On Loving Your Job; how important is it that we love our jobs?

Work/life balance expert Jim Bird says we hear all the time how important it is to have jobs we love. But he says most people he knows don’t love their work. They either accept it or tolerate it. He points out that while it’s not necessary to be passionate about your job, you should be passionate about how well you do the job. Why? Because that’s what you do for yourself.

Lacking passion for your job doesn’t necessarily mean you’re living your life less well than the individual who is passionate about work. Your passion may surface in regard to other areas of your life. Bird offers these suggestions for generating more ardor for living:

• Write the essay or book that’s been in the back of your mind.

• Take a class in a subject that engrosses you.

• Teach a class in the subject that engrosses you.

• Cook dinners that will make your friends swoon.

• Go to your favorite sporting events.

• Let the people you’re closest to know how much you adore them.

The key is to set aside time for doing whatever it is you love to do. The first step is deciding you’re going to do it. The important second step, Bird says, is to go for it.

All of that being said, I really did love my job. There is no way I could have stayed for 25 years if I had not, mine was a stressful and often deadline-based job. That along with personal rough spots would have done me in if I had not had an outlet.  As Mrs. Bird says “the key is to set aside time for doing whatever it is you love to do.” I never allowed my job to become who I was.

See Jim Bird’s definition of work/life balance at  Work life Balance