More than a decade ago, the phrase “work/life balance” was all the rage, people seeking the time and opportunity to spend with family and friends rather than in the office (or the courtroom, as the case may be). It was a quaint notion, that one could earn that sweet paycheck and just not show up when junior had a baseball game, and the boss would be cool with it because nobody says on their death bed they didn’t spend enough time in the office.

Are we over that now?.

Since the start of the pandemic, Americans have been talking seriously with friends, family, and themselves about the shortcomings of their modern-day work lives. Millions of people have joined the “Great Resignation,” and many, especially the college-educated, have vowed to follow their passion and embark on a different career.

No longer are people concerned with such banal matters as eating, or feeding their children, or paying their rent. People are resigning from jobs they find unfulfilling, dissatisfying, devoid of drudgery, because they deserve, despite all they did or didn’t do to get wherever they are at the moment, a life filled with passion.

But this yearning for more meaningful work isn’t new: Over the past three decades, college students and college-educated workers have turned to what I call the “passion principle”—the prioritization of fulfilling work even at the expense of job security or a decent salary—as a road map for how to make decisions about their career. According to my research, which draws on surveys and interviews with college students, graduates, and career coaches, more than 75 percent of college-educated workers believe that passion is an important factor in career decision making. And 67 percent of them say they would prioritize meaningful work over job stability, high wages, and work-life balance. Believers in this idea trust that passion will inoculate them against the drudgery of working long hours on tasks that they have little personal connection to. For many, following their passion is not only a path to a good job; it is the key to a good life.

But Erin Cech argues that the now-ubiquitous career advice to “follow your passion” has problems. Not the ones you would expect, if you’re over twelve years of age, such as not being good enough at what you’re passionate about to succeed, or the need to earn a living even if the job kinda sucks. Nope. These are new-age troubles.

The passion principle is ultimately an individual-level solution. It guides workers to avoid the grind of paid work by transforming it into a space of fulfillment. But it does nothing to address the factors that make paid work feel like drudgery in the first place. Many companies, for their part, also tend to exploit workers’ passion. My research finds that employers prefer workers who find their jobs fulfilling, precisely because passionate employees often provide additional uncompensated labor.

But Cech has an answer to the conflict.

Expanding social safety nets and protections for workers would go a long way to make passion seeking less financially risky. And advocating for collective solutions—better working conditions, more predictable hours, better benefits, more bargaining power, less overwork—in our workplaces and through national policies would not only make paid work more manageable, but also make work better for people in jobs that have little potential for the expression of passion.

In other words, instead of looking for careers that you find inherently fulfilling, whether that means garbage person or world-renowned dulcimer performer, “reimagine” the drudgery of work so that your employer facilitates your “passion.”

In order to circumvent the existential problems of passion, individuals can shift their personal philosophies about work. One solution is to trim paid work to fit into a more confined space in our lives: Work that can be contained in predictable hours, that provides freedom to engage in meaningful outside activities, and that allows ample time for friends, family, and hobbies may be a more desirable and self-preserving goal. The more pertinent question, then, isn’t “How can I change my career path to do work that I love?” but rather “How can I wrangle my work to leave me with more time and energy for the things and people that bring me joy?” Another solution is to diversify our meaning-making portfolios—actively seek out new places to root a sense of identity and fulfillment. No one should entrust the bulk of their sense of self to a single social intuition, especially one within something as tempestuous as the labor market.

It looks like work/life balance might be coming back into fashion. Of course, Cech includes a heavy dose of society subsidizing the unpleasant parts of life in order to allow people to work as little as possible to free them up for the things that bring them joy. It’s unclear how all those people doing the work to provide society with the funds to pay for your joy are going to feel about it, but then, isn’t your passion really all about you?

Let those other poor suckers work hard at their drudgery so the money they earn can be used to free up your life for your passion. Sure, the dirty jobs that keep society functioning need to be done, but not by you. Sure, the defendant is standing in the well before the judge about to see his life destroyed, but what about your fulfillment? And it’s not as if you or your children (but you don’t have children, do you, because they’re “so hard” and get in the way of your perpetual childhood) won’t eat because the social safety net will be there to feed you.

Sounds like a plan.