what / you / like / do .

Do what you like.

Isn’t it a common advice you’ve been given by many different people in your life? Nobody doubts how true and important it is to do what pleases and makes you happy. I won’t be the one to deny it. But let’s think a little, shall we?

When I was younger, my dream job was to be in a band. As a teenager, the idea of composing songs, playing in different places, meeting new people. I’m pretty sure I was not the only one to dream about it.

I didn’t follow this path. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I tried for a while and noticed that I obviously lacked talent despite all the stamina and motivation. 

In my short and limited career of a guitarist in a punk band in the 90s, I realised that there were times I didn’t really enjoy the process. There were days that the last thing I wanted to do was rehearse. Rare but also true, there were times I didn’t even want to play.

The band was over but I still kept in my mind something that would help me measure how much I liked a job. I thought that my ideal job would be the one I’d long for on weekends. I had a romantic notion that I’d be a bit sad on a Friday because I’d miss work. I thought that I would daydream about work on a Saturday afternoon.

Now, this is not quite what happens in real life, is it? And there’s nothing wrong about it, to be honest. If you can’t wait for the weekend to come, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you hate your job.

Obvious as it may sound, I’d say that just as important as doing what you like is liking what you do. If you get to the bottom of it, you’ll see that your dream job could be the one you have now, even if you think it’s an impossible notion this one. But looking from different perspectives and making an effort to enjoy more what you already do, you might be able to invert the order of things.

You might find the 'a dream come true' might as well become 'truth becomes dream'.