Steve Jobs was wrong. Finding work that you love might be the worst thing you can do
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Although the precise attribution of this quote remains elusive, the sentiment makes so much sense it can go unchallenged. No one wants work that is drudgery, where you count the minutes until you can leave every day. But loving your work may not always save you from it being work.
The pressure to love your work has been heating up this century, arguably starting with the seminal 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University by late Apple founder Steve Jobs. He encouraged the assembled graduates, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.” As college professors, we see a direct throughline between this statement and the students who shuffle into our offices to confess what they feel is a great failure: they haven’t yet identified what they might love to do. They feel aimless after graduation, sure that they won’t do great work, and might not love their lives as a result.
When we talk to students hoping to fall in love with their first job or working adults who still haven’t discovered their passion, we try to ease the pressure by dispelling some enduring myths that exist about loving work.
You should know what you love starting in childhood
Steve Jobs said, “I found what I loved to do early in life.” Yet, for every story of someone who always had a calling toward computers, music, or marine life, and pursued their passions as a career, there is someone who stumbled into their calling as a matter of happenstance.
There is no single, superior way to find work you love, and often it is a combination of idiosyncratic factors that make people feel they love their work. In short, we support Jobs’ recommendation to “keep looking,” whether within your current field or in other fields, to find work that seems worthy of your time and effort.
Doing what you love is a surefire way to make more money
So often people equate satisfaction at work with earning potential, as in the book title, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. Yet there is reason to believe that when you love what you do, you may not seek to maximize your earnings from work because you are more concerned with doing the work for its own sake.
In fact, one study found that people believe it is fair to pay people less who love what they do compared to those who do not. We advise those who do work they love to push back on the possibility that an employer may exploit their passion with less pay.
When you do work you love, life will be better
In general, people are happier when they love their work. However, there is evidence that this happiness can come at a cost to yourself and others.
When you love your work, it can be harder to maintain healthy boundaries between work and life. Failing to maintain these boundaries can lead to exhaustion and burnout, and personal relationships can suffer. Like any love, love for work can be all-consuming, so be careful work does not consume you.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do
The claim in Jobs’ speech makes intuitive sense, which explains why a study of managers found that they believed employees who loved their work performed better than those who did not love the work, even when this was not the case.
In fact, people who love their work may not always do a better job, and they are more critical and selective of both the work they do and with whom they work. You can perform high-quality work regardless of whether you love it, so don’t confuse passion with performance.
Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life
As alluring as it sounds, most people will not love what they do every minute of every day. In fact, expecting to love work all the time may result in disillusionment when the work falls short, even causing people to leave their jobs. Instead, look for work that has moments that feel like something like love, along with moments that might not.
Finding work you love does not guarantee a fulfilling life, nor does settling for jobs that you merely don’t hate. Rather, people should weigh what they get from work against what they give to do that work. Instead of seeking work that you love, perhaps instead you should seek work that uses your talents toward a worthwhile purpose for which you are treated and paid fairly—in other words, work worth loving.
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