Tearing Down Received Wisdom
There are some rules we are usually expected to learn by rote. I think some of them do not quite fit anywhere; some are even a little absurd.
For example: “Keep your emotions out of your work.”
Let me first give it its due. Most people who say this actually mean: don’t make decisions in anger, don’t take criticism personally, don’t favour the people you like, don’t take your resentment out on others. I have no objection to that; these really do harm the work.
But the saying does not stop there. It pushes emotion out of work altogether, and then calls that professionalism.
Work done without any feeling seems quite meaningless to me. What produces good work is emotion in the first place: curiosity, ownership, the shame of delivering a poor job, the pride you feel when you finish, understanding the trouble of the person in front of you. A mistake that stays on your mind at night is an emotion too.
To me, the question is not whether there is emotion but where it is directed. If it is directed at the work, that is, if I am working so that the job turns out well and the person in front of me finds a remedy, that is professionalism itself. If it is directed at myself, that is, if my ego, my resentment or who turns out to be right has taken the lead, then the saying is right.
If you feel no embarrassment when you miss a deadline, if you make no effort to make up for a mistake you made, if finishing early or producing something you can be proud of does not make you happy, if you take no pleasure in your work once it is done… Well, congratulations, you have become a great professional!
Pouring every emotion into your work is one thing; being completely purged of emotion is another. The second is not even possible. And presenting it as professionalism is nonsense beyond any excuse.