YOLO – You Only Live Once has been used an excuse to do silly things and it’s usually taken as the worst interpretation of the Latin Carpe Diem. However, it’s still true and valuable when you think about what you’re going to do to support yourself for the rest of your life.
So, many think that doing what they love is an easy way out that will ensure they won’t work, but ‘play’ and still make a living. Is it true? Maybe it is if you just scratch the surface of the saying and think about it shallowly.
To state the obvious, you’re going to be more motivated to do something you love than anything else. Your passion will keep you going and push you to work harder…sometimes.
But the truth is that if you, for example, write as a hobby, you enjoy it more than if you write as a job. Even though you start with the same enthusiasm, doing things in a certain manner (in order to get paid for what you do) will most likely make it less pleasurable.
If we think about writing, it’s not enough to enjoy the process of creating something out of nothing, of putting the words on a piece of paper (probably on a screen nowadays).
Anyone can have a blog as a hobby, but those who want to make a living out of it have to think about their audience and what their demand is.
I’ve seen many of classmates start our journalism course with passion and enthusiasm. They obviously loved a part of journalism or at least this idea they had in their heads about what it was supposed to be.
However, throughout this year and a half, they’ve found out that being a journalist doesn’t only imply interviewing and writing. It involves a range of activities you have to get a hang on and you usually don’t enjoy all of them.
For example, maybe you’re comfortable sitting in a radio studio producing a show, but you don’t like going in town and try getting people to talk to you on a cold winter morning. Or maybe you are very opinionated about politics and can write subjective pieces about it, but you’re scared to ask a question when you have a real flesh and blood politician in front of you.
If you want to be good at your job, then you must face the fact you’re probably not going to fully enjoy everything your work implies. You often have to think about the needs and wants of others, a matter that you never take into account when you do something as a hobby. You also can’t fail at doing something you enjoy just for the sake of it. If you want to be good at your work, then you have to be objective and scrutinize your work over and over again. In any creative industry, there are people who just can’t handle someone telling them they’ve messed up because every piece of art, every piece of writing, every photograph seems to be so subjectively scrutinized.
If you want to be good at your work, then you have to be objective and scrutinize your work over and over again. In any creative industry, there are people who just can’t handle someone telling them they’ve messed up because every piece of art, every piece of writing, every photograph seems to be so subjectively scrutinized.I think the best way to look at it is trying to be realistic and think clearly about your dedication to the subject you love.
What do you think? Is it cynical to think this way or just realistic? Did you choose your subject/work based on what you love or just on the skills you have?
Worcester Student Life 