Do What You Love

Though the money may not follow

Something I love: a bit of spring nature in my Oakland neighborhood, captured on my iPhone on January 28.

Today is supposed to be about love. Many of us dislike Hallmark holidays and being told to express love on a specific day. But I don’t mind turning it around so it’s not about romantic love — which is just one small part of the love in our world.

Share the Flower Child love

Here’s another kind of love: love for our vocation.

If you know me, you know that I always have a lot of things I want to say. And I love nothing more than thinking about those things and writing about them here.

In fact, I love it so much that I do it to avoid things that I’m “supposed to” be doing. I feel immensely lucky to have something I love doing so much, and to have a platform like this one that enables my doing it.

Thanks to all of you for indulging and supporting me in this endeavor! I love it when you read my newsletter, and I love it when you share your thoughts with me. If you feel inclined, I’d also love it if you’d spread the word and share Flower Child with your friends, family, colleagues — even casual acquaintances. The more, the merrier!

But I promise I’ll love you whether or not you click Share.

Surprising things that love can save

And I’ll continue loving writing, which is both my vocation and my avocation. It’s an enduring love.

Vocational love is powerful. It’s so powerful that it saved a dying bookstore chain.

Even if you prefer to support local bookstores, the story of Barnes & Noble, which I’ve shared before, is enlightening. In 2019, new CEO James Daunt took the helm of this floundering chain, which no one thought could ever compete with the seemingly invincible Amazon. He did so well with it — despite the pandemic — that Barnes & Noble is opening 30 new stores this year.

His secret ingredient? Love. Daunt refused to be part of the publishing game that most bookstores were playing, in which publishers dictate which books are displayed and stores often sell books at a discount. Instead, he let employees feature the books they loved, following on his long history of creating beautiful showcases for books that he loved. He avoided discounts, believing books have significant value and are not overpriced.

Daunt’s first bookstore, a lovely place for books. Source: Ted Gioia on Substack

Ted Gioia, the author of the article that tells this story, rightly concludes that the main ingredient in the chain’s revival was love. This applies to any other field, he says:

If you want to sell music, you must love those songs. If you want to succeed in journalism, you must love those newspapers. If you want to succeed in movies, you must love the cinema.

Do what you love

Back in the late 1980s, when a lot of us were heeding Joseph Campbell’s call to “follow your bliss,” others were lured by the siren song of Wall Street. It was common then, and remained so for decades, for ambitious young people to go into investment banking. I’m sure there are some who love that work, but many more were following the money and came to regret the ridiculous hours, cutthroat culture, and lack of anything resembling a satisfying life. The industry’s appeal crashed along with the economy in the wake of the Great Recession.

What does that say? That following what you love is a better recipe for happiness than following the money. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s usually not as simple as suggested by the title of the 1989 book Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. And it’s beyond frustrating that our economy rewards some jobs more than others irrespective of how valuable the work is or how hard people work at it.

But my favorite inspirational career coach, Barbara Sher, qualifies the book’s advice well: You really must do what you love. You may not be able to make money at the thing you love, but whether or not you can make it a career, you must do it. That’s your gift to the world. You need to share that gift.

What the world needs now

That gift is embodied in this song about love from someone who shared his gift for and love of music with the world, sung by a woman who did the same:

I couldn’t agree more. Love is what the world needs now. Love is more than just the secret ingredient in the realm of work; it’s the key to every part of life. It’s much bigger than a bond between any two people. Love connects all beings, even across distance and time and beyond death.

Given the importance of love, it’s something to celebrate all year, not just on Valentine’s Day. But if we must focus on love today, let’s ensure that includes love in all of its many forms.

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For those who prefer not to think of today as Valentine’s Day, you’ll be glad to hear it’s also World Bonobo Day — in honor of our closest relatives, the “make love, not war” primates.

Source: Friends of Bonobos

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What do you love doing? Have you been able to spend time doing it? Let me know in the comments!