Do you love what you do?

A famous someone once said this.

"The day you wake up not wanting to go to work is the time you should change your job."

Going by this rule, Singapore's unemployment will probably hit an all-time high.

Most of us should probably stumble upon this question at some point in our lives.

Should we do something we are good at, or do something we love?

For some of us, these 2 are mutually exclusive cases.
I love to hip-hop, but I suck at it, and doing it full-time will not feed my family in the short-term.
I am good with numeric stuffs, which explains why I am working in a number-crunching job, but it doesn't neccessary mean I want to do this for the next 10 years.

There are always outliers like Mr Hippo who ends up with a dream job - something he loves and also something he is good at, to the point that work doesn't feel like a job. His company gives him flexible hours and a wonderful pay, and he can wakeboard during hours when the most of the other people are rushing stuffs. ^_^

But what about the rest of the common folks?
To survive, most of us do what we do best. Most of them take up a job that is related to what they study.

Many of us will probably know of accountants who do auditing till unearthly hours, IT people who are on standby 24/7, and work on weekends.

How many of you actually love what you are doing?
Are you holding on to the job that you do not love, just because of the pay?

Every now and then, we read in newspapers of bankers/lawyers/scholars who "downgraded" to become teachers/social workers/ice-cream entrepeneurs etc... These guys have the balls to go against Singapore's social norm - going for higher pay, and I really have to take my hats off to them.

A research paper entitled "Optimum Strategies for Creativity and Longevity" showed a few findings.
(1) For every 1 year worked beyond age 55, one loses 2 years of lifespan on average.
(2) Employees retiring at age 65 receive pensions for only 17 months, on average, prior to death.

It doesn't mean that all is lost for disgruntled salaried workers.
Something can be done - Its just that most of you are resting on your laurels, slacking after office hours to enjoy a "well-deserved" rest.

So how do you do it without losing your backup job?

Quoting from Jim Rohn's mentor:
"Profits are better than wages. Wages will make you a living, profits can make you a fortune."

My take is this.

Build up both wages and profit at the same time until you are ready to let go of the wages.

Its definitely better than counting down to Fridays on workdays and dreading Mondays on weekends.