I do not want to calculate: is it possible to love your work and how can you cheer it up?

Finding a job for love is a great success. However, it often happens that routine tasks lead to emotional exhaustion and a complete reluctance to do anything. At such moments, the person begins to blame himself for not starting the job he loves, but choosing a more promising profession instead.

Imagine that you loved to paint as a kid and you thought you could do it better than anyone else. But your parents imposed the idea that this profession will not pay a high salary, and therefore, you always decided to go to work as a financier to get a stable income. But then this business does not bring any pleasure, despite the prestige and good earnings.

But if you think now that only work in connection with hobbies can bring pleasure, we hasten to fret. At least because in this case you could lose your hobby. In general, psychologists say that it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “work” and “hobby”, combining them only in exceptional cases.

Psychoanalytic psychologist and career counselor Anna Chukseeva says about whether it is worth choosing a job “for love” and how to fall in love with your job again.

Anna Chukseeva, psychologist and career counselor

Why is work so often boring and indifferent?

Apathy is an important sign that something is happening to a person. Perhaps this indicates a certain situation. So overall I like the job but there is a difficult project, a conflict with someone or temporary stress. Let’s look at two common reasons why this happens.

If you chose a job just for the money, you wouldn’t love it from the start. It’s hard to force yourself to do something that isn’t interesting at all. In this situation, some begin to procrastinate, others “run away” to bodily symptoms, and one is constantly upset and does not admit to himself that he does not like what he is doing.

I liked the job in the beginning, but over time you ran out. This may be due to an irregular schedule or overtime. Most often this happens when physical fatigue accumulates. The body tells us that it is time to rest, and apathy acts as a sign that the soul has gone into energy-saving mode. As a rule, apathy spreads to all areas of life and goes side by side with physical weakness.

Is it necessary to choose a job “for love” and not “for convenience”?

Yes and no. Of course, what you do should be interesting because it is a guarantee of motivation, development, career growth and mental health. Relationships with convenience work (that is, “I work here only for money”), as a rule, result in burnout, depression. Professional awareness is very important for each of us. When we don’t choose our job, we experience a great internal conflict.

At the same time, there is another extreme – what does it mean to work for love? Love is a relationship between people. If a person transfers their relationship to the object to the business, that is a bad strategy. There’s a famous saying “married to work” and that’s a bad example of working for love, because first of all it’s making up for a problem in a relationship.

Work should not be a love that absorbs work situations and brings them very close to your heart, sacrificing your health and loved ones for projects.

A healthy relationship with work is the desire to learn and learn new things, to feel the importance of one’s work, and to one’s personal value in the profession.

Can you be successful in a job you don’t like?

If you absolutely hate work, the desire for success will most likely lead to a major crisis. At work, a person spends enough time, so you should think about what you want to be at work.

But if you’re neutral on the job, with personal and business boundaries, chances are good if you’re not quite in love with the job, but at the same time don’t feel that the tasks are being overtly rejected. The first is about work, business relationships, boundaries and common sense. So it will be easier to build the boundaries between working and not working.

Secondly, from this point on, there are development options on how to make the job more interesting: change functions (for example, become a mentor in a company or develop yourself as a manager), get additional training, etc. But it is also important to analyze in general what is disliked about work – the tasks themselves, individuals, company.

5 Effective Ways to Love Your Job

Keep track of your physical condition. No job is enjoyable when one is tired. Evaluate how fit you are: do you get enough sleep, do you eat on time, do you have time to go for a walk or go to the gym?

Appreciate what you have outside of work. Make sure you move on to something nice, like cuddling a cat, knitting, playing sports, or meeting friends. Choose something that really gives a feeling of joy and peace.

If work is very stressful and constantly annoying, be sure to include physical relaxation: walking, sports, dancing. This will help relieve tension.

After looking at the body, you can begin to analyze the situation (not vice versa!). First of all, ask yourself this question: why am I working at a job I hate? Where do I want to be in 5-10 years and how will my current job help me get there? The answers to these questions will either reveal the purpose of the study or make you think what really keeps you going.

If you have to stay where you don’t like, consider how you can change your current job to make it more comfortable. Sometimes we’re talking about physical comfort: put a photo on your desktop, bring a warm blanket. Engage in supportive rituals such as taking short breaks, leaving the office whenever possible, and praising yourself often for your achievements.