Those on a mission – think of Peace Corp workers and religious clerics – often do not have a bright line between work and life. Their work is so integrated into what their lives that they are either always working or never working, depending on one’s perspective.
Given my expertise in career coaching, there are many friends and acquaintances who will strike up a conversation about their career paths. The polite ones will say: “I should pay you for your advice” as they know I am “working”. But my mission to help people figure out their career paths is so blended into who I am that I don’t feel like I am working. I tell my Connecticut neighbors who have such conversations with me that “I am a career coach, sometimes I get paid and sometimes I don’t.”
Of course, most people will not have careers that are so mission oriented. But I tell you with certainty that if you have a work life that is enjoyable enough to talk about after work, then your life will be elevated.