Why “Find Your Passion” is BAD advice

And what to do instead.

As far as most life and career advice goes, nobody has an idea of the correct way, so everyone goes for their best guess, which is also the best guess for everyone else. We live in a world where people are told that their passion will magically carry them through years of hard work because instantly, every day will be FUN FUN FUN!!!

Passion comes from being great at what you do, not the other way around.

I used to find it difficult to enjoy the simple joys of life because I focused so much of my emotional, mental, and physical strength on finding an answer to “what is my passion in life?”. It’s so interesting to know that there are so many people who feel this way! After much time and money spent and wasted, sweat and tears, distress, and hours upon hours of reading studying, and coaching programs, I finally came to the valuable understanding around this concept of finding your passion.

Today, most Authors and Career gurus have stopped bothering to clarify the definition of passion and why it’s good, only thinking that you’d already been familiar with it and are embracing it as the right thing to do. And so, in this generation, millennials have been told to focus first on passion, and then a fantastic career would follow later.

Passion is not a predisposed character trait that you can rely on to choose your ideal profession – it is slowly developed over time as you get better at your craft.

I’ve found that taking action on my abilities has been the key to my passions. I have so much life and work experience, and it will be a pity not to share them with others and help them go through their tough times. Everybody has a different approach to passion finding – usually with a splash of their own uniqueness of some kind. A great start would be for you to find your own unique approach and style and take action.

According to Steve Jobs, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

So instead of thinking about what your passion is and trying to match your career with it, you can just pick one of the many things that interest you, really commit yourself to it, and slowly develop a great passion for it as you get better.

How would you like to use your skills and knowledge to help people? Could it be through a blog? a book? Or other channels of expression? There are so many things you could do.

If you engage yourself in doing the things you love to do, it will bring enthusiasm into everything you do, and bring you so much joy. And yes, people will notice how very positive and passionate and happy you are becoming. And it will be the beginning of a new perspective for your life and work.

“However, it is good to catch ourselves, whether it is a new relationship, a new fitness routine, a new career, or any other passion, from the mentality that “When I have that thing I’m passionate about, I’m going to be happy and my life is going to be perfect.” Know that one passion expands and contributes to another! And that’s why certainly trying out your passions help.

Motivation and excitement are high when you begin to learn something new. Over time you would have gone from beginner to semi-advanced, and you would have a greater understanding of your subject than most of your peers. It is at this stage that making progress starts to get harder. You put some more effort in, but you see fewer and fewer results, which, of course, affects your ability to keep putting in the effort and you just want to quit.

This zone is where it gets tough, this is the zone that divides the average from the exceptional. Here, you lose your motivation, curiosity, and expected outcomes.

And so, the world is wrong by telling us that we are accomplished when we find our passion. So when you pick a skill you want to build, be fully conscious of the zone you will enter, and know that on the other side, there are plenty of good things waiting for you.

I like to think of finding passion as “following God’s trail.” God gives us a trail to follow to find our purpose or passion. We may not know what one specific trail or steppingstone is all about, but we can see the next stepping stone when we walk on it. You may be passionate about many things – and that’s okay. As long as you are doing something you are good at, have or are developing a strong knowledge of it and it makes you happy to do, then you’re on track!