Loving your work is not enough

There is one more important element too, which sadly almost everyone misses.

Raw and Real Conversation

Hello hello my friend,

In December last year, I was reached out to by an incredible company for a phenomenal one-time writing project.

It is stuff of dreams. Like by the end of this year I would have called it one of the top 10 projects of my year.

Though I have done projects like that in 2025 and 2024 as well, and it is always a wonderful feeling to get work that brings out the best in you.

Just that, something about that project was just not working out. I was supposed to be happy after our conversations but I always left drained and doubtful. Something that does not happen on my other projects that make me happy.

On paper, on the outside, from the point of view of logic, everything was just perfect. But after the first 2-3 conversations I knew in my heart this was just not the right project for me.

I would purposefully not go into the details because I always assume everyone in the world is reading what I write. And if I share the details even without sharing the name, they won’t feel very good about themselves.

Anyway, right before the time I was supposed to send them a formal agreement and begin our work together, I decided to send them a polite email with a respectful no.

But why am I telling this to you?

To gossip about them? Absolutely not.

They were doing something that works for them. They have built an enterprise that works for them. And a wonderful one so to say.

What I am trying to say is that sometimes the people you intend to work with are not the people who bring out the best in you.

Read that again.

Sometimes the people you intend to work with are not the people who bring out the best in you.

Or worse, they bring out the worst in you.

Thus, along with loving your work you also must actively scout for people whom you absolutely enjoy working with.

People that do not diminish you.
People that know what they are bringing to the table.
People who are mature enough to understand that constructive feedback does not have to be a cruel feedback. That we are on the same team. And when we operate from that perspective, we create magic instead of crying each other miserable.

I have come to understand that every work has two elements to it:

1. Do you love doing that work? (Yes/No)

2. Do you really enjoy working with the people you work with? (Yes/No)

Based on the intersection of the two possibilities of these two questions, here is a 2*2 matrix that every management consultant is taught in B-school:

Let me explain what it means to you:

Quadrant 1 (Q1) (top right):
You love your work. You enjoy working with the people you do.
Translated: You have hit a jackpot. You must strive to do that in everything you do.

Q2 (bottom right): You love your work. But you do not enjoy working with the people you do.
The example I gave above falls in this quadrant. Which is why I respectfully did not pick up that assignment.

The best part is you are blessed with the work you love. With that Brahmastra, you can legit move mountains and pick people you want to work with.
I once heard in a Mel Robbins interview where she said something similar, that of course at the start you want to pay your bills, you have responsibilities to take care of, and you always cannot control the people you work with. But at certain point of time in your career you have to be willing to take a bet on yourself.

What she means is that at the start of a career you love, it might be important to focus on work itself, maybe not so much on people. Been there, done that. But till when, is a question you might want to ask yourself later.

Because if you ignore the quality of people you work with and what they bring out in you, over time you start diminishing your own potential. Something that takes years to get back. Why would you want to do that?

Q3 (bottom of left): You don’t love your work. And you do not enjoy working with the people you do either.
This is something I call a self-created hell.

Why self-created? Because I understand that at some point you cannot find the work that you love on Day 1. I get it. Sometimes you need to work for 365 or 730 or a 1000 days at a work that doesn’t bring you joy because you want to make money too.

But it is here that you should be careful about people you are working with. If you surround yourself with people who invent pessimism in the middle of possibility, you would end up becoming one of them.

The world might conspire you into “adjusting” and taking up a job offer/assignment with energy drainers and evil doers, but if you are determined to make the best of your life, you will land yourself in a place that makes you a better version of yourself.

Surround yourself with 5 positive people, and you are one of them.

Surround yourself with 5 people who workout, and you become fit.

Surround yourself with 5 people who have an excuse for everything, and you see your life become a self-created hell.

Q4 (top left): You don’t love your work. But you are surrounded by really good people.

Now this is what I call a smart move. Our environment and the energy of the people around us affects us in ways invisible.

If you are someone who is still working hard to do what they love as their full-time thing, this is the place you should at least begin with. The right people.

You will feel more secure as a human. You won’t want to pull anyone else down. And who knows, your vision for yourself inspires others instead of you wanting to kill your love for the work you do.

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Please re-read the above again my friend.

It is so important that we understand the importance of the collective forces of people and the work we do, and how it impacts our professional life, our personal life, and even our spiritual life.

The world talks about the things you love.

It does not talk about the people that draw your carriage miles away from the thing you love, one day at a time.

It is high time wise people recognise that.

Love the work you do AND the people you work with.

What is a better gift to yourself on this V Day <3

2 Raw One-Liners:

• Some of us need a spotlight to shine, some of us need a spot where there is no light shining on us.

• All you need is just three hours of a block every day where nothing and no one can touch you. And you will surprise yourself with the mountains that you move.

3 (for) Real fun and free goodies for you:

1. 1-min blog: Ambition is a beautiful thing

2. 1-min blog: The anti-rot solution for your brain

3. I was going through the ancient pictures on my iPad and found this picture from one of our team offsites in Pondicherry. March 2022. 10.29 pm is the time :) The team were clicking pictures and they woke me up too to click pictures. Chho sweet <3. (L-R: My then colleague Keyi, Ankur, and your girl). The best part of this hotel was that the pool was right outside our rooms. To get out of your room and sit and see something that is not concrete is always soothing.

Alright then friends, I hope you love yourself well this V-day. That is the only way you’d be able to love others too.

And please know that just because you are single, does not mean it reduces your worth. Your worth is always and always decided by what you think. Don’t let any folklore affect you ever.

I’ll see you next weekend my friend.

Nishtha Gehija

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