Should you follow your passion, or turn the other way?
I’ve been thinking about different business things that I could do, and this topic has been bothering me for a while now.
Right now “follow your passion” is all the hype, but I don’t know if that’s right. It could be… I’m just thinking aloud here.
For example Steve Jobs gave that famous speech of “keep searching for your passion” BUT…
He was never passionate about tech stuff. He flaked on his first few projects. If he were to “follow his passion,” he would be probably a zen teacher or something like that.
He took an opportunity to get rich and then later became passionate when it succeeded.
To be honest, the same might’ve happened to me…
I realized if I found internet work, I could live anywhere in the world (writing this from my favorite cafe in the world in Chiang Mai, Thailand).
At first it drove me mad. I wasted SO much $, got SO angry.
But now I enjoy it… But no one would’ve thought that marketing would be “my thing.”
Was the passion behind my work always there, or was the passion cultivated through hard work, persistence, and eventual success?
Another thought I’ve been having is that your passion is MUCH different than WORKING in your passion.
Example: I love to run + workout intensely. I recently 5k in 19 minutes & 38 seconds.
BUT being a personal trainer is MUCH different than doing the running. It requires an entirely different skill-set!
Furthermore, I think that maybe these gurus are confusing “passion” with “purpose.”
When you give up making money and put the client first, their results become your PURPOSE.
Wouldn’t that make you passionate?
I’m not decided on this topic yet, and it’s certainly nuanced. It could indeed be good advice, and we are going through a worldwide cultural shift.
Maybe it’s true. Maybe I need to find a deeper passion, or pick a business niche I’m even more passionate about helping (but the help word implies purpose, thus creating passion).
I’m also wondering what might happen if I completely turn my head the other way and seek out the most boring, mundane business niche ever.
Example: all digital marketers are like “omg I want to help gyms and realtors.”
What if I seek out something really lame? Like plumbers, electricians, toilet cleaners?
There is no hype there, and very little competition. There are much larger market opportunities (in theory) here.
Like I said I’m not entirely decided on the topic, I’m taking some time to reflect where I’d like to take my career moving forward…
The whole “follow your passion” advice does have some merit though.
Example: when times get tough, if you’re following your passion, you’ll have the persistence to break through and get results!
Another thing for following your passion is that it’s better to live a happy, full life than a rich one. Better to make $1.5k per month and be happy doing what you love than $5k but be miserable.
However even for that there’s a cutoff- what about medical bills, taking care of your family, etc.? At what point does financial loss for a passion lose merit?
It’s just a nuanced subject, and I’m trying to find my way through the noise.
What do you think?
