Confucius once said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” While this notion sounds romantic, does it hold true in today’s hectic society where we spend a large chunk of our time at ‘work’?
Based on this article, Singaporeans work so hard and have extremely poor work life balance. If we are indeed ‘overworked AF’, we best be head over heels in love with what we do… right?
We speak to 3 individuals who have been working for various records of time in differing industries to determine if it is indeed possible to have passion for and love your job.
Is being passionate and loving your job a truth or myth for you?
A (Early 30s, Insurance)
MYTH. Work and loving your job should be clearly separated. When you are working, work is work and you need to demonstrate a sense of responsibility towards your tasks. No matter how much you love your job, there will be aspects of it that you do not enjoy. Loving your job as a passion vs working is completely different. If you love something, you can get emotional or take things that happen personally, thus resulting in potentially making unsound decisions which should not happen in a work environment.
B (Early 40s, Advertising)
TRUTH! When you do something you love, it is enjoyable and as a result of that, don’t feel that you have to expend a lot of extra effort to do your job. Your requirements at work are natural to you and you look forward to ‘working’.
C (Late 20s, Infocomm Tech)
TRUTH-ISH. I love singing and have been asked by bars to commit to a certain number of days to sing each week. Although this is something that I love doing and don’t count as ‘work’, having to coordinate the days and commitment of my band is when it starts feeling like a chore. There are parts of it that I thoroughly enjoy and also certain realities that make it challenging. For example, you could really enjoy singing in the shower, but if you were asked to sing the same thing over and over again for 8 hours in the studio to get it exactly right, it could be hard to love.
In conclusion, we see that there is no absolute answer to the above statement. Every individual interprets passion and relates to work in their own unique way, especially in differing industries. Above passion and love, a stable career is something to work towards, because it is what is going to provide for you and your loved ones.
Here at Young NTUC, we understand that there can be moments of conflict where you question if your job is something you can do for the rest of your life or if you should be seeking something that you love to do instead. Take the time to speak to experienced individuals from various walks of life to have different perspectives which may help shed some light on your situation and struggles.
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