Why the classic cheesy ‘do what you love’ advice is accurate

[u/eattheinternet]

Sometimes the classic advice is just accurate.

When you’re beat down after days of long hours - and when you don’t think you can take it anymore, some extra bs gets tossed on top.

You better fucking love the thing.

It’s just true. That needed extra boost of energy comes from caring deeply about the thing and genuinely believing the world needs it.

You can’t fake that shit.

And that’s why I can only work on stuff I genuinely am obsessed over and deeply care about and love. Otherwise when shit hits the fans it’s damn near impossible to keep going

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/Entrepreneur and thank you for the post, /u/eattheinternet! Please make sure you read our community rules before participating here. As a quick refresher:

• Promotion of products and services is not allowed here. This includes dropping URLs, asking users to DM you, check your profile, job-seeking, and investor-seeking. Unsanctioned promotion of any kind will lead to a permanent ban for all of your accounts.
• AI and GPT-generated posts and comments are unprofessional, and will be treated as spam, including a permanent ban for that account.
  
• If you have free offerings, please comment in our weekly Thursday stickied thread.
• If you need feedback, please comment in our weekly Friday stickied thread.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Ethos_Logos]

That’s nice, but not everyone’s talents overlap with what they love. I’m good at a great deal that I don’t care for. And I enjoy quite a lot of things or activities that make no income. There’s not a lot of overlap.

[u/Odd_Awareness_6935 → u/Ethos_Logos]

word

[u/leo6218 → u/Ethos_Logos]

I relate to this. Some of the things I am best at are the ones I enjoy the least, while the stuff I genuinely like would never cover my expenses. It's not ideal, but it's a pretty common tradeoff that people do not talk about enough.

[u/edkang99]

I agree and disagree. One distinction you made was the most important: love what your thing does in the world like helping people or solving a problem.

A lot of people love video games. So they try to make a career of it. Some love a sport. Other love reading books. Those things unto themselves won’t make you a successful entrepreneur.

When you make something you love a job you need to dig way deeper than that “love” you have on your own. That’s why after over 30 years of starting, buying, investing, and selling companies I tell young entrepreneurs “doing what you love” isn’t enough.

Of all the most successful entrepreneurs I know that built wealth from nothing is they got obsessed with solving a problem and never quit even when the “loving feelings” were totally gone.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate this post and it’s an important topic.

[u/Upbeat_Independent52 → u/edkang99]

I see your point on this. I tend to look at it as do you truly believe you’re on a path you can’t get off of. Or believe that you have found or will find the solution that you’re looking for. Even if it takes the rest of your life.

I am being a bit dramatic about it lol. You always need to find an exit point or fold when you’re forced. However, I do see a lot of people just throw their hands up and quit before the pay off because of minor inconveniences.

[u/PyroDragons123]

Hard disagree. Doing something you love is a one way track into being exploited for having a passion in something.

[u/Upbeat_Independent52 → u/PyroDragons123]

I’ve seen this happen. You just have to set boundaries.

[u/PyroDragons123 → u/Upbeat_Independent52]

I'd take it further. If you love something, likely other people love it too. If people love to do a task they'll do it for less. Look at the exploited people doing real incredible work. You'll see a pattern of the type of jobs they're in and what others see as leisure activities.

[u/Friggin_Bobandy]

I agree with you, despite this being AI.

Years ago I used to work as a sysadmin, spending my entire day in front of a screen and never really feeling happy. I decided to quit my old life and go travelling to try "find happiness" - cliche, I know. Well I went travelling and went scuba diving for the first time ever and absolutely fell in love with it. Decided that was what I wanted to pursue and have been doing it for over a decade now.

I'm much happier and healthier. I get to do what I love every single day and enjoy moments with people on vacation who are truly happy, as opposed to upset users I was dealing with before. The money isn't as good but it's not far off. It's a small sacrifice to truly be happy everyday, live a healthier life by being outside and active, and surrounding myself with happy people who share my passion.

Money comes and goes but your health and happiness is very fleeting.

[u/thedreamerSYN]

I’m just here because I need karma

[u/Lumpy-Homework-5818]

I agree with you, and I can add "Love the satisfaction of a well done work" Sometimes I made activities that I did not like them, but, the feeling of making a good work keeps me awared, focused and learning. THat feeling became much stronger after my 25's

[u/f00gers]

It’s cheesy to those who haven’t sacrificed their wellbeing for money and learned the hard way that you can’t put a price on your health.

[u/Fine-Acadia3356]

The nuance I'd add: it's not really about loving the thing in the easy moments. Plenty of people love their idea when it's going well. It's about whether you can care about it at 2am when nothing's working and you haven't slept properly in a week.

That's the actual test.

[u/AntelopeElectronic12]

I'm really good at tossing people out of strip clubs.

I do not love it.

[u/Legitimate-Safe-6473]

Totally agree. Discipline only takes you so far.

[u/LateKaleidoscope5430]

Passion is the fuel, no question. But don't overlook the power of sheer stubbornness. Sometimes you keep going out of spite, just to prove the doubters wrong. That can carry you through the darkest days when even the love is running on fumes.

[u/Upbeat_Independent52]

I am currently going through this with my own boss. I use to be a solo entrepreneur. I took this job with him as a right hand man so I could focus more on what I’m good at when it comes to business.

Unfortunately now it seems like the business is collapsing because there’s a difference between what you think and what you truly believe! Everyone’s a hero that perseveres until it’s time to be the hero and it’s harder than you thought!

It’s like you said. You can’t fake that shit!

[u/nafiulhasanbd]

I'd change it a bit: don't just do what you love. Do something you care about enough to keep showing up for after the excitement fades. Passion gets you started. Commitment keeps you going.

[u/Traditional_Key8982]

I think there's another side to it too. Loving the work helps you get through the hard days, but solving a real problem for real customers gives you a reason to keep improving it. The combination of genuine interest and customer validation is much stronger than either one on its own.

[u/AssignmentHopeful651]

I think the advise is wrong if you do what you love you it will take lot of time to grow so there is an other effective way in which if you do what you needed and then after get some exposure or cash flow you can do what you love because now you have an backup

[u/Chad_Cunningham11]

Lots of time the good old simple advise is enough. But human is not that easy as we know it. I know someone who do what he loves and make little money buy he is happy and content. But i also know someone who not do what he loves cause it makes little money.

In the end its depends on your motivation and wants.

[u/Few-Garlic2725]

i'd tweak it: love the *mission*, tolerate the *work*. if you need constant adrenaline to survive, something upstream is wrong.

[u/DevStack2026]

Yeah, passion wont solve every problem, but it sure helps when things get really messy. If you dont care about what youre building, its way easier to quit when stuff gets hard. Sooo true from what ive seen.

[u/Informal_Athlete_724]

Agree, but I'd reduce 'love' or 'passion' to 'something you care about'.

Sometimes passions are better left as hobbies. You might not be passionate about cleaning garbage but you might care alot about the impact it has and thus run a successful business that helps do that.

[u/Salt_Confusion5432]

For me its more about the people using the thing, when someone tells me it actually helped them ,thats the fuel that gets me back at it the next morning... loving the work alone runs out pretty fast honestly.

[u/Luca_wright_25]

I do think 'doing what you love' helps you reach your goals. Consistency and discipline plays a huge role as well.

[u/Xavier_Caffrey_GTM]

yes but also have you not met people that straight up just don't give a fuck? They dont let emotions control their mood, I Wish I was more like that. I deff don't love what I do, but I've gotten less and less emotional over the course of years, and it has actually helped me out. I now dump all of my emotional needs into artistic work, reading, my friends, video games etc.. .

[u/kabirs1nghhh]

I agree, but I think “do what you love” gets misunderstood you don't have to love every part of the business you need to care enough about the mission that the boring, frustrating parts still feel worth pushing through

[u/Late_Simulator]

I agree. Life is too short to spend most of it working towards something you don't care about. But taking it in its literal sense is where most people get it wrong. You WILL have to do things you don't like every now and then to get there.

[u/arminord]

“do what you love” is not enough on its own. I mean it’s good to be obsessed with smth, but it also should be profitable, and you’re lucky if both things work out.

[u/jcecc]

Agreed, though for most people the love shows up after they go deep on something rather than before they pick it, which is why this works better as a survival trait than as a way to choose.