which also frees up time for the work I do on my websites. I love what I do.

Yes, I am very much doing what I love. I’m a freelance web designer, passionate about my work. I’m very fortunate to be doing something I love.

Someone who hasn’t experienced it may not understand–but often while I work, I get a strong adrenalin rush. I get excited and then work stops being work and turns into pure enjoyment.

Then when my eyes tell me it’s time for a break, I scribble down all the ideas that are still entering my head. Sometimes the best ideas appear when I lie down at night, which is why I always have a pen and pencil ready on the nightstand. And when I misspell a word, I wish I could Ctrl + Z it.

In the morning when I wake up I can’t wait to transfer the ideas from paper onto my computer. Sounds like fun? It certainly is

I work as a machinist. It is far from what I thought I wanted to do, but the job has introduced me to some skills and interests I wasn’t aware of. I like working with machines. It puts me in the zone. And I like seeing tangible results from my work. I have a good eye for detail which is a major plus in my business.

This fall, I’m going back to school to become an electronics tech and ultimately I’d like to be an electrical engineer working with robotics. It’s the first time in my life (I’m 31) that I was certain about what I wanted to do.

I had a hard time with the “how do I pay the bills and do something I love” issue. For me, I think you can love what you are doing no matter what it is. There is something of value in every job and if you cultivate what you find, you can have the money and a job you enjoy.

I am close to doing what I love. I work at a gym and am studying to be a personal trainer… I want to help people get out of bad habits, to help them feel healthy and strong, and not susceptible to the vagaries of “fashionable physiques” at either extreme. I want them to feel strong, fit, and capable.

I’m a university lecturer and there are parts of that job that I love. Helping young people to grow and develop their potential is very rewarding. Though that job also allows me to write, which is something I love just as much. In fact last summer I began to co-write a website which included our article on “doing what you love”. In that article we explored much of what’s been discussed in these great comments. That doing what you love means different things to different people – at different times in our lives. That it can also be achieved by re-framing the way we feel about our work. Our “Happy Work-cycle Model” might be of interest here: do what you love; or do more of what you love; or learn to love what you do; or learn to like what you do; or leave what you do.

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/goal-setting-tip.html

Yes. Finally. I am doing what I love, but it hasn’t come without sacrifice. While a sophomore in college I was offered a great entry level position in the corporate world with nice starting pay, benefits and great upward mobility. I had been a little undecided in college and sort of burned out, so the offer came at a good time. I was too distracted by pay increases, staying busy at work, moving into bigger and nicer apartments, collecting more useless material crap, and generally enjoying the safety of a nice salary that I didn’t spend enough time realizing how far I was from where I really wanted to be. Writing and journalism were a passion of mine and I’d pick up copies of Writers Digest and books on how to get published and imagined how cool it would be to one day having my work published. Skipping ahead a few years I ended up dropping out of my career, moving to another state, and going back to school full-time as a journalism student. I excelled in my classes, got involved with just about every form of student media I could, and even landed a nice internship with a magazine in New York. This week I’m moving (permanently) to New York to work as a journalist. Those dreams of walking into Barnes and Noble and finding a magazine with my name in it have come to pass. Some of my best friends are now writers and editors for leading magazines. I took a risk and it paid off. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do.

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Stumbled upon this page today after googling the quote, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always gotten.” Somehow this search yielded your site and the question are you doing what you love? Right now at this moment I think I am? I love to read and your book offer looks great! In an hour I will tell myself, “You fool… wasted another day on the Internet! How did that help you?

I think as we grow older it is easy to lose touch with the things that make our heart sing, that make us feel alive. We are torn by responsibilities, kids, mortgages, bills, the necessity to provide, to support our lifestyles, pay for the nest, keeping up with the Jone’s. The subprime crisis has wiped all that away for millions. What do you do when you discover that you put your life ladder up against the wrong wall?

Life slips by so fast and many wake up later with regrets. If only I had… reached for my dream, chased my passion, discovered my true purpose, taken a chance…

In responding to your question I realize that I am not doing what I love for a living right now and it weighs heavy on my soul. Perhaps I am holding on to the money I make in my other pursuits, or the security of the known? I believe that the tendency is to resist change, stay with the familiar.

What I truly love is to coach and help others to reach for their dreams and discover their highest and best self. To rediscover that spark from their youth and align themselves to their core values. For those like me that have been stuck, know that there never will be a perfect time to start something new. Take a small step this very moment towards what you love. ACT NOW your best life depends on it!

What makes your heart sing? Register for a class or lecture, join a group? Ask yourself how could I make a living doing what I love? What would you do with your life if money was not an option? What brings you joy in your life? What did you love doing in your youth? Now reach for it! There is power in momentum, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Don’t keep doing what you’ve always done expecting a different result. You are worth it, you have value, you deserve it! Carpe Diem (Seize the day). Even coaches need coaching and I am also writing to myself. Live with passion! Coach Rory

[...] If you would like to read more of the responses (there were over 48), here is the post: Ask the Reader: Are You Doing What You Love? [...]

Yes, I am. My problem is I love doing too many things! I have to be careful not to split my focus too much doing things that I love.

I love being a professor.
I love running my home business.
I love blogging.
I love serving my church.
I love traveling.

And thankfully, I’ve been doing all of those.