Find a Job you Like and you Will Never Have to Work a Day (Essay Sample)

‘Find a job you like and you will never have to work a day’
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Owing to economic demands, the majority of people are working tooth and nail to seize the most valuable career opportunities today. The value of an individual’s career is, however, the equilibrium of various factors and one must choose the most perfect combination of these factors if they are to build successful careers. With regards to the above statement, a revisit to one of the most popular quotes is essential. ‘Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life’ is among the widely applied quotes from Confucius. Confucius, in this famous quote, is emphasizing the importance of pursuing one’s inborn interests as far as career choices are concerned. In this paper, I put forth a cycle that reaffirms the position of the quote. I propose that passion and commitment lead to success. In turn, success results in enhancement of motivation which consequently boosts passion and commitment thus forming a cycle. As it is always the case, the elimination of a single step would definitely break the cycle. Keeping in mind the above, it is with no doubt that pursuing one’s passion is a prerequisite for complete career success.
In a more literal perspective of the quote, waking up every day to engage in activities that one does not find appealing can be compared to being in prison. Mondays are especially mundane to people who are in careers that are not inclined to their interests. The trouble of waking up from an enjoyable weekend to perform unappealing tasks is the simplest way to illustrate the importance of finding a job one loves to do. On the other hand, the person in the perfect career can be described as being in a continuous spree of enjoyable life. Hence, they hardly feel the burden imposed by their career. Perhaps this is why the famous Chinese writer asserted that such people would never work a day.
The motivational theories offer a more complex application of the quote. The Two-Factor theory by Frederick Herzberg provides a perfect example. Herzberg proposed two categories of factors that influence employee motivation: motivators and hygiene factors (Ghazi, Shahzada, and Khan 445). According to the theory, motivators are those factors whose presence causes satisfaction and if absent lead to dissatisfaction. Such factors include the availability of opportunities to advance, autonomy, sense of importance in the organization, etc. On the other hand, the hygiene factors do not necessarily lead to job satisfaction when available but cause dissatisfaction when absent. Such factors include among others salary, paid vacations and paid insurance. Going back to the beginning of this paper, economic demands exert considerable influence on the choice of career. However, from the two-factor theory, salary or good pay does not necessarily lead to job satisfaction. It follows that one may be receiving a large amount of money at end month but all through the month, they are struggling to stay in the job.
Abraham Maslow came up with the most flexible theory; The Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. This theory is flexible because it is applicable to diverse fields, be it health care or management. The theory included five levels of needs starting with the most basic (physiologic needs) to self-actualization. He stated that for one to move to a higher level need, they must fulfill the most basic or lower level needs first (McLeod). At the top of the hierarchy, is self-actualization. Self-actualization can be defined as a level when an individual has fulfilled everything they aspired to. By compa...