If You Don’t Feel Rewarded by Your Career, Find Another Job

“If the work you do doesn’t excite you, if it doesn’t make you feel something, then it’s a tall order to expect that it will do the same for someone else.”

— Srinivas Rao, An Audience of One

Growing up, my father was always at work. I would leave for school before he was up and he would come home after I was asleep. On weekends, he watched golf. I don’t know if my father loved his job, but he found something in work he never found at home. He was still working full time when he died of a massive brain hemorrhage — in his office — at the age of 76.

The old truism of “If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life” is crap.

The old truism of “If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life” is crap. I’m sure my father felt like he worked every day. He was a doctor. His day involved long hours, weekends on call, endless paperwork, reading medical journals to stay current, and very little vacation time.

As he reached his 70s, I always asked when he was going to retire, or at least go part-time. He said he would look into it. Eventually, I stopped asking. His big concession to age was to work out an agreement with the V.A. hospital to no longer be on call. Instead, he would work a regular 40 hour week — at the age of 76. Incredible.

I never understood why he worked so much until I became a university professor. It wasn’t for the money, though he wasn’t shy about buying a nice home and car. Aside from those luxuries, however, my father wasn’t into material things. No, my father felt rewarded by his work.

As a university professor, I finally understood this. I hated grading papers but felt gratified to help students improve their written expression and organization. I was happy when someone said I made them a better writer or gave them the confidence to write freely.

When these students went on to good jobs or graduate school, I felt like I was making a positive difference in the world. You don’t get much money for teaching, and no one likes grading papers, but you stay because you make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. And, it doesn’t hurt your ego to be treated as an expert in your field.

As a doctor, I’m sure my father felt similar rewards — but on a greater scale. My father received respect and admiration from patients weekly, if not daily. He not only changed lives, but he saved lives. Maybe not in the literal sense as a surgeon does, but as a psychiatrist, he helped guide people through troubled times. And while working for the V.A. hospital, he helped veterans cope with their addictions.

“If you feel rewarded by your work, you’ll enjoy doing it until the day you die.”

I think the reason my father never retired, let alone worked part-time, was because his job was so rewarding he couldn’t leave. He was addicted to the prestige of the position, the ego massage of being an expert, and the reward of making a difference in people’s lives.

So I think the new work truism should be “If you feel rewarded by your work, you’ll enjoy doing it until the day you die.” Literally. And if you aren’t in a job you want to keep working in until the day you die, then find another job.

Kyle Crocco is a Content Marketing Coordinator at BigSpeak speakers bureau, a reformed academic, and the fun-loving, lead singer of Duh Professors.