“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” goes one of those sayings whose origin we don’t quite remember, but which has been seared into our memories. However, it seems that if you love your job, you won’t earn much (or at least not as much as you deserve).
How do we move from “duty” to “love”?
At the beginning of the 20th century, while the United Kingdom, Prussia, and the United States were rapidly transforming at the pace of industrialization, the daily lives of millions of people were marked by extremely long hours in noisy factories. Amid this social and economic upheaval, the German sociologist and economist Max Weber popularized what he called the “work ethic.”
Weber drew inspiration from Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism that inherited the principles of the Lutheran tradition but emphasized predestination and divine grace as moral guides. According to this view, diligent work and personal success were not merely means of survival, but signs that one had been blessed with salvation and God’s grace. Therefore, every hour sacrificially dedicated to work was a kind of visible testimony to divine election. Working with discipline and dedication ceased to be merely useful and became a moral, almost sacred, calling – a way of honoring God through daily action.
This shift in perspective regarding work had consequences far beyond religion. By reinterpreting daily labor as something intrinsically valuable with spiritual connotations, especially in an era when no one wanted to work grueling hours in unhealthy factories, work ceased to be merely a means of subsistence and became a symbol of integrity, discipline, and morality.
Much later, as manufacturing gave way to the service sector and intellectual work, the corporate narrative changed. Previously, the most that could be asked of them was discipline and dedication; no one was expected to “love” or be thrilled to work on an assembly line. But from the 1970s and 1980s onward, the idea began to be promoted that workers could (and should) find meaning, passion, and pleasure in their jobs.
In recent decades, largely due to the expansion of the technology sector, this discourse has intensified even further. Large corporations began offering attractive benefits, from free meals to gyms, recreational spaces, and a “fun” work environment. And they did so not only to attract talent, but also to further integrate work with personal life.
Obviously, I don’t dispute that these advantages can make certain jobs more attractive in the short term, but by blurring the lines between work and personal life, their main objective is to increase the level of time, dedication, and commitment. As a result, people work longer hours with the idea that ” if you love your job, it’s not work .”
The trap of loving your job (too much)
This year, Glassdoor conducted a survey in which 74% of workers admitted that they did not love their job and 93% indicated that they stay in their job only for the stability it provides, but they do not like it.
Obviously, it’s a rather bleak situation because it means a huge number of people are spending eight hours a day (sometimes even more) doing something that doesn’t fulfill them at all. However, as every coin has a silver lining, there’s also some “good news”: these employees are likely to earn more because they place greater emphasis on their salary.
MarketWatch pointed out some unexpected economic consequences of loving your job. For example, some people love their jobs so much that they haven’t gone on a job interview in a decade, which could cause them to miss out on exploring new opportunities (including career growth) and potentially better pay.
Another common effect is the tendency to work more overtime without adequate compensation. When you enjoy your work, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that overtime isn’t “work” but almost a pleasure. This translates into longer workdays and, often, a tacit waiver of salary renegotiations. In fact, loving your job can also reduce the motivation to ask for a raise or better working conditions, because someone who is passionate about their role feels they already receive enough emotional reward.
In many cases, this combination leads to a decrease in perceived value in the labor market. Companies can exploit employee dedication and satisfaction to demand more without offering more in return. Paradoxically, the more you enjoy your work, the less likely you are to protect your financial interests.
The delicate and difficult middle ground: enjoying the work without forgetting that it is work.
The key, as with everything in life, lies in finding a middle ground, a balance between personal satisfaction and financial reward. It’s positive to enjoy what we do, to feel useful, and to give meaning to that part of our day. That passion keeps us motivated and prevents getting up every day from being a chore.
However, this search for meaning cannot lead us to forget the practical function of work: achieving a certain level of economic well-being. Every hour we dedicate is valuable, simply because it is an hour of our lives that we will never get back, and it is only right that this value be recognized. Loving our profession should not make us more vulnerable to exploitation or lead us to accept working conditions far below our skill level and abilities.
It’s important not to be seduced by the siren songs that a century ago extolled the work ethic and that today glorify the love of what we do, but which in reality benefit those who control the means of production more than those who actually produce. As I’ve written before: choose a job you love – and you’ll keep working for the rest of your life.
Therefore, beyond personal satisfaction or professional growth, we must ensure that our time, effort, and talent also translate into financial security. It may sound more mundane, but it is equally essential, because loving what we do only makes sense if it also allows us to live with serenity and stability.
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