Here in the UK, companies generally offer their employees twenty days holiday each year. Plus we get public holidays off, so you’re talking 28 days off a year. According to statistics I found in this article, people in America take thirteen days off a year. Thirteen days every year! Now even if you love your job, this strikes me as somewhat absurd. That’s less than two weeks off each year to do something other than be in your place of employment. But what’s worse is that some people don’t love their job!

Ask the average person if they enjoy what they do for a living and I’d wager that the majority will answer in the negative, or at the very least they’ll be ambivalent.

Let’s look at this again. The majority of people are prepared to do something for eight hours a day, for 350 days a year, that they don’t even enjoy?

There’s a definite social stigma attached to not having a job. Here in the UK, students get a rough time of it because they are seen to be layabouts. When I left my previous job to start Plastiscenic and work on Wiretap, I had plenty of people digging at me about getting a “proper job”, or insinuating that I’d spend all my days watching TV.

It’s all understandable. When you’re stuck for the majority of the time doing something you don’t even like, and you’re faced with someone who’s decided to break away from that, then I think several factors come into play; envy, resentment, disbelief. But of course there are people who are genuinely happy for me too.

My point is that if you don’t love what you do, don’t bitch about it and don’t rail against those who are taking a different approach. If you don’t love what you do, do something about it.