# What do you think of the advice "Do what you love for work"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-the-advice-do-what-you-love-for-work/577376 "2011-04-06T08:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-the-advice-do-what-you-love-for-work/577376/41 "2011-04-07T12:31:07Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’m seeing a pattern here which I’ve seen before when this question comes up. > > Some people are conflating “do what you love” with “turn your hobbies into your job”, but I don’t interpret it that way. I tried to articulate that same idea in Post #27. Ultimately, that is why “do what you love” is an empty statement: what it is really saying is “pay attention and figure out what you can get passionate about within the context of your worklife” - well, if you are the type of person who _does_ pay attention to what works for you in your career, then you don’t need the advice. And if you are the type of person who does _not_ step back and contemplate - over many years and across a variety of job experiences - which aspects of worklife you are good at and which engage you - then hearing “do what you love” ain’t gonna help. And if you’ve gone for years without stepping back, but now are at a turning point where you want to, then hearing “do what you love” just makes you feel like a shmo - like you can just stop, look across your years of worklife and in some deep epiphany realize “hey, the thing I like best is X!” :rolleyes: What color is my parachute, indeed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-the-advice-do-what-you-love-for-work/577376.md?page=2)