Do What You Don’t Hate

I have mentioned on the blog and my podcast that I think the advice “follow your dreams” and “do what you love and the rest will follow” is unintentionally cruel. It makes anyone who has a regular day job into a failure unless that job is their dream. The market realities do not exist such that everyone could switch over to their dreams. It is privileged, elitist advice that lucky people give the masses who can never follow it en masse.

Library visitor

Lo and behold, here is Rachel Nabors saying much the same thing. She really nails the heart of it:

Don’t do something you hate for a living.

There is no glory in suffering. Because you can grow to hate something you love if it puts you in a bad position, this advice gives you permission to move on to greener pastures if what you love is making you cry at night. Whatever you love should love you back. And if it’s not working out, it’s ok to find something else to love.

I think this is a much more sensible approach. If your goal is to create artisanal free-range belt buckles, you should absolutely pursue that. What you shouldn’t do is be in a hurry to force that to bear the full weight of your living. As Hugh MacLeod says (I paraphrase from memory) “Don’t be in a hurry to quit your day job to pursue your hobby full-time. Then you still have a job but you are down one hobby.”

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dave

Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.

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