A repost from a few years ago:
We just can’t afford to be bored in our life’s work. It’s terrible to go to a job every day that we don’t enjoy. We must find a way to make it fun. We just must. We don’t have a choice. For me, twenty years ago, it was like, “Either this comprehensible input stuff is going to work for me, or I’m out.”
There is a poem by the great Persian poet Hafiz (14th c.) that made me think about the importance of enjoying our work. The translation is from my friend Danny Ladinksy in a collection called The Gift (Penguin Compass, 1999). Here is the poem:
Last
Night
God
Posted
On the Tavern wall
A hard decree for all of love’s inmates
Which read:
If your heart cannot find a joyful work
The jaws of this world
Will probably
Grab hold of your
Sweet
Ass.