Work should be fun

Our society glorifies suffering by telling people that they don't need to like their jobs, they should do them and get over it. I was told this once by a neighbour of mine and it has stuck with me. What stands out is that we don't like our jobs and wait for the weekend to be the people we want to be. For 5 days a week, you work a job that you hate so you enjoy the other 2 days with family, going out to parties or even managing side hustles. The problem is that we spend most of our time and lives doing the thing that we hate and console ourselves with the weekend. The language of the weekend is everywhere these days. You will see Kenyan influencers promoting it on the posts. You will see the excitement people have when the weekend is near and their despair when the weekend is over. Is that a life to live?

My thesis is that work should be enjoyable and you should always be looking forward to engaging in it. Even though it can be tough at times and you need a break, it is important to love what you do because that's what you will spend a majority of your life doing. I also don't agree with the critics that say you should do what you hate now so you can enjoy later. My question to them is what do they mean by enjoying later? Is that sipping margaritas on Tuesday on a beach somewhere? If that's what they mean then they have lost the plot. I would much rather do the work that I enjoy and continue doing it for the rest of my life. In my view, it is more fulfilling to optimise for a life of purpose than a life of materialistic chasing.

An important aspect to bring up is that we compare ourselves to the highest in our fields. In basketball, Michael Jordan was one of the best and he preached an insane work ethic that everyone must strive to have if they want to be the best. This goes for other great people like Steve Jobs, Mike Tyson, Bill Gates and so on. They had insane work ethics and they did nothing else but work on their visions of the future. It is very important to note these people loved what they did and had a strong grounding in what they did. Compared to Bill Gates, I am not as passionate about operating systems nor would I build a company to produce and distribute them. In fact, I would fail if I had that passion today because the market has already been captured.

He had two things on his side:

One, his timing was great as the personal computer revolution was taking shape. This occurrence was not of his own virtue and it would be a lie to say that he ignited the PC revolution. The truth is that it was going to happen no matter what, that's where the industry was headed, he just happened to be the one who made it to the top.

Two, he wanted it more than other people and placed himself in the right positions to increase his odds of success. Let's be clear, I am not preaching determinism and saying that he made himself successful. What I think happened is that he did the work, put in the effort and followed through with great strategies. I don't claim to know all that he did but I know that he did things right and they placed him on the path to success. He had the passion and the will to push through.

For any person who is made to feel that you should start a billion-dollar company, it makes sense why you feel that way. Tech billionaires are the emperors of our day and they are changing the world by shaping it in their own image. They look like gods and anyone would want that kind of power. The only problem is that they got there by doing what calm naturally to them. Bill Gates was programming when he was 10, Elon Musk built a game and sold it at 10 years old, and Michael Jordan made his commitment to basketball when he was 13. These people did not force themselves to be entrepreneurs or sportsmen, they chose to be. They followed what attracted them and played to their strengths. Elon Musk and Bill Gates were natural programmers with talent. Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson were natural sportsmen. The difference between them and other talented people can be put down to the amount of focus and commitment they had to their respective fields. They had talent but they also put in focus, commitment, strategy and discipline. In all of this, there is an element of luck and being at the right place at the right time.

You can learn how to code at 40 and build a company, but it won't be like Microsoft. The hard truth is that you probably won't be the greatest in the field, especially if the passion doesn't come from within.

With that said, it doesn't make sense to work on what's trending if you don't enjoy it. You will have much better odds in life and more fulfilment if you worked on what enjoy. You will have more life and more commitment to it. It's what your heart chose, why would you fail at that?