6 Ways To Love The Work You're Doing Right Now

When it comes to trying to find fulfilling work, I think most people would be surprised to know that it's not so much the work you do, but how you think about the work you do. This is to say: it is not people who actually "do what they love" who are happy. There are many reasons for this, but it's mostly to do with the fact that doing "what you love" is often so hyper-emotional and your worth is so deeply attached that it's impossible to really enjoy it; doing what you "love" is really just doing something meaningful, and that's a matter of perception; and you are incapable of being able to predict what you will "love to do," you only know what you've loved to do in the past, so that's a fallacy altogether.

You can begin "loving what you do" tomorrow. Save for instances in which you are compromising your morals, ethics, or mental health, it has nothing to do with what you're actually working on each day, and everything to do with how you perceive your job to be. For example, if you were a barista, you could find incredible purpose and happiness in just the idea that you are serving people their favorite coffees and breakfasts of the day. This is no less significant than a businessperson: it's the farmers, electricians, construction workers and office assistants that make the world go 'round. At the end of the day, we do not need more "successful" people — we need more thinkers, healers, open minds, and happy hearts. All of those things are inside jobs — you don't have to wait for something else to make you feel that way. Here, all the ways you can start loving the job you have, even if it's not the job you think you want.

"Doing What You Love" Is Not A Formula For Happiness

Even people who "love what they do" have to cope with stressors and pressure and feeling as though they aren't performing well now and again. Doing "what you love" is not a way to escape the reality of doing anything at all.

There Is Purpose In Every Task, There Is Meaning In Every Job

If your job exists, there is a purpose for it. If you exist doing it, there is an opportunity for you to find meaning in it.

Happy People Don't Have The Best Things, They Make The Best Of Things

It's not just "successful people" who "do what they love" who are happy all the time. (Quite the opposite, in fact.) It's people who find joy in what they already do who are happiest.

When You Don't Already Do "What You Love," There's No Pressure Or Expectation

And without that pressure and expectation, it's much easier to be able to actually find that real enjoyment.

If You Focus On What You Do For Others More Than What You Do For Yourself, You Find Meaning

If you drive your focus toward helping and assisting others and what role you play in the larger frame of things, you'll find it's instantly easier to feel more at ease, and as though your "purpose" is not so existential as it is just to help your company succeed.

Take A Step Back And See The Bigger Picture: A Job Is Just A Job

Your work is an important part of your life but it is not your entire life. It is not the reason why you are alive, it is not your "purpose" in an existential sense. It is there to make you money to be able to pay other people to do things like grow food, transport you, and so on. It is just a job, and if it does what it's meant to do — make you money — you're doing well enough.

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