A career fallacy has been circulating around our society for quite some time. It goes something like this: “By its very nature, work sucks and is unpleasant. You can’t go off and just do whatever makes you happy. No, there comes a time when we have to face the music and settle into a career that is no fun but pays the bills.” This fallacy is perpetuated by people who don’t love what they do but rather drink from the bitter cup on a daily basis to pay the bills. End result: they become bitter.
I would like to propose a few things in response to this sorry, self-fulfilling worldview: 1) work is challenging, even exhausting, but it should also be satisfying and enriching;2) doing what you love for work is essential to career excellence; and 3) the world has changed, and having a career that you love and paying the bills can go together.
To a certain degree, loving what you do is about your attitude toward the task. I am a firm believer in the philosophy that people can pick up any task and learn to enjoy it. On the other hand, it never hurts to work on something for which you have a passion, something you don’t have to learn to love, something that naturally flows from your talents and interests. This career option has never been more available than it is now.
Challenging vs. Defeating
No one refutes that work is difficult. In all its forms, it requires mental and physical exertion, time, and some degree of discipline. However, work need not be defeating; it can challenge and enrich us and become a constructive influence in our lives. There is no virtue in the difficulty of work alone but in the positive effect, if any, it has on the worker.
Too many out there believe that just working hard provides some kind of innate virtue. I say if you come home every day with a sore back, a chip on your shoulder, and gripes about your boss, you have wasted your day. You’ve given a half-hearted offering back to the world. You’ve squandered your time and your talents. There is no virtue in going to a job you hate every day. It only creates problems for you, your loved ones, and your employer.
No, this jaded view of work is usually a cop-out for people who opted for safer roads instead of pursuing riskier dreams.
You would be hard-pressed to find a successful person who didn’t love what they did. From Oprah Winfrey to the best NBA players to the best U.S. presidents to the top Fortune 500 CEOs, their excellence springs directly from their passion for what they do. Their occupation may be hard and unsavory at times, but they love it.
Oprah, for instance, started with nothing but her smarts and a love for telling stories and empowering women. That love has propelled her forward to become first a journalist, then a talk-show host, to become a role model, to form a media empire, to become, quite possibly, the most influential woman in America. Go down the list to any successful person and you will find the same thing is true.
Why is this? Because the competitive advantage in any marketplace belongs to those who are thinking about how to make things better when they don’t have to. When everyone else has gone home and is trying to forget the stress of the day, these passionate individuals can’t help thinking about it because they love it. They don’t make things better for the next bonus; they do it because it drives them nuts to see anything less than the best. They don’t work hard because they have to pay the bills; they do it because they have to see it done better.
A New World
The ‘work sucks’ viewpoint is a vestige of the Industrial Age. Just a brief history lesson: during the Industrial Age- which was built on demeaning, backbreaking labor in factories under inhumane conditions-, small middle- and upper-classes fed off the work of a huge working lower-class. This means that, for the majority of the population, work really did suck. They were cogs in the machine with very little possibility of advancement or mental stimulation, much less following their dreams. They worked for pennies a day, were subject to very little protection, and, if they didn’t like it, were easily replaced. They had to put up with this because, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t eat.
Thankfully, we live in a new world. In the U.S., the Industrial Age has passed, as has the Space Age and the Information Age. We now find ourselves in the Idea Age, which is characterized by a huge middle-class with unprecedented access to money and education. This new age thrives on the strength of ideas and innovation. In this new age, work doesn’t have to suck. In fact, businesses will thrive like never before on people who love what they do and can constantly generate the next best idea. Oh yeah, an added bonus: they will get paid handsomely for those great ideas. Those who hate their work, on the other hand, will stagnate and get run over in this new economy.
In short, hating your job is a thing of the past. Doing what you love will become the new norm.
I’m not arguing that work shouldn’t be hard. Whatever you choose to pursue, you should love it, but you also better go hard or go home. Hard work will always be a part of the equation. But you will do yourself a huge favor by choosing something you are passionate about.
Say the words ‘secret society’, and you automatically conjure images of dark men meeting in dark chambers to perform arcane rituals and plot their world domination. Most of the secret societies that exist at college campuses today, however, are anything but secret. They’ve retained their weird chants and gothic abodes, but forget about discovering any hidden plots or sinister brotherhoods.
These are really just glorified fraternities with little but mischief and a career boost in their plans. Just how un-secret are they? The names of new members for most of these societies are published in the school paper the morning after they are inducted.
(If you can sense the disappointment in my writing, it is because I went after this topic expecting to find conspiracy theories and shady secrets. Now I’m stuck writing an article about a bunch of over-privileged Ivy-League kids who like to pretend they’re Druids and will probably be able to get any job they want. Yawn!)
Sphinx Head – The oldest senior honor society at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, the Sphinx Head Society was founded in 1890 to “create and maintain a stronger feeling” for the university and promote “a closer and stronger friendship among members of the Senior class.” I know, I know. Nothing about usurping power or overthrowing the government.
Chosen according to their status and accomplishments, members keep their rituals and proceedings secret, although their membership is made public. Sphinx Head members have gone on to prominence in government, business, athletics, entertainment, and writing. Recent members include ex-NFL defensive tackle Seth Payne and former American Gladiator and ESPN sportscaster Leo J. Reherman. You’re probably asking, “Who?” So am I.
Quill and Dagger – Founded at Cornell in 1893, this society claims to “recognize undergraduates who have shown leadership, character, and dedication to service.” Names of Quill and Dagger members have been carved on numerous buildings around campus. They meet at the top of Lyon Tower, which meetings are barred to the public.
Some notable Quill and Dagger members include two National Security Advisors, two World Bank Presidents, five prominent members of the Bush administration, and several oil industry executives. I’m hungry for some conspiracy here, so why not point out the links here between big oil, the current president, and national security? Hmmmm…
The Order of Skull and Bones – With its hand in the creation of the CIA and its powerful alumni, this society has accumulated perhaps more dark secrets than any of its counterparts. So many intelligence officials have come from the Yale secret societies, in fact, that it is believed the term ‘spook’, used for intelligence agents, actually came from the old nickname for members of the Yale societies.
Well-known Bonesmen include President George W. Bush, President George H. W. Bush, Senator John Kerry, President William Howard Taft, H.J. Heinz, II, and scores of other notables. This society has some serious power under its belt.
Seven Society – This is the one truly “secret” secret society I could fine. Founded in 1905 at University of Virginia in Chalottesville, VA, this society keeps its membership secret. Only at death are their identities revealed via a black, seven-shaped wreath being placed at their grave. They are known to give donations to the university in the form of letters marked with seven astronomical symbols: Earth, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Neptune, Uranus, and Venus. The dollar amounts of their donations usually include the number seven.
Notable members include one secretary of state and a couple of university presidents. Maybe when a few more die, we’ll find out more.
Michagamua – With a name like that, you know they’re up to no good. Their stated goal is to “fight like hell for Michigan”; their actual service activities have never been clarified. Started at University of Michigan in 1902 by university president James Angell and named after a fictional tribe, this society came under fire from Native American groups for its mocking use of peace pipes, drums, totems, and other Native American regalia in its public rituals. The society abandoned its public rituals in 1979 and stopped all pseudo-Native American practices in 1989. In the ‘90s, to put its Native American roots behind it and assume a more progressive posture, the society changed its name to the Order of Angell.
Prominent members include President Gerald Ford, a Supreme Court Justice, a civil rights leader (ironic), several U of M football coaches, a Heisman winner, several university presidents, and a few NFL players.
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A Wisconsin man is making headlines for his extraordinary memory. He can remember what he did and what world events occurred on any given date of his life. Scientists are interested in studying his brain to better understand how memory works and maybe even help the memory-challenged among us.
The first thing that everybody thinks when they hear this is how cool it would be to be able to remember that much. In school, as long as you studied, tests would be a snap. You could make a ton of money on Jeopardy! or at spelling bees.
But on second thought, think of how terrible it would be to remember everything. Everybody experiences something that they’d much rather forget (people doing mean things to you, you doing mean things to others, etc.). Our forgetfulness allows us to put those terrible experiences out of our minds. It allows to get along with those who have offended us. It allows us to look back on the past, which really had a lot of negative points, with fondness.
So, if the option ever comes along to get 100 percent of my memory restored, sorry. I’ll pass. I’d rather take my chances with limited memory.
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Newsflash, everybody! The Indiana Jones films are not an accurate depiction of archaeology!!! Gasp! I know, I know. I was shocked, too. I was also shocked to learn that the fateful battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader did not take place in the Emperor’s throne room aboard the Death Star but on a soundstage in California. Also, E.T. was really a monkey in a latex suit.
Seriously, folks, it is just lame when the Associated Press tries to make a news article out of this so-not-news piece of information. Just how lame? Check out this quote:
“The reality of archaeological field work is not a lone hero dashing into hidden chambers with a bullwhip and a pistol and coming away with a priceless relic. It’s large groups of academics and students painstakingly sifting through grids to retrieve artifacts as mundane as pottery fragments.”
Here’s a news flash for the writer, Mr. David Germain: nobody wants to watch a movie about academics and students sifting through dirt for pottery fragments. Lone heroes with bullwhips and pistols are cool; academics and pottery fragments are not.
Every time a big movie comes out, writers will try to make a story out of it by “uncovering” how unrealistic it is. These writers fail to understand the purpose of movies, especially summer action movies. Their purpose is not to act as a textbook; their purpose is to entertain and then, maybe, to enlighten, to depress, or to preach. The makers of Indiana Jones never claimed to present an accurate orientation film for future archaeologists. Trying to make a story out of a non-story by pointing out that they are inaccurate is futile and, let’s face it, cheap.
When all is said and done, this practice has nothing to do with bona fide journalism. These writers are just jumping on the Indy bandwagon to get seen by web search engine users.
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A career fallacy has been circulating around our society for quite some time. It goes something like this: “By its very nature, work sucks and is unpleasant. You can’t go off and just do whatever makes you happy. No, there comes a time when we have to face the music and settle into a career that is no fun but pays the bills.” This fallacy is perpetuated by people who don’t love what they do but rather drink from the bitter cup on a daily basis to pay the bills. End result: they become bitter.
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