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“Doing What You Love” Doesn’t Lead to a Fulfilling Career.
Half of marriages end in divorce, proving that love isn’t the best way to choose a partner… or a career.
Romantic love is the foundation of a successful marriage and the same thinking often supports career choices. The slogan “do what you love” is the bedrock of career change advice, suggesting that love of an activity is the key to a fulfilling career, in the same way that love of a person is the key to a successful marriage.
When 42% of UK marriages end in divorce, the logic no longer stacks up. Our sense of love isn’t very good at knowing what is best for us, otherwise we’d all choose the right partner straight off the bat. Why should our love for an activity take us automatically to the right career, when marriage proves our love senses are not very accurate?
Arranged marriages exhibit far lower rates of divorce, as low as 6%. While we must consider many cultural and legal factors which may influence this low rate, it’s still very, very low. These marriage statistics suggest that using feelings of love to decide life-changing courses of action appears to be a pretty poor tool.
Dan Lok nailed this point in a YouTube video on the subject of finding a fulfilling career. First and foremost, do what…
