Do What You Love Mantra: Why It’s a Scam

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about how “passion” was overused. Doing work that you are passionate about does not always lead to sustainable living. I’m of the belief that not only you have to love what you are doing but you have to talent for it and that there is a market for it. Carl Newport of So Good They Can’t Ignore You says you develop a passion for what you are skilled at.

Now I’m reading a book about doing what you love and the author has a new and interesting viewpoint on the whole “do what you love”. It’s a scam! The corporate world has co-opted the phrase and use it to pay employees as little as possible because “you are supposed to love what you do.” There’s the internship where you work for  free in the hope that someday, a company will hire you. There’s the freelancing and contract work that offers you “flexibility” but you don’t know where you will find the next job. Companies stress cultural fit and absolute devotion to your job so you have to work long hours to prove your devotion to the corporate goals.

The book is convincing on how the whole “do what you love” mantra can be abused. The book is written by Miya Tokumitsu and is titled Do What You Love and Other Lies about Success and Happiness. It’s a concise little book with very convincing data. I’m halfway through it.