Unshakable Definition: Do it because you have to

This headline is deliberately provocative; sorry for that.

Go Against Conventional Wisdom

It seems to go against the conventional wisdom of all those Forbes and Harvard Business Review guys, right? We must add fun to our work so that we want to go to work every day and ultimately be wildly successful entrepreneurs who rarely, if ever, fail. But, alas, I would like to say that in many cases, work is not what I want to do. This is what I have to do. Let me explain.

About three years ago, I enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at Southern College, enthusiastically trying to change attitudes and perspectives in rooms full of bright young kids. I dreamed that those “Oh captain, my captain” moments would be like Dead Poets Society.

Looking For An Easy Way Out

And given my rich education with wonderful teachers, it was easy to understand how I was lost in a dream.

However, what met me was a different story. Not only were the kids looking for the easy way out, the teachers were forced to do the same. It was incredibly depressing to see such low standards for critical thinking, analysis and perseverance. And what I found was this common rhetoric that being happy at work is the most important thing. You should want to do this daily. If you’ve been doing something you didn’t want to do – oops – better jump ship!

Started To Doubt It

Well, naturally, I began to doubt it.

I think striving to be happy in every task and every moment during every day is just creating unrealistic expectations.

And that makes a lot of people throw in the towel early. Our generation has been one of the most fickle of all time. Do not misunderstand me; I love that people are exploring and looking for new opportunities, but if the rhetoric is that you have to be happy with every aspect of your job or it’s not worth doing, you won’t find any worthwhile work. The point is, if you want to be successful at anything, you have to do it, even if you don’t want to. It’s called having a strong work ethic.

I’m not saying that you can’t strive to be happy at work. Actually, I think it’s a wonderful goal.

But as a CEO, I Can Tell You That Not Everyday is Happy

Looking at your three-year forecasts in a tedious, lengthy Excel spreadsheet doesn’t make most people happy. Firing people doesn’t make most people happy. Finding out that a strategy isn’t working doesn’t make most people happy. All of these things are complex and stressful. So why am I doing this job? Because I have to. I wake up every day and know that what I do helps the business grow, something that makes people’s lives more fun and functional, something I excel at and love. But this love is not always about being happy.

How to Follow a Firm Definition

So if I had any advice for both CEOs and kids, I would say that you should find something you like and then stick with it even if you don’t want to; The desire for success should be like a fire inside that pushes you towards unhappy times and tasks. It all comes down to a firm definition: you must do what you have do even if it’s not always what you want make.