“What Would You Do For Free, All Day Long?”

This question was posed in an email I received recently. It struck me, for a number of reasons.

People who know me well, sometimes ask, “Dave, why do your work so hard! You certainly don’t need the money, but you continue to be one of the busiest people I know. What causes you to keep it up? Why don’t you take more time off?”

The response has been the same over all the years people have asked that question. It’s always been this, “I get up every morning and do my hobby. I have the privilege of working with some of the smartest people in the world, addressing some of the toughest questions. I can’t imagine anything more energizing or fun!” I then add, “And they pay me exorbitant fees to have me do this, what could be better?”

Sure, there are parts of any project that are tedious, there’s a certain amount of work that’s not exciting or invigorating, but if I don’t do those things, I wouldn’t be able to do the work that totally captures my imagination. The “work” has never been a grind, but a source of inspiration, growth, and constant learning.

You will seldom see pictures of me in exotic places, doing exotic sports–though I do go to those places and participate in some interesting sports, and they are an important part of my life. Just as spending time with family, friends, doing local volunteering and other things. This article is not about work/life balance, frankly that’s not an issue with me.

The pictures you will see of me are most often in a conference room with a group of people. At a white board, in discussion groups, or having coffee in a quiet one on one. My “happy place” is doing my hobby every day, working with fascinating people doing exciting things. I do it for the privilege of working with those people and, selfishly, how it fulfills me and my dreams. And this work happens to enable me to meet/exceed my earnings goals.

And this has been a consistent theme through my career. From an entry level sales position, through promotions into all sorts of senior and leadership jobs, I found myself pursuing my passions. Each role had their hassles, and there were occasional dark moments, but the thrill of doing the job drove me. In each role, I couldn’t imagine not doing what I was doing. In each role, I sought to grow and do more. And all these choices were purely selfish, they gave me great joy!

And most of the people I deeply respect are driven by similar ideals. They do the work for the sheer joy, contribution, learning and growth. And they also make very good money, but that’s not the driver of the work.

As I look at too many people in business–whether in leadership roles or as individual contributors, too many are not doing the things that bring them great joy. They are going through the motions, they are doing what they have to do to earn the money they want. But too often, they aren’t doing the things they want to do.

In the past few years, I’ve take to asking people the question, “Putting money to the side, if you could choose to do anything with your time this week, this month, this year, would you choose what you are doing now?”

A good number respond in the affirmative. They are passionate about what they do.

Sadly, too many don’t. They describe all the things they dislike about what they are doing now. They describe where/what they would like to do, the types of work that would bring them great joy.

Too many respond, “I do what I do now, so I can earn the money to do what I really want to do….” Some are working for a goal a few years out. Some use the job/comp to enable them to do the things they want in their non-work time. All want to be somewhere else, doing something else…….

But they are not!

Selling has never been an easy job! Leadership is not an easy job! Why would anyone choose to do these jobs if they didn’t have a huge passion for doing the work? Why would anyone invest time in something that takes so much of their time?

How would anyone expect to be a top performer, generating the commensurate comp, if they weren’t driven to learn, grow, adapt, and excel in the job?

The extraordinary high turnover, plummeting tenures are an indicator that people don’t have a passion for the jobs they hold. Too often, it’s the company that doesn’t value people or create a work environment that captures people’s attention, providing development and growth paths. Often, it’s the individual that is just earning a paycheck, moving from paycheck to paycheck, but never developing in the profession.

There are plenty other ways to make money, why not choose something in which you have a passion?

The question, “What would you do for free, all day long,” is not an a question about comp. It’s a question that challenges you to find your passion and do it. The money will come.

Afterword: Here is the AI generated discussion of this post. It’s actually one of the more fascinating discussions the tool has created. One annoying thing, however, is the speakers tend to “complete each others sentences.” Enjoy!