When was the last time someone gave you that advice? Doesn’t it sound really weird? It definitely does to me, even when I am giving it. I think most of the people who give this advice usually mean it (including me). But we generally fail to define “love” and hide away the ugly intermediate steps of figuring out, failing over and over again.
I was recently given this advice by a person who hates his job and can NOT quit it (rolls eyes). That made me think of the times I have said this one line of ultimate wisdom to my friends. I think I owe them an explanation and I should define it for future readers.
First things first, I am sorry I said that to you. Now, ”love” in this context means different things depending on your current state. For an undergrad (the category most likely getting this line from me) its somewhere between “like” and “find interesting”. For someone in a sucky job, its simply “not hate”.
One thing people usually forget is that most processes are continuous and not absolute. Like the definition of “love” above. There is always a room to try something new and frankly trying new things is the only way I know of finding my interests.
You need to have super persistence. This is somewhat contrary to the point of continuous change above and thus interpreted as another snobby line we say. In my case, what it means is that every work has its ups and downs and usually after the initial rush of feeling great about the new thing in our life, we tend to loose interest and do not get rewarded so often. This curve gets steeper as you get better at something. The key is to judge if you do not like the work or are simply bored because of the lack of reward (There may be many other reasons but I hope you take the hint) If you are simply bored you should stick a little longer (hence persistence) but with it the ability to judge one’s chances of a positive outcome is also very necessary.
I could go on and on refining the definition but finally it’ll mean “Work on yourself to know what you can be good at and can keep doing for a long time”
