“Do what you love and you don’t have to work a day in your life.”
Quite a famous adage, the quote is variously attributed to Marc Anthony, Mark Twain, why even Confucius, as per the ever reliable internet.
I wonder about the simple-ness of the quote every time I see it. Simple-mindedness rather.
Let’s take writing, for example. I enjoy the process of writing, building sentences, paragraphs, stories. I love giving my writings a few passes, cutting a word here, a line there, turning a phrase around differently, adding some irony, metaphor, oxymoron. But I don’t find it perennially joyous. If I had to take a full-time job writing, I am sure I’d be dead-bored some days, super-pumped other days, and coast along a few other days.
For, that’s what jobs are. They have their ups and downs.
Granted - it is important to find a job that makes sense overall, has a nice goal post. Some learning for oneself, some contribution to the community etc. etc.
However, every job comes with its hiccups and bottlenecks. Stakeholder alignment pains, logistic hassles, office politics, continuous pitches to the same prospect who doesn’t budge an inch. If you are in India and an entrepreneur, add GST (Goods and Services Tax) to that list. No one enjoys doing GST except tax consultants (oh well, I don’t know if they enjoy the work or just the money).
I have held jobs I loved, jobs I didn’t like as much, ones I was passionate about, ones I discharged dispassionately. None of these consistently stayed the same throughout their lifetime. Jobs, like life, are mixed bags.
And that brings me to the actual topic of the day. Work-life balance.
Because, the aforementioned adage is invoked often to demystify the elusive elixir that is work-life balance.
The wise ones say, “If only you did what you loved, you won’t need any work-life balance because work will be your life.” Voila, problem solved.
Now, see. There are jobs. And then there is fun. Sometimes jobs are fun. Sometimes fun becomes a chore. If only inadvertently so.
I have lot of fun thinking and strategising and planning and selling on my job. The close of a sale, for instance, is a high unmatched by much else I have done. But then, many of the ancillary items linked to the sale are a chore, which I won’t get into because they are boring even to talk about. Also, do I want to keep selling and selling on the weekends, instead of playing monopoly with my child or reading a book? Do I want to build strategies and think-throughs for the year ahead when I’d much rather plan my vacation on a Sunday afternoon? No, sirs and madams, not at all.
Don’t get me wrong. Work gets into life and life gets into work more often than not. I do pay my personal bills while at work while responding to office emails late in the night. I do what it takes to keep the show going. But it would be amiss on my part if I didn’t recognise what I am doing for what it is, a seepage, and kept a soft check on it, just so it all doesn’t become one whole muddle in a puddle, an inextricable quicksand.
Self-aware is half the well crossed after all.