You have likely heard the saying that is often attributed to the ancient Chinese teacher and philosopher, Confucius, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.” It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you are doing something that you love doing, it most likely doesn’t feel like work. Of course, the day-to-day projects and tasks might be grinding and even difficult at times, but getting up every morning to do something that you really enjoy is an awesome way to face each day.
The modern view of having a dream job is not necessarily one in which you make the highest salary or have the most senior position, but one that you genuinely love, feel connected to, have a high level of commitment to, and about which you are passionate. When looking at the broad research on enjoying one’s work, being in love with work positively correlates to so many things such as engagement and job satisfaction. The emerging field of positive organizational psychology and behavior suggests that people who are excited to get up each day and do their work are likely to have higher levels of happiness in life overall.
On average, people spend 40 hours a week at work. Managers and executives who lead teams of employees spend approximately 55 hours or more per week on a wide range of projects and tasks. These hours do not include spending time getting dressed for work, commuting to and from work, or even thinking or planning for work in the upcoming day or week. When considering all the time we spend at the office and the amount of time put into it, we really should want to love what we do.
To this end, we have created a list of business owners and executives from all industries and job positions who let us know what pulls them out of bed each morning and how they feel a deep sense of connectedness to their work. From connecting with like-minded people in their industry to being their own boss and building up better business relationships to solving ever-present email problems, you will see what brings people some of the hardest working people the greatest rewards.
Our “Love and Work” presentation includes:
- Cathy McPhillips, VP of Marketing, Content Marketing Institute
- Kim Patel, Director of Global Corporate Strategy, VICE Media
- Ed Breault, VP, Head of Marketing, Aprimo
- Ahava Leibtag, President, Aha Media Group
- Samie Al-Achrafi, CEO, Marmalade Fish
- Sherron Washington, CEO & MarComm Expert, The P3 Solution
- Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Orbit Media Studios, Inc.
- Nick Harley, Senior Content Specialist, NeverBounce
- Amanda Slavin, CEO & Founder, CatalystCreativ
- Heather Fitzgerald, SVP of Global Strategy & Analytics, Just Media Inc.
- Dr. Tye Caldwell, Cofounder & CEO, ShearShare
- Rhett Power, Bestselling Author, and CEO, Power Coaching and Consulting
- Tabitha Britt, Managing Editor, Mighty Scribes & Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of DO YOU ENDO
- Jordan Paris, Podcast Host, Growth Mindset University