Follow Your Passion: Is it still good advice?

Follow Your Passion: Is it still good advice?

Probably not.

The message has been circulating for nearly 40 years, that if you simply “follow your passion” you’ll be on a straight path to happiness, great joy, and a deep sense of fulfillment.  But the message may, inadvertently, be creating a good deal of misery. 

Let’s begin with actor Mike Rowe’s provocative take on this popular, and persistent, advice:

“Every time I watch The Oscars, I cringe when some famous movie star – trophy in hand – starts to deconstruct the secret to happiness. . . . ‘Don’t give up on your dreams kids, no matter what.’ ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have what it takes.’ And of course, ‘Always follow your passion!’

“Today, we have millions looking for work, and millions of good jobs unfilled because people are simply not passionate about pursuing those particular opportunities. Do we really need Lady Gaga telling our kids that happiness and success can be theirs if only they follow their passion?

“There are many examples . . . of passionate people with big dreams who stayed the course, worked hard, overcame adversity, and changed the world through sheer pluck and determination. . . [and] we would surely be worse off without the likes of Bill Gates and Thomas Edison. . . . But from my perspective, I don't see a shortage of people who are willing to dream big. I see people struggling because their reach has exceeded their grasp.”

Passion, of course, is not a bad thing.  But the point that Rowe makes, and is echoed widely, is that if passion is our primary compass for navigating life, it can have severe and negative consequences. By contrast, authors assert, if you flip the equation – build expertise in a field, and your passion will follow – you might just derive more happiness from life.

Said Sebastian Klein, editor-in-chief of Blinkist:

“The theory that following your passion leads to success first surfaced in the '70s, and in the intervening decades it’s taken on the character of indisputable fact. The catch? Most people’s passions have little connection to work or education, meaning passionate skiers, dancers, and readers run into problems. In a culture that tells people to transform their passions into lucrative careers via will-driven alchemy, it’s no wonder so much of today’s workforce suffers from endless job swapping and professional discontent.”

Klein turns to advice from author Cal Newport, who offers three key career tips: (Newport is author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love):

1.      “Don’t do what you love, love what you do.”

2.      “Adopt a craftman’s mindset.”  Explains Klein: “People with the passion mindset ask ‘What do I really want?’ which breeds an obsession with whether or not a job is ‘right’ for them. They become minutely aware of everything they dislike about their work and their job satisfaction and happiness plummets. By contrast, the craftsman’s mindset acknowledges that no matter what field you’re in, success is always about quality. Once you’re focused on the quality of the work you’re doing now rather than whether or not it’s right for you, you won’t hesitate to do what is necessary to improve it.”

3.      Practice hard and get out of your comfort zone.  Adds Klein: “So how do you become the craftsman? You practice. . . [A]lthough deliberate practice is often strenuous and uncomfortable, it’s the only path to true mastery. “

Author Henri Junttila states it another way: “The core problem is waiting for something to happen. It’s believing that you can’t be passionate and happy right now.”  Junttila adds:

“If finding your passion is making you miserable, the solution is to stop waiting. Stop believing in the lie you tell yourself that if only you could have this or that, everything would be fine. . . . Following your passion has the power to change your life, but it can also make you miserable if you make it into another thing you have to achieve before you can be happy.”

Writer April Dykman, in a piece for getrichslowly.org, quotes author Ramit Sethi who teaches a course on how to find your dream job.  Dykman quotes Sethi: “We assume that we really know what our passions are upfront . . . [But] can you tell just by thinking about it? The way it really works is that you have to get good at something, then you become passionate about it.”

Sethi continues, as quoted by Dykman:

“When I studied people who love what they do for a living, I found that in most cases their passion developed slowly, often over unexpected and complicated paths. It’s rare, for example, to find someone who loves their career before they’ve become very good at it — expertise generates many different engaging traits, such as respect, impact, autonomy — and the process of becoming good can be frustrating and take years.”

Dykman highlights the second flaw: that it may not be realistic, economically, to follow one’s passion. Again quoting Sethi:

“We don’t consider the barriers. . . . Like what if your passion won’t pay? Or what if you don’t actually want to turn your hobby or passion into a full-time career? Or what if your passion leads you down a road that means you’ll actually make less of an impact?”

So, what’s our new-age advice?  Rowe might have the answer:

“Don’t follow your passion, but always bring it with you.”

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