Confucius says, “Find a job you enjoy and you’ll never work a day in your life.”[1]
You know what I says to that?
Bull-loney.
I enjoy being a father. I enjoy being a husband. I enjoy being a composer.
And I work EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. at them.
Sometimes we get caught up in the fantasy – yes, fantasy – that if we find the dream job it will seem effortless because we just love it so much. Someday we’ll reach some sort of career paradise when every day we arrive at our work and smile and whistle and skip through the tulips, all the while getting paid for it.
If you’ve chosen music as your major/profession because you enjoy it so much that it doesn’t seem like work, I’m afraid you’re in for a rude awakening.
At least, if you want to amount to anything.
I’m afraid that as a society we’ve come to regard work, especially if it’s hard work, as something to be avoided, something that is opposite of the good life. But if we take the time to examine the truly happy people in our lives, we’ll come to see that work is something they embrace, not evade. Where there is idleness, there can’t be true happiness.
When you find a job you enjoy, you also want to do your best at it. You want to push yourself to higher and higher standards of excellence. More times than not this means you’ll break a sweat. Some days you’ll even break down in tears. You’ll work, day in and day out.
But you’ll take pride in it. You’ll see that so much joy comes from working hard. You’ll learn that real satisfaction is found in thoroughness. Industriousness is one of the key requirements to living after the manner of happiness.
Find a job you’ll enjoy, and you’ll want to work every day of your life. The labour will be sweet, and even fun.
Work and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive.
To sum up, I believe that the English minister and philosopher L. P. Jacks put it much better when he said,
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between work and play.
[1] More likely than not, it wasn’t Confucius who said this, according to Quote Investigator. Read more here.
Artwork from here.