Unless you’ve been trapped under a Hobbit hut without a computer, you’re probably one of the 120 million worldwide viewers who’ve downloaded Susan Boyle on YouTube bringing the house down with “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables.” One of the great things about the 48-year-old unstyled, uncoached, rather frumpy-looking British spinster is that, when asked by Simon Cowell, “What’s the dream?” her response was “I’m trying to be a professional singer.”

Not, “I want to be famous” but “I want to make a living doing something I love.” Somehow, that touched me more than all the ambitious 20-somethings who want to rule the charts.

What about you? What’s your dream? Is it long deferred? Have you given up trying to find work that you love? It is possible.

I love to tell the story of singer Josh Groban and how his life changed between and eighth grades, when he had to contend with a school population that loved athletes and star students. Groban found a home at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, as he has said, “the only high school in the world where I even had a chance of being cool.” Since then, he’s had much pressure to conform or go against his heart, but instead of doing either, he remembers this experience. He had to talk on and away from an unsupportive environment, however, in order to find his true place.

What you do matters, no matter what job you’re in. If you keep experimenting until you find the thing you love and then do it with intensity and focus, then success and fulfillment are sure to follow.

Lynne Eisaguirre is the author of seven books on workplace issues.