Keep Looking, Don’t Settle

Last week I found out that one of my former teammates had resigned.

So I chatted to him about it, jokingly asking if he was leaving because of specific funds which are notorious for being difficult, naming them one after the other.

“It’s not due to any particular fund,” he explained. “I just feel that I want to try something different, because this is my first job after graduation.”

“So work is fine, people are awesome,” he said reassuringly, “but I’m feeling adventurous.”

“Ah well, you’re right,” I nodded in assent. “You should try something else if you think you haven’t found ‘the one’ yet.”

“Yup!” He laughed. “Reconciliations is definitely not ‘the one.’ We get along fine but I feel something is missing between us.”

“There is no chemistry, huh?” I added with a smirk.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “The spark just disappeared after a while.”

This conversation reminded me of a recent episode of Parks and Recreation.

Joan Callamezo, a Pawnee local celebrity, gives a speech and says: “People often ask me, Joan, how do you do it? It’s simple. I love being on TV.  I’ve known what I have wanted to do since I was 10 years old. That is the key to living a good life. If you don’t absolutely love what you do with a true passion, then what’s the point in doing it at all?”

This makes April Ludgate suddenly come up with this realisation: “Do I even like my job?”

She talks about her turmoil to Benjamin Wyatt, who then helps her try to find her dream job. They try going to a funeral parlour (because she apparently likes dead people), and lots of funny things happen, but at the end of the day April still doesn’t know what her dream job is.

Ben says she shouldn’t give up, that he would help her.

“Why are you so into helping me right now?” she asks suspiciously.

“Because I’m finally doing what I love and I know how hard it is to get to that place,” he explains. “And I want you to be happy, because you’re my friend.”

I feel like my former teammate is April, and Ben is me. It really is hard to get to that place, and once you do, it really is a happy place, and you wish that everyone you cared about would experience it too.

So as Steve Jobs said, if you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

The same applies for love, too.

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle. – Steve Jobs