> It's not important to do what I like. It's more important to do what I don't hate.
This one has started to dawn on me. I'm never going to love my job as much as I love my personal projects, so a job that I don't get very excited about but doesn't drain my energy is better than one that I get somewhat excited about but does drain my energy (not that it's impossible to have both, but it's rare)
This is a very pessimistic long-term view, in my opinion.
Life is extremely, infinitesimally short. If it's at all possible for you, you should try to spend as much of it as you can doing things you love. I know many people can't, but it's bleak to just give up and permanently settle, I think. (Especially if you don't currently have any dependents who rely on you; it changes the equation if you do.)
I don't look at it that way at all. I'm choosing to conserve my finite energy for the things that matter most. It's all about priorities: of course I would like to have a job that I'm both excited about and not too stressed about, but I can be happy and fulfilled with one that simply doesn't dominate my life (in terms of time or energy, because those are separate things), because my job is not my life. And being uncompromising about having a job that really excites you can force you to make all sorts of other sacrifices (time, stress, risk, maybe even things like money and lifestyle), which is where the prioritization comes in.
Maybe. I'm definitely not necessarily saying it in terms of work or career or anything like that. Just in general, I get a little depressed at the idea of just slogging through most of one's hours for most of one's days in existence.
It seems to me that many if not most people I meet fall into one of two camps.
The folks that just don't care at all and do the minimal amount of work they can get away with not to get fired.
The other side is folks that care so much about it that they spend so much energy on as to ultimately be unhealthy for them and also making it worse for the rest of us (not taking vacation, unpaid overtime etc.
It is very rare to find people that care 100% while at work. But after ~40 hours each week that's it. Sure I'll stay later for that one meeting that's sorta important and needs to start at 4:30p.m. But you better not try that every day from now on. Want me to be on call for a fixed rate that has nothing to do with my salary? I can't log an hour for a 5 minute call at 1am and I can't take time off in lieu? Good luck getting me on that rotation!
This one has started to dawn on me. I'm never going to love my job as much as I love my personal projects, so a job that I don't get very excited about but doesn't drain my energy is better than one that I get somewhat excited about but does drain my energy (not that it's impossible to have both, but it's rare)