Ever thought of quitting your job to do what you love? Please don’t. At least not based on that single parameter. ‘Enjoying’ what we do has been touted as an important determinant of success. But is that really the case?
Think about it, anything worthwhile needs tons of effort, of the boring kind. Building a business, launching a product, developing something of enduring value, all demand the kind of work that we are losing patience for. Like a Samurai Sword that takes over a year to forge, there is no way to do it quickly.
The problem of romanticizing doing work that you ‘love’ and being ‘happy’ is made worse by the amount of stimulation we have at hand. Entertainment of any kind is always(literally) at our fingertips. This is destroying our ability to endure the kind of boredom and frustration that is essential for quality to emerge.
But I don’t care, one might say. My job is just a way to pay the bills. I’ll make a lot of money and retire to pursue my hobbies etc.
Presumably, you want a long and healthy life though. Here where science supports this idea of doing hard, boring things. The Anterior midcingulate cortex (AMC) is a brain structure that grows larger when we do something we don’t want to do. Things like learning a skill when you are already overwhelmed with work, going for a run when you are tired or resisting sugary snacks when that is the easiest choice. Quoting Andrew Huberman “The AMC is smaller in Obese people, it gets bigger when they diet, its larger in Athletes, its especially large in people that see themselves as challenged and overcome the challenge. And in people that live a very long time, this area keeps it size even in old age. In many ways scientists now see the AMC not just as one of the seats of will-power but perhaps the seat of the will to live.”
A bike ride or gym session that you enjoy, does not build the AMC. It is built by doing things you do not enjoy and therefore don’t really want to do. We must all do what nature demands of us. Don’t just do what you love, find challenges that call out to you and work on them everyday. That’s how they build the best Samurai swords.
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