Why the quote “find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” is misguided…

This notion that you will be stress free and things will be “easy” if you find a career that you thoroughly enjoy and that it’ll never feel like work is, quite frankly, bullshit.⁣

“Find a job you love…”

I love what I do as a strength and conditioning coach. I have coached a wide variety of individuals in the weight room and on the field, from premier league soccer (football for the rest of the world), collegiate swimmers, youth athletes, and your weekend warriors. The joy of a young athlete finally having something click with a certain exercise is the reason for what I do. The new mom with a goal of losing 20lbs over 6 months and reaching that goal is another fulfilling feeling that I get from my line of work. Watching someone reap the rewards of putting in the hard work in the midst of difficulties brings me genuine happiness.

I quit dental school after going through my entire time in college attaining my biology degree, with the full intention of applying to some type of post-graduate school. Let’s be honest, a biology degree by itself is worthless anyway. But I really enjoyed my studies. I felt like I was fairly good at it. However, I just couldn’t figure out what it was that I wanted. Working in a pharmacy as a tech one summer between my sophomore and junior year was enough to tell me I did not want to do that. I thought applying to dental school would be it. Good hours, decent pay, having a practice, etc. After landing a few interviews, being accepted, and attending, I thought it was all smooth sailing and I could just put my head down and focus. Yet I spent, for what felt like an eternity, my two months there really contemplating what I was even doing. I was just trying to pass tests instead of understanding and applying the material.

I moved on to my current career as a strength and conditioning coach which has brought so many unique and positive experiences, but also many difficult ones where I was working for low, or sometimes no pay and long hours, while catching myself frequently worrying more about others while neglecting my own mental health. But these are all learning lessons that I am grateful for and are just part of my journey.

Sure, there are plenty of things that I have been exposed to in my career that I could have done without. Yet, I am glad they happened. In most cases, I found out what not to do if I ever had employees or interns working for me or interacting with other colleagues in a new job, for example. I learned effective communication strategies from individuals who did not want to collaborate if there was a difference of opinion. It felt frustrating at times, but I knew even if there were moments where I could potentially change my approach and still received a similar response, I did everything I could to contribute to the overall team goal and not regret a thing. There were also moments I have learned to say no to jobs that I was chosen for because the pay was too low, because certain organizations do not truly value the line of work, even if you are the first one to blame when a player gets injured.

But these are just a few examples that lead to the meat and potatoes of the quote.

“…and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

My issue with what this statement does is guilt you for having bad or tough days. It makes you feel like something is wrong with you if you lose a little bit of passion or drive. It makes you question yourself if your job actually does feel like work. ⁣
⁣
Well guess what? You can be upset. You can be frustrated. You can have bad days. Allow for all of that to happen. If you truly want growth within your job or your personal life, you will question yourself sometimes. Nothing is ever certain, and this is where the whole quote misses the mark.⁣ Be adaptable. You will have your dips, but this gives you opportunities to grow and to learn. It may give you a chance to regroup and find a different strategy, change your environment, or change what your work means to you.⁣ You don’t have to shame yourself. Work will suck sometimes. You could have the most amazing career and still find a few things that are infuriating. In every field, someone will tell you what they don’t like about it to some degree.⁣
⁣
If you are an entrepreneur, for example, and you want any sort growth and success, an insane amount of work is required. And you will probably want to tell yourself to walk away a few times. It will be HARD. But that does not mean you do not find passion in it and that you don’t want to solve an existing problem.⁣

So before you go off thinking that your frustrations with certain aspects of your line of work are making you question your love for it, take a step back and look at the environment you find yourself in, the colleagues that you interact with, and your own personal development within your career. Context always matters with what you do for a living. Be in control with the things that you can control, and develop the skills necessary to deal with obstacles that are seemingly out of your control.

⁣I’d say the quote below is a little more applicable and realistic.

“𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲.”

-Mark Rubin

Visit www.thelifewalkon.com if you are a former athlete looking to get back on track with life. Far too often, we tend to try and remain a “forever athlete” and not fully transition into a new identity.

Reach out today and let’s have a chat!