Ted: Yah, good question. I’m not sure I’ve got the solution for projects I don’t believe in—I think going in with a full awareness of what you’re doing, and why, can help maintain perspective. Setting our expectations too high (“I will love every single project”) might be why we hate some of the work. Thanks for the thoughtful question.

DKR: I like it—transforming the idea of “loving what you do” into “doing what you love”. Hadn’t thought of it that way, but it really makes sense. Like I was saying to Ted, I think it’s really hard to find the right balance of expectations. Like, how much should we expect to love our jobs? I’m still working my way through that idea. Thank you for the kind words and thoughts.

I totally agree with the sentiment here, for sure… it’s just not always as easy as “doing what you love.” Not when you’re running a business anyway. Unless, of course, you love running businesses. In that case you’re probably golden.

For me the running of the business was something I felt obligated to do (which, IMHO, in our age of ridiculous entitlement is underrated) for many reasons. And as you know first hand it made me defensive, cranky and much worse. Clearly I wasn’t doing what I loved.

But what brings people low is often much more than simply not doing what they love. I know many, many happy people doing a job they’re not happy with and I know quite a few people doing work they love and not being happy about it. I don’t know why that is… only that it’s not as simple as it could, and probably should, be.

Anyway, didn’t mean to bring things down, the main point is positive and true. Do what you love!

After reading this, I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about applying this to projects we don’t necessarily ‘believe in’. (It’s a problem I have more often than I’d like to admit)

This is why we have the saying “there is a thin line between love and hate”.