How to Love Your Career (Even When It’s Complicated)

I don’t know about you, but my twenties were filled with mixed messages about work and its role in my life. “Follow your passion!” “Work hard now, and enjoy your life during retirement!” “Find your dream job and you’ll never work another day in your life.” 

I constantly felt the pull between finding my “dream” job and recognizing that work is work, and merely how we pay our bills and survive. In the midst of the mixed messages and signals, real-life pressure kicks in: loans, rent, groceries, draining job responsibilities, and titles that don’t always match who you want to become or thought you’d be. 

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s normal for your career to feel complicated at best, the answer is yes. And you certainly aren’t alone. 

There are no right or wrong answers. The best part is that you get to choose! Either way, this guide will help you find more satisfaction and confidence in your career, whether you adore your job, tolerate it, or feel somewhere in between. Here’s how to love your career (even when it’s complicated). 

Define What It Means to “Love” Your Career

Career love isn’t one-size-fits-all. Somewhere along the way, we adopted the myth that “loving your career” is the same as waking up energized every morning, brimming with passion and a relentless desire never to stop working. Add a dash of personal fulfillment, and you have the recipe for your “dream job.” 

But for most people, especially early in their career when they’re discovering where they fit and what they want to do, these feelings don’t accurately reflect realistic expectations.

How to Love Your Career in Various Ways

What we should instead be discussing is that people love their careers in different ways. This looks like loving: 

• The work itself — finding a job that aligns with their strengths, interests, and the types of tasks they enjoy doing most
• The impact their job creates — using work as an avenue to help people, make a difference, or build something meaningful
• The lifestyle they have outside of work — choosing a career that provides a stable paycheck to fund hobbies, passions, and interests during time off, as well as the type of schedule work provides: flexibility, remote work, travel, or predictable routines 
• The benefits and stability — finding a job with solid pay, plus health insurance, medical, and other wellness benefits for themselves and/or their family members

All of these are valid, as is loving your career for a combination of these reasons (and more). Many twentysomethings feel unnecessary shame when their job isn’t their passion. But loving your career doesn’t require romanticizing every task or pretending work should fulfill every emotional need. It simply means recognizing what your career brings into your life and how it supports your values.

Find What Is Working (Even If It’s Not Everything)

When it comes to career love and hatred, it’s easy to fixate on the parts of your job that drain you. But loving your career is just as much about identifying and understanding what is working, especially if you are in a situation where you are unable to move companies or switch jobs for any reason.

Ask yourself these questions to reflect on what is working for you:

• What about my job supports my life and needs right now?
• What does this job provide? Genuinely enjoyable work? Funds to support my lifestyle outside of work? Stability? Opportunities? 
• Which tasks feel easiest or most energizing?
• What parts of this job help me grow?
• Who at work makes my day better?
• What would my life look like without this job?

Maybe you don’t love every task, but you love having evenings free. Or perhaps your job isn’t your calling, but the paychecks help you build savings. Or maybe you don’t adore your industry, but you appreciate the stability.

Sometimes appreciating these pieces reduces the pressure to feel unhappy simply because your job doesn’t feel like the “right” one for you.

Invest in Small Improvements That Can Have a Big Impact

Sometimes career love and satisfaction don’t require a major overhaul. Maybe your job is a good fit for you, but your workdays would benefit from some strategic tweaks. Small, practical changes like the ones below can change how you feel about your work and evoke more positive feelings about your career path in general:

• Strengthen your transitions into and out of your workday to help set firmer boundaries (this is a big one for those who work from home!)
• Rearrange your workspace or redecorate for a new feeling altogether
• Batch tasks so repetitive work feels less scattered and daunting 
• Ask for one new responsibility that aligns with your interests (or pursue a new interest if you work for yourself) 
• Delegate when possible, especially tasks that drain your energy
• Schedule microbreaks to reset your brain (bonus points if you take a walk or spend a few minutes outside)
• Add some novelty to your daily routine if work starts feeling stale (e.g., try something new for lunch, exercise at a different time, work at a new-to-you coffee shop if you have the flexibility)

These small changes give you a sense of agency and autonomy, and can sometimes be enough to reset any tough job-related feelings you are struggling with. 

It’s Okay to Love Your Job for What It Gives You, Not What It Is

You can love your work because you found your dream job. Or you can love the career path you’re on because it allows you to make a difference. Or you can love your job because it allows you to pay your bills on time, fund hobbies, and explore interests outside of work. 

Sometimes a job is a stepping-stone. Other times, it’s a safety net. And more importantly, sometimes it’s simply the right choice for right now. You can change your mind any time, after all!

And yes, sometimes a job is a paycheck that funds your passions, nothing more and nothing less. Your career doesn’t have to be your identity in order to be meaningful. And you can love your career for what it gives you, even when it’s complicated.

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