There’s potential danger in placing too much importance on your career, research shows.
Discussions around the role of work in our lives are frequently divided into two camps. “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”, one side proclaims. The other: “A job just needs to pay the bills.”
The first school of thought is an example of “intrinsic motivation”. Here, the enjoyment of work for work’s sake is motivating enough, rather than relying on external rewards like money or praise. And while it’s great to love your job, recent research suggests that it can become problematic when intrinsic motivation is regarded as morally superior to other motivations.
While there are many benefits to being intrinsically motivated, there are also downsides to placing moral value on this way of working.
“When a neutral preference becomes charged with moral meaning, social scientists call it ‘moralization,’ Mijeong Kwon, assistant professor of management in organizational behavior at Rice Business, recently wrote for The Conversation. “Once intrinsic motivation becomes moralized, loving what you do is seen as not only enjoyable but virtuous.”
Read the complete Fast Company article BY Eve Upton-Clark: https://www.fastcompany.com/91449522/the-case-for-not-loving-your-job
