Welcome to the Daily Quote – I’m Andrew McGivern.
Today’s quote comes from Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and one of the most influential innovators of our time.
He said:
”The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
The only way. Not one way. Not a helpful way. The ONLY way.
Jobs isn’t being poetic here. He’s stating what he discovered building Apple: you cannot do great work without loving what you do.
Good work? Sure. Competent work? Absolutely. You can force yourself to do acceptable work in something you don’t love.
But great work? The kind that changes things? The kind that matters? That requires love.
Here’s why: great work demands more than talent or effort. It demands obsession. Persistence through failure. The willingness to try a thousand approaches until you find the right one. You can’t sustain that level of commitment for something you don’t love. You’ll burn out. You’ll quit when it gets hard. You’ll settle for good enough.
But when you love what you do? You don’t quit. The failures don’t break you – they intrigue you. The problems don’t exhaust you – they energize you. Jobs spent years perfecting products most people thought were already good enough.
Why? Because he loved it. The work itself was the reward. That’s the trap most people fall into. They think: ”I’ll do this job I don’t love until I can afford to do what I love.” But Jobs is saying you’ve got it backwards. Find what you love first. Do that.
Because that’s the only path to great work. And great work is what creates the life you want. Not tolerating work you hate.
So here’s the question: Do you love what you do? Really? Because if you don’t, you’ll never do great work. And if you’re not doing great work, what are you doing?Find what you love. Then do that. It’s the only way.
That’s it for today. I’m Andrew McGivern – I’ll see you in the next one with another Daily Quote.
