We shouldn't love our job.

One of the most damaging things we hear nowadays is that we should "be in love with our job" and we should "do something we love".

Umm, no.

When did we get the idea that we should love work? Alain De Botton brought this to my attention in his book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.

I think it stems from our cultural fascination with optimism, self-improvement and self-indulgence. Oprah Winfrey stuff.

By definition our "work" is just that - work. It's not our dream and it's not an amazing thing which will make us self-actualized. It's a job and it sucks. The weekends are awesome because we don't have to work.

That's the way it is and that's the way it has been for thousands of years of history. People don't like doing work. Why do the experts say we have to "love" our jobs?

This idea that we should love our jobs leads to people soulessly, cruising from job to job because they're never "happy". Young people get depressed because they think they're supposed to love their jobs - so they quit or go back to school or demand raises and other indulgences.

Now get off my lawn!