dream job?

I read this article where the author worried about this growing sentiment among his peers to want to drop their current jobs and go in search of their one true "dream job", inspired by the life of Steve Jobs and often quoting his famous speech at the graduation ceremony at Stanford. He says he's worried because people might not be seeing the bigger picture and are just choosing to focus on the nice-to-the-ears ideas of going to where your passion lies. Sometimes, what's more material and what's more doable is to change your attitude about the job you already have. Also, sometimes, you idealize and romanticize the idea of your "dream job" and never fully prepare yourself for the "job" part of "dream job", since your head was just brimming full of the "dream" component.

Also, it doesn't always translate that if you like dessert, your career path should be something along the lines of a dessert magnate or a cake queen. Because having a passion for dessert does not mean you have what it takes to get into the dessert business. At the end of the day, it's a business, just one about desserts as the product. If you don't prepare yourself for the qualifications required for the business, you'll just find endless frustration, not to mention expose yourself and your family to a level of risk you weren't ready to take on.

I think those were wise words and should be said as a P.S. to all these quotations of Steve Jobs' famous speech. True, you shouldn't settle and you should always strive to find work that's meaningful to your life and to your heart. But I guess the bottom line is you should also put in the required effort to prepare yourself for that kind of work, and not just assume that having enough passion for it will be enough. Just like with romantic life, love just ain't enough.

Another point to consider is that usually, people think of setting up their own business as the automatic best way to have their dream jobs. This is such a mistake. As I mentioned, business is a field altogether that needs preparation and oftentimes, an appetite for risk - something not everybody has. More importantly, owning a business means commitment akin to the kind you dedicate to a spouse. A business that's entirely your own can require endless hours, every day, including the weekends. It means having no real vacation days, because even when you're halfway across the world, your business is still at the back of your mind. It means never "switching off" or "logging out" completely, sometimes mentally and always emotionally. It means being relied on by other people for their source of livelihood, and sometimes this pressure alone can feel like one million tons. Having your own business means being entirely accountable, all day, everyday. Seeing my dad take this on is enough to make me see the immense responsibility, commitment and dedication required, and I guess, by and large, that's one of the biggest reasons I feel unprepared as of now to launch my own thing. Even if it's about something I like.

The author ended with wishing his friends well- the ones you jumped off the corporate ship and chose to swim alone, carrying their life's passion with them. I guess I'd do the same if I knew these people. There's no one formula in life, I guess, and Steve Jobs' story is just one that happened to work out, in hindsight. It doesn't mean everyone should copy what he did and risk things they may not be ready to. Especially in this world economy. Maybe an attitude adjustment would do the trick for now :)