Do not love your job

TIME TO GET CONTROVERSIAL

Don’t love your job or the industry.

Let me be clear.

I am not saying don’t enjoy what you do for a living, I am saying that elite sport, coaching at all levels and personal training can be great jobs, but save your LOVE for

-Your partner
-Your children
-Your family
-Your friends

I am not here to tell you what love is and is not, that’s entirely subjective.

But if you attach your mood, heart, and well-being, to a job and the highs and lows of sport then you are in for a rough ride when things are not going well. Like when the team loses, the manager you got on well with gets sacked, and you get sacked or treated poorly in the workplace.

You are relying on other people, activities and situations often out of your control to provide you happiness, fulfilment and satisfaction.

It is a bit of a fool’s errand.

I am saying (as per last week’s email) protect and save your love for those people who care for you even when you don’t have the tracksuit on.

The elite sports industry has a way of chewing people up and spitting them out.

I do not know a sports coach or member of support staff who has not been ‘shit canned’ or burnt out. Shit canned I am describing as

-Getting sacked/fired
-Asked to re-apply for your own job
-Been strung along for a new contract, which arrived last minute or not at all
-Asked to take a pay cut
-Been made redundant
-Been asked to leave/move on

These things happen and then guess what. They replace you, quickly. So why the hell should we love anything which treats us like this?

The answer is we shouldn’t, and you should protect your love and not invest it into a job which has a fairly high chance of screwing you over.

That’s my 2 pennies worth from a guy who ‘loved this industry and this job’ and then got screwed multiple times in many ways due to mistakes, the naivety that organisations really cared for me and just working for a fair few ass holes along the way.