Why You Should Love Your Job

Last night I watched the movie "Clerks" -- the first one not the sequel, "Clerks II," that's out now. For those of you who don't know the premise of this movie, it's about two guys, one who works in a convenience store and one who works in the video store next door. Both are 22 years old. The convenience store clerk, Dante, seems unhappy with his lot in life. In spite of this he does his job fairly well, even filling in for a sick co-worker on his day off. The video store clerk, Randal, seems more accepting of his life circumstances, yet does his job poorly. The question I was left with was this: Is Dante truly discontent with his job or is his unhappiness related to other people's expectations for what he should be doing with his life? His girlfriend, for example, keeps urging him to go back to school.

I was thinking about this when I visited my colleague Alison Doyle's site, About Job Searching, this morning. This quote nearly jumped off her blog: "Doing what you want to do is more important than doing what you, or others, think you should do ..." Alison has written a wonderful and thought-provoking article about following your dreams. I think it should be required reading for anyone embarking on the career planning process. I strongly believe, as Alison does, that it's all about what you want to do, not about what you should do.