The Biggest Job Lies: "You Need to Love Your Job" - Ep. 44

Ryan: Aloha folks, we are your hosts, Ryan, and Hannah Maruyama on this podcast. We share the fundamentals we've discovered and the mistakes while self-educating getting work, building businesses and making money. We'll tell you how to make it happen. No degree needed. 

Hannah: Hey folks, welcome back. We are always happy to have you on the podcast with us.

And we wanted to let you know that once a week, Ryan and I send out a newsletter and this newsletter is full of cool stuff, companies that are down credentialing, valuable courses that Ryan and I have found to be useful and learning new skills that are really employable and it demands. Books that we've read different sorts of resources, just stuff that you're definitely gonna want to see, and you can sign up for that newsletter for free at degreefree.co/signup.

So run on over to the site and do that 

Ryan: Right on. And let's get into today's show. Today we are going to be talking about the biggest job lies. This is gonna be a new series that we're doing, or this is the first series that we're doing. Um, Just talking about the biggest job lies that are out there . At first, we are going to be talking about the lie that everybody that you've heard, this, that you need to love your job.

Hannah: Just take a hatchet to this one. I hate this one 

Ryan: And yeah, so let's get into it. We hear all the time that we need to love our jobs. Right? This is one of the biggest lies that we've been told, but there's a quote, like love what you do, and you'll never work a day in your life. We've heard everybody has heard that.

And I mean, it's been attributed to so many different people over the years.

Hannah: We were talking about it before, before we started recording and we've heard it attributed to, you know, off the top of our heads. I don't know, five to six different people.

Ryan: Yep. Yeah. That's just not true. Right. The reality is the vast majority of people work so they can. Afford to do stuff outside of work. You know, those stuff, those things that they get afford to do is like, I don't know, pay for your mortgage and pay for your groceries and feed your kids. 

Hannah: This to me is a very American, uh, point of view, this particular job. You need to love your job, um, because you have to be nimble.

You have to be able to not be worrying about missing basic necessities to feel this way. Also, I think that this is something that we have the luxury of buying into that people maybe in other parts of the world do not. And so I think that that's why this is so prevalent in the US I think that other places do not necessarily have this issue with people getting so hung up on needing to like, feel like their work is their whole life and their whole being. 

All right, so if you love your work and you're fulfilled in it, that is fantastic. I mean, that is a great thing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And we are super happy for you, and I'm sure that people around you are. That's a huge, that's an amazing thing. 

Ryan: Yeah. Like you can definitely still love your work, right?

I mean, there's nothing wrong with loving your work. If you want it to be X your entire life. and now you are doing it and you're super fulfilled doing it and you love it. And you're energized every day going to work and you're energized when you leave. That's awesome. Amazing.

Hannah: I hope that for everybody, because why wouldn't you, right.

If you're going to have to work in order to exist, why wouldn't you want somebody to be happy while they're doing it?

Ryan: I am stoked. I'm stoked for all of those people. I wish I don't everybody. 

Hannah: Yeah

Ryan: And, if you also get paid a lot of money, whatever a lot of money is to you. If you also get paid a lot of money to do it. 

Even better. 

Hannah: Fantastic.

Ryan: Even better, right.? 

Hannah: We're thrilled for you. 

Ryan: Yeah. That being said that's normal. That's definitely the minority and almost nobody, but it's definitely the minority. Right. A lot of people are. Not going to work because it fulfills them and fills up their cup. They're going to work because it fills up the bank accounts.

Hannah: I just realized too. And as we were talking about that, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. The one common trend to the people I've heard that attributed to they were all people that owned and founded companies. It was not people that necessarily worked in those companies. 

Ryan: Yeah I'm not sure. I said. I forget who I heard that as soon as like, I don't think it was a company owner though, or a founder, 

Oh you don't think 

Hannah: So I feel like I've only heard it attributed to people who were CEOs or founders of companies.

Ryan: If you guys know for sure who said that for the first time, leave us a comment. Yeah. Degree free.ceo.

Hannah: Educate us. 

Ryan: Yeah, you can find us on Tiktok or on YouTube. You can leave a comment and let us know.

Yeah, that is, that is definitely one of the things that a lot of people will say, when we say this is like, well, you know, you should love your job. Or sort of like, you can't love your job. Like, no, no, no, no. You can love your job and it's fine.

Right. And there's nothing wrong with that. It sounds really good. 

Hannah: Yeah.

Ryan: Yeah. I think the lie that one of the lies that they use to support this lie is a job satisfaction is greater than money. 

Hannah: That one is probably the most poisonous I think because if you buy into that, that creates all sorts of downstream problems, right?

If you buy into the fact that you should not make enough money to live in the way that you want to live, because you need to work a job that you like, even if it doesn't pay for you to be able to afford rent or food, you're going to be really, really miserable. 

Ryan: Well, I sort of don't want to stop there. I agree with you.

But when I think of this, the job satisfaction is greater than money. This coming from people. This is usually coming from people that are,

Hannah: That can afford to say this.

Ryan: No, this is coming from people that, that are close to you. That have the best intentions, right? They just want you to be happy. Family, friends, they're coming from loved ones, usually because nobody else is gonna preach to you about being fulfilled in your job, right?

Like nobody else is going to preach that to, you know. You wouldn't care that this person is preaching to you about this being greater than money. Who are they don't know you, but the people that are close to you do know you and they just don't want you to be miserable with your life. Right. But, and I think that this could be, I think that job satisfaction is super important or I mean, it can be. Sure.

And there's nothing wrong with being satisfied in your job, but it should, if the statements really should be like, Job satisfaction is important. As long as you're getting paid enough money to right to exist, or to eventually create financial independence for yourself, right. Eventually you're going to get old and you're going to retire and you're going to need to save enough money to do so.

Hannah: You know, it just occurred to me actually is the people who do say that you're you need to love what you do more than you need to love money. What I will say about that is it usually does come from people who are on the better side of their work life too, though. The people who are closer to retirement, it is older family members that say that, that I've heard that said to me, and that I've heard, say it to you.

It's people that have already made their money too. Right. So it's easy for them to say that. But, and who knows if there's, who knows if there's wisdom in that or not, but at the same time, they were able to make it through, they paid their bills, you know what I mean? And now they're to the point where they're going to be okay, and they're going to be secure.

And then they turn around and say, oh, moeny doesn't really matter, but they already have it. So. 

Ryan: Sure. And I think one of the biggest things to remember here is going to be like work as a business transaction. We say this all the time, right? Like you're providing a service. And you're getting paid for that service.

That's that's what work is. That's what having a job is. Right. And as long as you can keep that straight, it's like, okay, can you be satisfied in your work and also get paid a decent amount of money to do it? Yeah, definitely. Right. But is the job satisfaction greater than money. 

No,

Hannah: No 

Ryan: No it's not because

Hannah: You can't afford to pay your bill. 

Ryan: Exactly. And eventually, eventually it'll catch up to you, but you'll quickly hate and resent the job. If you can't afford your bills.

Hannah: I think, that that happens more if the job is also really demanding. Um, I think that people will maybe with lower impact jobs, maybe don't feel that as much, but people with really high

and I always say this, but it's, I feel like women fall prey to this a lot more than men do. I think women do, they tend to take lower paying jobs because they buy into this. I know I have at different points in life where my job, like how I feel about what I do matters more than how much I make.

But then I'm faced with the backend consequences of not being able to afford to live how I want to live and it's very emotionally draining. And then you do quickly resent the job that you have because you can't afford to put a roof over your head and put food on the table. And it becomes very stressful and very tiring and you very quickly, very quickly. It turns to resentment. 

Ryan: Yeah, definitely. 

I just don't think that you should back yourself into this corner, right? Don't back yourself into this corner job satisfaction may or may not be important. Okay. If it is important to you it's awesome, just make sure that you have. The money coming in.. 

So the next 

Hannah: thing is usually when we say this, we get the responses so we all need to hate our jobs. And no, you don't need to hate your job, but you don't need to love your job, what your job needs to be able to do for you because it's a transaction, is it needs to be able to make you enough to exist and it needs to be able to make you enough. That if you do want to retire at some point, you're able to save for that eventuality when you stop working.

And if you intend to work forever, that's totally different, but you do need to be able to cover your living expenses because otherwise you are going to be tired, stressed out, and it's not going to be fun. And you're not gonna love that job. If that job sentences you to be able to not do the things that you'd like to do in life, including like eat decent food and have a roof over your head.

Ryan: Yeah. That's one of the biggest things that we hear all the time is when we're getting push back from this, when people don't like what we're saying. They're always saying, so we should just all hate our jobs. 

No, no, no. 

You just don't have to love it. That's all, right. Okay so, but if you are miserable at your job, then there are some underlying issues that you've got to deal with.

Right. And you know, you've got to figure out the why. Why are you miserable at that job? 

Hannah: What's funny too is if people trace it back sometimes, the reason people are miserable at their jobs is because they feel like they have to love their jobs. That's one aspect of it.

Like they feel like they have to love their job. So it robs them of money and energy and other aspects of their life that they actually love, like their families or their friends or travel or doing activities or hobbies that they like. And so it's funny because the very people who say what? So like, we don't need to, need to hate our jobs, but a lot of times those people are the ones who were at their jobs, because they feel like they have to love it and it's robbing them in other areas because they're taking less money for that.

Ryan: Sure. And so what I'm just saying is that you have to identify what it is. You have to identify as a why you're hating it. And it could be a multitude of factors. I'll just quickly go over some like it could be, you don't really like your boss, right? Or you don't like the way that you're speaking with your boss.

I mean, this is way too many things to get into today's episode. You know, quickly, you might not like your boss or the way that you speak to your boss, you might have like your coworkers or the way you speak to your coworkers, the way they speak to you, right? Yeah. You might like to cue me. You might not, you might not like the fact that you are. Always struggling to pay the bills. Right. And you're not getting paid enough. 

Hannah: You might not like the schedule or that it's night shift. 

Ryan: There are so many reasons and you need to figure those out and then, and then deal with them. Right. And the way that you can deal with them is maybe finding another job.

I mean, that might not be the first thing that you do, but, you know, eventually when it goes down that road, you know, that's where it leads. I think the biggest thing here is, if the biggest lie is that you need to love your job, then like what's the antidote, like what's the secret sauce here?

And the happy middle ground I think is contentment. It's liking your job. Right. Getting paid a decent amount in order to do this service that you're providing, 

I'm liking it. Right. 

So with contentment, I'm being content in your work and in your life a few years back when Hannah and I were still dating, we were in San Francisco and we took a taxi. and there was a Sikh man driving the taxi and we were in the back and we were off to a restaurant or something like that. And they thought for some reason, he looked back in the rear view mirror and he's just like, you guys want to know the secrets of life we were like 

Hannah: Absolutely

Ryan: Sure, sikh taxi driver man.

Hannah: He was very wise looking 

Ryan: And he just says the word contentment. He says secret to life is contentment. And he goes on to explain how he is content driving a taxi. He is content with his wife and his kids and his life. Right. 

Hannah: And he seemed to really mean it. 

Ryan: Yeah. And you know, he's like, I like my job and I'm content with it.

Right. And he's like, it pays enough. To pay the bills. Right? My wife's makes enough to pay the bills.

You know, he never talked about like, loving the job. He just liked it. 

It was fine. Right. But it allowed him to live the life that he wanted outside of work. Right. And so I think what a lot of people need to remember is that the work that you do, doesn't define you. 

Right. And this is like super difficult, right? Like when you're meeting somebody for the first time, you're always going to be like, hi, I'm Ryan, and they're going to ask you, oh, what did you do?

Right. And they're asking you a specific question. It's even, you can answer when you say, you know, like, oh, I helped degree free people get jobs.

Right. Okay. Sure. But how do you do that?

You know what I mean? Really what most of the people are asking, what do you do? 

They're asking, what do you do for a living? What do you do for work? What is your job 

Hannah: Then what's your society title?

Ryan: Right, exactly. And so it's difficult to separate who you are as a person from your job. Right.

But it's the things that you do outside of work and the things that you do outside with the money that you make from work. That defines who you are, right. And it defines the way that you live your life. And in order to enable yourself to live a good life outside of, in order for you to love your life outside of work.

You don't have to love the job. You don't have to love the work. 

Hannah: What if people introduce themselves differently? What if instead of, uh, when someone asks, what do you, do you respond with what you like to do most instead of your job title,

Ryan: I'm going to sort of start-

Hannah: I'm gonna start asking people instead of asking, what do you do? I'm gonna start asking people, what do you love? 

Ryan: Really? I'm Ryan and I run a ten second forty. Oh, yes, you are fat.

Hannah: Is it a measurement of distance? 

Ryan: Oh yeah. Sorry. It's like here as an athlete, it's like, uh, a sprint, a 40 yard dash. 

Hannah: I think you married me before you saw me run. 

Ryan: Yeah, it was like a-

Hannah: So I think the problem is that as Americans, we are conditioned to put work in front of other things mentally we're supposed to put out.

As our definer, as the thing we love, we're supposed to stack it in front of other things. And I think the solution is unstacking those things. And then putting them back in the order that they belong, which is put what you actually love. And I mean, your friends, your family, the things that you do in your free time.

The things that you do in not your free time while you're at work, you know, the things that you prioritize actually, um, that you were not necessarily obligated to do, put those things back where they should be, which is above work, because you should love those things more than work. 

You know, unless for some reason you love your work more than those things, but for most people, they love other things more than they love work.

So put work backward belongs in the stack of things that you love or that you care about. And then from there that will really help you put work back in its proper place so that you can stop putting more value on it than there actually is, which is work is a thing is a business transaction between you and an employer that allows you to put those other things ahead of work.

That's what it is. And we need to refocus as, and put work back there. Yeah. 

Ryan: Yeah. It enables you to do the things that you love outside of work. Yeah. Right. And that's also, I did want to touch quickly on the people that, you know, do start out, hating their job. No, none at the time of the people that have been in there for like three years or 10 years and absolutely hated and can't stand it.

And you figured you figured out the why you can only resolve it by quitting. I thought it was people that just start this job sucks and I hate it 

Hannah: It's always the worst in the beginning, by the way. 

Ryan: Yeah. You know, over time you can learn to like it, depending on what is going wrong, depending on what you hate about it.

Right. And that's why it's so crucial to identify why you don't like it, but if you don't like it, because you're not very good at it,

Hannah: That's fixable

Ryan: Exactly. Even just keep improving and improving and improving and every day you're getting better. And then pretty soon you will get better and you will like it, or you might like it, right?

Like if you're wrestling with a Excel spreadsheet all day and you don't know how to do it. Right. And okay. It takes you. You know, a full day, what your job thinks should take two hours. So like this job sucks. I hate it. But then, you know, two weeks go by three weeks, go by and 

Hannah: a little faster,

Ryan: Yeah, you're a little faster.

And it's like, okay, now I can do it now. Right. I just say, I think that you can learn to like your job as long as you do what you said, which is you put it in its right place in the hierarchy.

I'm here because it enables me to do things that I want to outside of work.

Hannah: Before that I need to outside of work, like eat and have a place to sleep .

Ryan: Sure. Great. 

Hannah: And we just need to put work back where it belongs, which is not ahead of everything else. 

Ryan: All right. And that's pretty much it for today, guys.

That was our first episode in this series that we're doing and we're starting out now. The biggest job lies. If you guys. Have any questions or comments, you know, feel free to leave it in the comments in YouTube. If you have supplies of your own. Um, please let us know and we can look into them and see if we can do an episode on it.

Yeah. And if you guys liked what you guys heard, uh, and you guys want to support the podcast, please like, and subscribe, and if you guys could leave us a review, that'd be awesome. 

Hannah: Yeah. And if you want to get more degree free during the week, which who doesn't, uh, we release a weekly newsletter that has degree free news, like companies that are down credentialing.

Job tips, job resources, courses that we found really helpful resources, books, just all kinds of stuff. You're going to want to run over to degreefree.co/signup to go ahead and get that newsletter delivered to your inbox once a week. 

Ryan: All right guys, that's pretty much it. See you next time.