Joseph Campbell was a mythologist by profession. He studied and wrote about comparative religion and comparative mythology.

Because he was both a prolific and engaging fellow, many people know him through video and audio tapes with titles like The Masks of God and The Hero’s Journey. They also picked up his philosophy, “Follow your bliss.”

The idea that you should do what you love is powerful. But it’s led to a more specific and dangerous philosophy. That’s the one that says, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

It sounds good. But it’s an idea that has lured an amazing number of people into a frustrating and unfulfilling life.

Why? Because the fact that you love something doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be good at it or that you’ll be able to make enough money to live the life you want to live.

I’m all for doing what you love. I just don’t think it’s the only career plan that works.

Take Vince. For most of his career, work was the way he made money so he could fill the woodshop in his garage with great tools. Vince worked at a refinery to make the money to follow his bliss. He’s happy.

Or, take Dan. Dan loves to play music. He was good enough to make a living at it, but he decided he would love music more if he didn’t have to go to work every day and do it. Besides, he didn’t like the late hours and life on the road.

Dan works as a computer tech during the day. He plays music in his off-work time. He’s happy.

What works for you? It might be following your bliss into a career or an industry you love. But there are lots of people out there who’ve fashioned happy and successful lives, doing something at work besides the thing they love most.

If you’ve got a job where you can make enough money doing something interesting with people you like, that’s a pretty good deal. You don’t have to love it to like it.

So follow your bliss, for sure. But think about whether your job should be part of your bliss or a way to make the money to follow it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 7:44 am and is filed under Tools and Strategies for Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.