Bad career advice: Do what you love
One of the worst pieces of career advice that I bet each of you has not only gotten but given is to “do what you love.”
Forget that. It’s absurd. I have been writing since before I even knew how to write – when I was a preschooler I dictated my writing to my dad. And you might not be in preschool, but if you are in touch with who you are, you are doing what you love, no matter what, because you love it.
So it’s preposterous that we need to get paid to do what we love because we do that stuff anyway. So you will say, “But look. Now you are getting paid to do what you love. You are so lucky.” But it’s not true. We are each multifaceted, multilayered, complicated people, and if you are reading this blog, you probably devote a large part of your life to learning about yourself and you know it’s a process. None of us loves just one thing.
I am a writer, but I love sex more than I love writing. And I am not getting paid for sex. In fact, as you might imagine, my sex life is really tanking right now. But I don’t sit up at night thinking, should I do writing or sex? Because career decisions are not decisions about “what do I love most?” Career decisions are about what kind of life do I want to set up for myself?
So how could you possibly pick one thing you love to do? And what would be the point?
The world reveals to you all that you love by what you spend time on. Try stuff. If you like it, you’ll go back to it. I just tried Pilates last month. I didn’t want to try, but a friend said she loved the teacher, so I went. I loved it. I have taken it three times a week ever since. And it’s changed me. I stand up straighter. (I’d also have better sex, if I were having it. The Pilates world should advertise more that it improves your sex life: Totally untapped market.)
Often, the thing we should do for our career is something we would only do if we were getting a reward. If you tell yourself that your job has to be something you’d do even if you didn’t get paid, you’ll be looking for a long time. Maybe forever. So why set that standard? The reward for doing a job is contributing to something larger than you are, participating in society, and being valued in the form of money.
The pressure we feel to find a perfect career is insane. And, given that people are trying to find it before they are thirty, in order to avoid both a quarterlife crisis and a biological-clock crisis, the pressure is enough to push people over the edge. Which is why one of the highest risk times for depression in life is in one’s early twenties when people realize how totally impossible it is to simply “do what you love.”
Here’s some practical advice: Do not what you love; do what you are. It’s how I chose my career. I bought the book with that title – maybe my favorite career book of all time – and I took the quickie version of the Myers-Briggs test. The book gave me a list of my strengths, and a list of jobs where I would likely succeed based on those strengths.
Relationships make your life great, not jobs. But a job can ruin your life – make you feel out of control in terms of your time or your ability to accomplish goals – but no job will make your life complete. It’s a myth mostly propagated by people who tell you to do what you love. Doing what you love will make you feel fulfilled. But you don’t need to get paid for it.
A job can save your life, though. If you are lost, and lonely, and wondering how you’ll ever find your way in this world. Take a job. Any job. Because structure, and regular contact with regular people, and a method of contributing to a larger group are all things that help us recalibrate ourselves.
So if you are overwhelmed with the task of “doing what you love” you should recognize that you are totally normal, and maybe you should just forget it. Just do something that caters to your strengths. Do anything.
And if you are so overwhelmed that you feel depression coming on, consider that a job might save you. Take one. Doing work and being valued in the community is important. For better or worse, we value people with money. Earn some. Doing work you love is not so important. We value love in relationships. Make some.
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This is rubbish. You speak out of both sides of your mouth! You say a job “can ruin your life” but then say also that a job will not make your life complete, so don’t worry about doing what you love. I can’t decide what you really are saying and truly believe. There’s nothing wrong with trying to find a job you love. We spend approximately 70% of our weekdays at a job. The remaining 30% are usually some kind of end of day rituals that are merely preparing us for the next work day. Why in the world would we not want to pursue something we love during that time? Life is too short to deal with a horrible job just because it enables you to play with your dog on Saturdays or do some other thing that is likely just a speck on your weekend. Is it always achievable? In many cases, yes. You just have to be willing to accept what comes along with it. If your goal is life fulfillment, and not sporting the BMW, you can most likely pull it off. Why let a job ruin your life?
Lucky me I do what I love… Brazilian Jiujitsu & Vale Tudo at South America… and I LOVE what I do… and guess what, all works just fine!
It’s so easy to offer the advice “do what you love” but actually that can be really distracting as well as in many cases unattainable. I suppose the difficulty is in realizing what it is you are good at, sometimes people are unsure of their strengths. Perhaps we should spend more time focusing on what we are good at rather than chasing a career in doing what we love. As you said, we would do the things we love regardless.I particularly liked the comment “The reward for doing a job is contributing to something larger than you are, participating in society, and being valued in the form of money” I have never really looked at it from that angle.
Penelope,
Interesting post… and, yes, this is the same “interesting” one would use when describing one’s feelings about a painting one does not care especially for when the artist is eagerly awaiting an “honest” opinion.
In short – some stuff I liked some I didn’t.
I’ve got no problem shaking up the status quo “do what you love”. I keep reminding my boys (at least 1 offically diagnosed with Asperger’s – probably hereditary) they would soon tire of eating cookies if they got jobs tasting cookies.
One the other hand, I’ve worked at jobs I liked and some I hated. I prefer stuff I love now and always.
You’re a writer. I’m a writer too. We both know it’s a part of who we are. We also know lots of people who “hate writing”. Should they write even if they are excellent writers? Of course not.
So if you put your suggestion in black and white by offering a choice of doing what you love or what you hate… the choice becomes clear – at least to me.
The counter to “doing what you are” is succintly made by those who hate who they are.
Besides, I seem to be somewhat hyperactive and lack a certain focus – in other words – many jobs bore me after a few months.
So here is my alternative… try find work where you do mostly stuff you like doing – or at least – don’t mind doing.
I’ve outlined a process in these job tips articles
All in all, I’m glad I found your blog. While we won’t agree all the time, I do find your stuff engaging and challenging.
Regards,
John
Wow…i would hate to have a person like you in my life. Maybe that’s why you might be having such a shitty sex life.
Bottom line…don’t listen this girl, but if you’re into felling depressed and want advise from an uninspired underachiever, your at home on this blog.
rw
If there is a underachiever in the house, maybe you are the one! If you would take the time to understand what is wrote, you would understand fully.. It’s not about, not doing what you love , more so doing what you are good at.. Things other than sex! Besides maybe she has not found the right man with the right thoughts ! YET !
PEACE!
Your writing is great, I’ve been struggling with this very problem, For the last 5 years I’ve been developing businesses like crazy , now after 17 fully made business ideas, I have no idea what to do with them..I got tired of it. I made them, but don’t want to work them. Some tell me to sell them , others tell me I’m crazy ! But everyone knows I develop companies that do not exist.. After reading your blog, It made me realize , maybe I need to be going all of what I’ve done, What I love is my family , what I do is up to me! Also you made me realize , maybe I need to hire people to run my companies. I can make 50 new jobs with what I have done. Right from the start. Thank you Penelope
I was always told “Do What you Love” so I did – BFA in theatre, working at a theatre for 5 years. And I’m miserable. I don’t love what I do anymore.
I LOVE this post! P, you rock my socks.
I love this article!
I find that when I take something I love and attach “job” or “work” to it, it becomes something else completely different. Work is work, and people forget that. I think people’s understanding of – do what you love – is skewed and taken to literally.
Do something that makes you feel valued. Finding achievement in work, for me and I think most people, is what makes a job appealing.
MissMentor
One weak point in your arguement…
If you love who you are and love your strengths, then doing what you ARE is the same as doing what you LOVE.
You make some interesting points…
In many ways, I believe that the primary cause of people “getting stuck” is the result of an excessive reliance on “either/or” thinking… when actually tends to be MUCH more than two answers (yes/no, dark/light) to any situation.
Using myself as an example, I have always been “a writer,” and I knew I wanted “to write” from age six on. And what I have done “for money” has always had a heavy writing component, even if I never made a living “writing stories.” I’ve been a technical writer, a grant writer, editor, newsletter creator, copy writer and much more. And yes, I’ve sold an article and story or two, along the way.
The buzzwords-du-jour tell us to “think outside the box.” Again, the implication is that we must be IN the box, or OUTSIDE the box. I say, “throw the stupid box AWAY, and invent yourself from the ground up!”
I can appreciate that may be a daunting approach for some, requiring leaps of faith not everyone is willing to face.
This advice is pretty solid. I have heard it before: “you need to be practical and stop with all those wishy-washy dreams”! In other words; maintain the status quo and forget “passion” – it is just so unrealistic.
OK, I subscribed to that bit of “practical” advice and left a great opportunity in a fully-funded PhD program to do something that would “make me some money.” Well, just five years into it I realize that the people who control what I do and how I spend most of my time (and how much money I make) went ahead and got that PhD. Now I am left wondering ‘what if?’ because I know that my current path will not allow me to leap-frog these individuals and hence I will ALWAYS play second-fiddle to someone with more credentials. I didn’t know this when I threw away my opportunity. You learn as you go – and things change as you see what’s really out there. I do believe that if you have the opportunity to REALLY do something that most people can’t – give it a fair shot and don’t worry about the critics: they don’t believe in you and never will. Believe in yourself. You can always work a second job (e.g., deliver pizzas, work a night job, etc.) which can pay the bills while you hone the skills for greatness. At least if you fail you can say “I tried” and put aside the demons of regret which appear as a result of planned mediocrity.
This is the statement about how to (and NOT to) choose a career/job that I have ever read. Everyone should read this article. Everyone.
I’m a strong believer in Joseph Campbell’s advice to follow your bliss. He even claims that when you do that opportunities will arrise as if by magic. He says to do what you love with no consideration of practicality. His version of Hell is doing what everyone else expects you to do; he tells us we can do what we want to do.
In my life it has worked out. Growing up I was a science and electronics geek but I excelled at high school band and jazz ensemble and my director thought I could be a successful musician. As soon as I thought it a possibility my dream was to be a jazz trombonist and I busted my tail for years toward that dream. When this wasn’t happening (even with all my hard work I just wasn’t good enough) I found myself working my way through college in unskilled jobs. I didn’t have a car so I bought a bicycle for transportation but learning more about bikes I got bit by that bug and started to hang out a lot at my bike shop. Eventually I was spending so much time there that the owner just hired me. I did that for years as well as riding every free moment and racing as often as my finances allowed. Then one of my customers sold me his Atari 800 computer when he got an Apple ][. I was figuring out BASIC and took a computer science class just for fun and did so well there that my professor recommended I take some more classes. After a few classes I found myself being recommended for a research assistant position and from there became a systems administrator. While doing all of this I discovered this thing called the Internet. This was years before the World Wide Web took off but Usenet News, anonymous ftp, gopher, archie, veronica, WAIS, and Internet BBS’s started taking up way too much of my time. I was attracted to UNIX and C when the smart students were learning MVS, Cobol, Ada, RPG, etc. When the Web took off I was well positioned.
I consider myself to be a living example of being able to follow your bliss and do well. I have to admit that computers and networks are getting stale. I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.
Dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
brilliant!!!!!!!!!!
I’m not sure I agree with you here Penelope. I think the idea behind “do what you love” is that if you are passionate about it, you will work harder at it, learn more about it, and get very good at it.
Traditional career sites like http://www.brightfuturespress.com are full of resources built on the “do what you love” premise.
Would you ask a person who loved basketball, like LeBron James, to become an accountant?
If I followed this advice (do what you love) I would be a porn star
what do u think of this
I feel like you know me. You just captured everything that was wrong with my last job and my quest for a new more meaningful one. Do what you love is so overused and doesn’t work! You expressed what I have been struggling to communicate to those who don’t understand this notion. THANK YOU. I am addicted to your writing- can’t wait for a rainy day to read every single post…maybe a rainy weekend.
Well,
I think you just gave me the breath of fresh air that I needed. I am a stay-at-home mom who has to go back to work very soon. I always believed you have to do what you love (that way it doesn’t seem like work.) But you are so very right: I am doing what I love (caring for my children; volunteering at their schools.) It is true, people value money and although mothering is the hardest job I have ever had, society doesn’t value it. So, I’m just going to find a job, just get one as you say. I always put more than 100% in everything I do (and yes, that is exhausting at times) so I may not LOVE the job, but I will certainly DO the job.
Thanks for the push I needed to jump start this job hunt.
Okay, I just said I’m ready to jump start the job hunt, but honestly, I don’t know how.
Penelope!
You raise some interesting points to ponder! I happen to have the luxury (?) of currently working in an environment I love, providing a service I love, creating a community where most everyone retreats for a hours of bliss after a full day trapped in a career serving only as a (financial) means to an end. I manage a rapidly growing yoga studio in Southern California, which allows me to facilitate health and bliss in several people’s lives on a daily basis. With a PhD in Biomechanics, however, some may say I am successfully underemployed! On the verge of receiving an offer for a position “I should do” (more in-sync with my PhD than full-time yoga), I am honestly torn – weighing out the non-financial compensation more so than the financial compensation of each … And yes – I am a 35 y/o woman, about to get married, and planning on kids … more fun factors to weigh in. For love or money? … in my career that is.
Kat – I hope you choose love! Unless your family will suffer from not taking the higher paying job, I think you must follow the job that you will enjoy more. I have learned the hard way that more money does not make you happier! Most of the waking hours of your week are spent working, so you should follow the path the gives you more joy, more fulfillment. It doesn’t matter what degrees you have or what other people think. Ignore the money and decide which job is truly a better fit for you right now. You won’t regret it if you stay true to yourself.
This is bull crap. You have to LOVE your job, or else you will go into burnout and quit. You should just say that this article is made for losers with no specific talent- so yes, they need to take ANY JOB. However, if you are any bit crative, then be an entrepreneur. If you are funny, use it. If you want to find a job, a job that suits you, just CREATE IT. We have one life to live and sorry lady, but 40 hours a week in MY LIFE, not just a part of my life. We must love, chersih and grow with our jobs. Maybe if you enjoyed your job more and took chances, your sex life would be better and you would be less eager to give dumb advice.
I’m a big fan of your blog but I must disagree with you on this one.
Penelope,
Just found your blog today and read a few of your posts. This one caught my eye as you say because everyone tells you this is the way to go and yes I’ve succumbed to this advice too. I wanted to see what you had to say about why it was bad advice as I had never read or heard anyone take this tack on this advice.
I absolutely loved your honesty in this posts and the others that I have read and plan to keep reading.
Good stuff.
Chris
I was initially attracted to your post because I disagreed with your title. However you laid the bait well and your statement about not doing what you love, but doing what you are is absolutely brilliant.
I suppose we all come across people who for some reason or other hate their job or their business. No doubt the original advice came from this issue where love is the opposite of hate. The biggest problem with people who hate what they are doing is that their insincerity and nonchanlence shines through. Eventually, this can cost them the job or business.
Perhaps they just aren’t doing “what they are”!
Great post and twist on some old advice.
Cheers,
Arghhhhhhh! It bothers me that I know that my expectations of finding a perfect career are insane… and that I should stop putting that kind of pressure on myself in my late 20s.
It’s a terrifying thing to accept and let go of. At the same time, I’ve been pushing myself to ‘find’ my dream job for a few years now… it’s only made me miserable at my current job.
I'll read the book you suggested. Perhaps the idea will stick!
Great post!
Azi
I can’t fully agree with this purely because I have persued a career for financial reward and not for the love and I’m not happy with the job I have but am financially secure. Yet my father left an industrial job to start a career as a sports coach which he’s done for 20 years now and hasn’t looked back. He works for the love of it?
Pretty much the best career advice I’ve heard in a long time. I’m so tired of people telling me to “do what I love”. Though usually I’m like that, i gravitate to stuff I like doing. This summer though I’ll probably be working some job that I don’t care about, and I’m totally looking forward to it.
Dear Penelope,
I know this post is a bit ancient by blog standards, but I think it’s one of your most poignant – and I’ve been reading your thoughts for a while now.
I passed this nugget of a post on to my sister – 25 and in the midst of a meltdown – but mostly I take so much away from it for me: turning 30 in three months – holy shit – and blogging my way through accomplishing some of the last few items on my list before 30. Am I in crisis? I don’t know. Probably not. But it’s taken me until 29 to appreciate the kind of insight you’ve dispensed here and it couldn’t have come at a better time – I quit my flashy job as a magazine editor last week to do what I love, paid or not. It’s just the life I want to live right now and reading this post just made it all feel that much more… right.
Thank you,
sandy
Saw the title and had to comment. Bad career advice – Do what you love. The answer really depends on whether you want to be happy or rich, they very rarely coincide. Doing what you love might make you happy but I would guess that the chances of becoming rich are small.
There is a simple psychological reason, if you run a business doing what you love, you loose perspective of the important elements of running a successful business, marketing, costs etc. If you run a business for the sake of running a business, you would then logically account for such factors, make more money and be unhappy. The answer is somewhere in between I guess!
Great points, but I guess I would say “Do SOMETHING you love or at least enjoy”
Hi Penelope
I absolutely love this site/ blog (I’m new to this). Dont ask how I stumbled upon it but it was what I needed when I needed it. Thank you for all the great information. I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time, but I’ve been torn due to the increased pressure I feel to spend my time working towards activities that are profitable. However, your blog regarding the BS advice we all receive about doing what we love spoke to me. I am 28, currently work as a therapist, and am looking towards a more lucrative career, but I am convinced that blogging may actually help me in my daily struggle to get there. Thanks so much!
I am sorry but you are completely wrong on this. Way to continue to contribute to the endless worship of money by our society, and nice job telling people to forget their dreams! You can create your future the way you want it. No one should ever take a job just to take a job, ever. Dream the impossible dream, and put 100% into it, and you will succeed, but you have to believe that you can. This is the key, believing you can do it. By telling people that if they are having a struggle doing what they love to forget it, you are contributing to others failure and self-doubt. Shame on you! Nothing comes easy, you have to work to make your dreams happen, but make no mistake, you can make anything happen with self belief that you can, hard work, and a singular focus towards a goal. Money is nothing compared to the contentment from doing something that you are passionate about! I would argue that one can make a bigger positive impact on the world and the people around them by doing what they love to do. People will see your joy and fulfillment and hopefully be inspired to do the same. Putting money first is what has gotten us into the situation we are in now in our societies today! Money cannot buy you happiness. It just doesn’t work that way. You have to be happy with who you are regardless of possessions to be a happy person.
I love your comment.
thank you.
Sorry, this is very late but I just found this blog. I wanted to tell Josh: I completely agree and I couldn’t word it better than you. Reading the original author’s post outraged me. The author is a complete idiot who didn’t do any research on the subject. I am 27 yrs old and I just abandoned my Aerospace Engineering education to go back to school for Musical Theatre. I don’t know where my new field is going to lead me but one thing is for sure: I will never find out unless I try. I refuse to look back while on my death bed and regret that I never took the risk. Life is too short to be settling for the safe route.
Magdalena, I truly applaud and salute people like you, who dare to take a drastic turn, leave the common safest path to pursue the road less traveled for his/her dreams!
If I may know, how did you get the money/fund to pay for the new school/major? Was it from yourself, or helped by family members?
I am basically in a similar position like you,
and (surprise!) I’m thinking of taking degree in Music too, which has always been my childhood dreams and let me tell you how much I REGRETTED it so much by sort of ‘abandoning’ it just to listen to my so-called ‘super-pragmatist, playing-it-safe’ traditional Asian parents’ advices. As a result, at 28 yrs old now, I just quit from my 7-years family-business job (many would think I’m crazy, but they just don’t understand!), and now seriously thinking of nourishing my talent & passion in music, as I love music VERY much, as I’ve always loved composing too.
But yes, the money thing, and how to confront my parents (especially my father), are two main worries of mine now.
Hope you don’t mind sharing *how* you did it (ie: changing school/subject at similar age like me), and dealing with those two main factors above.
Thank you for being such inspiration!
Dear Magdalena,
thank you so much for your kind and detailed reply,
I truly appreciate you’re sharing your life story part to me.
Yes, I have Facebook, and I will add you shortly.
Yes, we should keep in touch throughout our adventure, as I’m sure it will strengthen both of us while taking this road-less-traveled yet exciting path! :)
Writer was probably horny when she wrote this post. Sex thoughts compete with everything she mentions – writing, pilates, sleep etc.
We are treading on thin line with this post. ‘We do what we love anyway’ is an open-ended statement. Yes we all do things we love, but how good are we is the question, which we ask ourselves. Some of us are professional enough that we can make a career out of it (arts, sports, etc); go head-on, get lucky, whatever. Some of us don’t think we’re just as good, have low-confidence, get affected when rewards/returns are not substantial. Self-realization is a good thing, but we are our best judge – as oxymornon-ic as it gets.
A smarter advice will be to tie your ‘thing’ with the ability to support yourself, a family and other goals/wishes which need some type of income – through your ‘thing’ or an additional source (job) if insufficient. Implicitly it means for us to get better at what our interest/hobby is. If we should convert our activity into a career is a question of getting assessed. You set key performance indicators or get assessed by folks you trust or an audience, may be. If everything falls into place – you get good reviews, you get the greens, there’s no need to do just anything.
Maybe your right Penelope, sometimes I also get confused of what really I loved to do. I have experienced many times about my work, I get paid for I am doing but it’s not actually what I really wanted to do. I often get jealous to other people that they get paid for what they really love and wanted to do. Why is it I can’t get on timing with this stuff? Anyway, Thanks for the post. At least I share my feelings towards this post. God Bless us All.
Personally I disagree with this. I worked in a hospital for years trying to help out and give back to the world and I hated every minute of it. My dad gave the whole “do what you love” speech. And I did. I quit nursing became a mechanic and now I build custom cycles and tune out peoples cars. I love every second of this, when i’m not working I’m still doing it at home. I get paid to be myself and the best part is, I don’t do anything I don’t like. I love my craft, and am doing what I love.
Everyone would like to be paid do what they love, but the reason why most of them aren't is because reality does not work like that. Whatever you “love doing” there will be thousands if not hundreds of thousands of others who “love doing” it just as much, and not everyone can be financially rewarded for it. Sometimes, what you want to do is not what you are best at, or perhaps you are good, but you do not have the business savvy or the right opportunities presented to make it work. Being financially successful at doing what you love comes down to many things other than you simply – well – doing what you love.
It is such a deeply ingrained notion of society that having a career we love is what we need in order to be happy/healthy/successful etc. In reality, I suspect there are very few people who fit this highly idealized image so perfectly. It seems if your career is not what you love, then you are going about life the wrong way, because that is what we have been told to do for a very long time. It becomes unacceptable to not know what it is that you love, to feel apathy or to love too many things. And it becomes a failure to be doing anything less than what you love (let alone hate).
I totally disagree with your assessment. The reason many successful people equate “doing what you love” with their success comes from knowing firsthand how much time and effort goes into mastery.
Young people falsely believe that success is inherit and that some people are “born” with an extraordinary gift or talent.
I recommend Gladwell’s book called the Outliers which destroys this myth. Mastery–often a precursor to success–comes from countless hours of work and dedication. It’s a lot easier to dedicate your life to something you love than to something you think you’re good at but don’t enjoy.
Work should be a labour of love. And while I agree that it can’t provide you with 100% fulfillment, neither can your relationships. Life is about balance.
I laughed when I read your comment on your love of sex not leading to a career in the sex trade.
Thank goodness, not everyone thinks like you or we’d have a non-existent sex toy industry. Widen your perspective.
Hi,
Might be I am too late to visit your blog, but its interesting. I have changed lot of job in past 5 years because I don’t love those jobs. At last I realized What I want and I am trying hard to get my dream job.
If we don’t love something who can we achieve the success ?
I enjoyed the sex metaphor and that made me think, why not do it? Sure it’s technically illegal, but not everywhere. Do it legalized in Nevada. Is it immoral? That’s up to you. Other people say it’s wrong only because that’s what they’ve been told growing up and are blind to see the big picture. As long as you take proper precautions (ie always using protection) and get yourself checked, you CAN have sex for a living and love it.
Penelope,
I will have sex with you. And I suspect I will be doing what I love.
Give me a jingle.
It’s funny how you make a big point of “not doing what you love” while pressing forward with the “do what you are”. Because if you do what you are, you WILL be doing what you love. Not what you LIKE but what you love, and we love the things we are good at… and what we are good at has roots in “what we are”.
If you must do something in order to get paid, why in the world would you do anything but what you love? (Not EVERYTHING you love, but at least one thing.)
The alternative is to do something you hate, dislike, or merely tolerate. That’s a hell too many people have already been consigned to in their work life. Perhaps that is why there are so many miserable people, such poor service, and poor quality of goods out there now.
I suggest you should do what you are (and you will love it.) :-)
John
I think it’s completely possible to do what you love in your career, but it will involve sacrifices that not many people are capable of making.
What you are proposing is living a life of mediocrity. If you’re not completely passionate about what you are doing then you are not doing it right. That’s how I gauge how successful I am in life.
Who we are is mostly about how we love.
Thanks for giving me some perspective I have been looking for.
Surely there is no iron cast rule. Some people fall in love with what they do – Gordon Ramsay wanted to be a professional soccer player but injury precluded that. He then took on cooking for pragmatic reasons and seems to have developed a passion.