Steve Jobs said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
Most people make that mean if they don’t love their job, they need to keep looking for a job that they love.
I make it mean if you don’t love your job, you need to keep looking for the love.
My favorite example has to do with what I believe to be my worst job in my career. One day at a job interview, I was asked to talk about my least favorite job. The exact job quickly came to mind, but because it was in an interview, I was compelled to put a positive spin on my answer. I found myself telling them that while it was my least favorite job, I took the skills I had learned and used them in the next job to create a resource that no one else on my team had the skills to create. I was rewarded for my innovation using this new capability, which I brought with me from my worst job, to create efficiencies in our office.
If I reflect on my worst job and list all of the positives and the feelings it generated in my life, they’d be:
Close to home = feeling less stressed
Less of a commute & more time with family = feeling more present
Great relationships that I developed = feeling fulfilled
Learning new skills that proved beneficial throughout my career = feeling evolved
Did I love the job? No, not at the time. Could I later find the positives? Yes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find those positives until I was forced to.
Don’t wait. Try it out at your current job. Can you find your list of positives? Now is your opportunity to find the love for your job. Focus on the parts of the job that you value, instead of what you don’t like. Decide to create a more enjoyable experience in your life right now, instead of searching for something better.
If you’d like to discuss how you can love your job, book a free 30 minute call with me.