💞 Do What You Love (Kinda)

There are those who love their jobs, and there are those who don't. I don't need peer reviewed research to defend the claim that more folks identify as the latter than the former.

My experiences yesterday had me thinking about whether this should really be something truly binary—complete love vs unmitigated hate (band name)—and whether there are things folks can do that would help them derive more fulfillment from their existing jobs, even if there are many aspects that they don't particularly relish.

Me 🤝 Teaching

I've written before about my love of teaching, specifically the opportunities when I get to teach on the Declaration of Independence. Yesterday, at the University of Chicago, I had an opportunity to do just that: a group of 15 enlisted veterans reading aloud words written 250 years ago that still echo thunderously in everyday life.

For as much as I taught, I learned. I found ways that I could have improved my lesson, and I came away with a much deeper understanding of the students I engaged with. My own ever-evolving thoughts on the "twin pillars of liberty and equality" that Danielle Allen speaks of in her analysis of the Declaration were enriched by the session.

I came away inspired. Driven. Renewed.

You better believe that the next time that I'm on a call with a funder, I'm going to talk about this experience. And you'd be a fool to think that I won't have this in the back of my mind the next time that I'm burning the midnight oil (or in my case, nag champa) to review budgets and projections (the glamorous life of a scrappy CEO).

And yet, teaching is something I do because I want to do it, not because it's actually a required part of my job. Were the board to search for another CEO (😳), it's extremely unlikely that they would include teaching duties as part of the job requirements.

If I were retain the job but give up teaching, no one except me would notice, at least not in the short term. My team would source a different instructor, and I'd have more time to do...whatever it is I do around here.

I teach because it's a substantial part of what motivates me to do this work in the first place. I do it because I am fiercely committed to connecting directly with our students and to keeping myself honest by ensuring that I actually know the things that we instruct them on.

You 🤝 A Part of Your Job You Genuinely Like

There is broader takeaway available here, I think.

Individuals don't have to love the entirety of their job, or even most of it, to still find things within the confines of their existing employ that are genuinely motivating.

Perhaps these are things that already fall within your existing duties, or maybe it's something that you need to work towards being able to accomplish. Maybe there's a permission structure you need to leverage, or maybe there's a chain of command you need to follow.

But if there is something that you can do, however small, that will feed your soul, isn't it worth a bit of effort to find a way to make that happen? Wouldn't it make the less intrinsically motivating parts of what you do at least a bit more justifiable?

We have four thousand weeks on this space rock if we are lucky. So many of those weeks have to be spent earning some type of income. We don't have to have our dream job to find a way to make that income-earning pursuit at least somewhat fulfilling.

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I'll end with an essential caveat: not every job can be redeemed! If you, dear reader, are miserable where you're at and you have the ability to leave and move on: do it.

For my part, I'll keep teaching and channeling that energy back into the things about my job I don't look forward to. Speaking of which, I think I'm behind on an expense report.

Instructively Yours,

—Rye