“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” might be the most destructive career advice ever popularized. It sounds inspiring. It’s actually gaslighting.
First, it assumes everyone has a pre-existing passion that can be monetized. Most people don’t. Most people like a lot of things moderately, or don’t yet know what they’re capable of loving.
Second, it ignores economic reality. The advice works great if your passion is software engineering or consulting. Less great if it’s poetry or social justice. Telling someone to “just follow their passion” without acknowledging structural barriers isn’t wisdom, it’s privilege wearing a motivational poster.
Third, and this is what really gets me, it turns every hobby into a potential side hustle. Can’t we just enjoy things? Does your love of baking need to become a business? Does your weekend painting need to be an income stream? This ideology colonizes every corner of your life and tells you it’s all got to be productive.
The philosopher Josef Pieper wrote about leisure as the basis of culture. Not hustle. Not optimization. Leisure. He meant the ability to be receptive, to enjoy things for their own sake, to not turn everything into work.
Here’s better advice: do work that’s tolerable and pays your bills, then use your financial stability and free time to do what you love. Keep some things sacred. Keep some things just for you.
You don’t have to monetize your joy. In fact, maybe you shouldn’t.