First of all, people can no longer (if they ever could) separate out their work and their ‘life.’ Work is such a central part of who we are — and consumes so much of our energy, spirit, time — that it IS our life. But so are entertainment and family and sleep and anything else we can factor in. Simply put, it’s all just our life, and things ebb and flow with importance through the course of the day.It’s the reason we’re doing eBay at 2 p.m. on the office computer and answering emails at 9:30 on a Sunday night. It’s our life. And it’s OK, really, that it all gets thrown into the big blender and mixed together. We talk about movies at work and we talk about the frustrating sales call over dinner with friends.
And when you see it through that prism, you start to realize why loving what you do for work is so critical. It’s more than just something you do for 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week — it’s half of your waking hours. Half of the time you’re connecting with others. More importantly, it’s a major part of who you are. How many times have you heard the question, ‘What do you do?,’ and immediately answered ‘I’m in marketing,’ as opposed to ‘I go to movies?’ That’s because work defines us, makes others think about us in certain ways.
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