'Follow Your Passion' is a Bad Advice 🙅🏽‍♂️

Issue #106: Why "Follow Your Passion" Might Be Misleading. Tip to Beat Procrastination. You are a Magic Worker.

💡 Here are 3-ideas to help you learn, grow, and be inspired this week!

🎓 Learn

Everybody says, “Follow your passion.”

What I’m about to say will either anger you or set you free.

Cal Newport (the guy who wrote Deep Work and Slow Productivity) argues that "following your passion" is a pretty modern concept that only became popular in the 1990s. It’s not the ancient wisdom we tend to believe it is.

I agree with Cal here. This ‘following your passion’ advice is not healthy advice at all.

Let me explain.

What comes first—passion or success?

No strong evidence supports the idea that matching a job with your passion leads to happiness or success. Instead, passion often grows from getting really good at something rather than being the starting point.

Take someone who makes millions of dollars manufacturing screws. Did they wake up one day and say, “Wow, I’m so passionate about screws. I’m going to put everything on the line to make screws that change the world”. Probably not.

Oprah Winfrey didn’t start out with a passion for media. She began as a news anchor and, through years of hard work, honed her skills and gradually built her own empire. Her passion followed as she gained mastery and control over her career.

Bill Gates didn’t stumble into programming because it was his passion as a kid. He got involved in computers early and worked hard to master coding and business, and as he became more skilled, his passion for technology grew along with the success of Microsoft.

What about everyone’s favorite “Steve Jobs”? We have seen several quotes on “following your passion” next to his face. If Steve Jobs had founded a kitchenware manufacturer instead of computer hardware company, I bet he would have been passionate about that, we’d have the world’s most beautiful kitchen utensils.

Things that I’m good at today and enjoy doing, like — writing, yoga, meditation, and entrepreneurship, were very hard in the beginning. Well, I’ve not built (yet) a success as big as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Oprah. Whatever little fortune and fame I have earned, I don’t credit it to Passion (obviously) but rather my curiosity to Learn + Grow.

In a growth journey, you don’t start with passion; you end with having a passion. You don’t follow passion. It follows you. As you try new things, follow your curiosity, and discover your aptitude, you create a larger surface area for passion to develop.

So rather than waiting to discover your passion, you should focus on building valuable skills and getting really good at something – and that’s when real passion starts to develop.

Look, there’s no denying that some people are just born with something they feel a great passion for. They know they’ve been put on this earth to do what they do. But they’re a minority. For the rest of us, it will be a journey of trying many things, looking for opportunities, and being curious.

I’m not against passion. If you have it, more power to you. Use it as fuel. If you’re unsure about your passion, don’t worry—you’re in good company.

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Key Takeways:

To sum it up: passion is something that’s cultivated over time. It’s not about finding the “one thing” you’re destined to do – it’s about developing your skills and crafting a career that gives you control and fulfillment.

Here are a couple of actionable takeaways:

1. Don’t stress over finding your passion. Start by finding something you’re interested in and focus on becoming great at it. Passion will follow.

2. Prioritize mastery over discovery. Getting really good at something opens up opportunities, and that’s when your work starts to feel more fulfilling.

3. Instead of “do what you love,” a more effective mantra is “love what you do.”

I thought you’d find this perspective refreshing, especially in a world where everyone tells you to follow your passion. Let me know what you think!

🚀 Growth Tip

If you’re stuck in procrastination mode or can’t find the motivation to work on a goal, try this super simple hack.

Tim Pychyl, a top expert in procrastination research, has one go-to piece of advice: ask yourself, “What’s the next action step?” when you just can’t get started.

For example:

• Not feeling yoga? → Next action: Roll out your mat and just stand on it.

• Skipping the gym? → Next action: Throw on your gym clothes.

• Not in the mood to write? → Next action: Open up your laptop and a Google Doc.

The idea is to make it so easy to start that you can't say no.

🤩 Inspiration

I wanted to share some inspiring words from Robin Sharma on the "Love What You Do" concept we discussed earlier.

“You are a magic-worker, paid and expected and challenged (by The Giants of Your Innate Greatness) to push unusually special projects out into our tired, cynical, and unrealistically logical culture.

Get your daring back. Loosen the reins that the status quo (which has sold you a philosophy on what is possible, praiseworthy, and necessary) has placed on you. Dream again. Fail often. Take bold risks. Get bloodied. Then, stand back up (having grown stronger and more heroic) and continue. The success of your craft depends on it.”

— Anil

May the Peaceful Growth be with you! 🪴

P.S. If you're a tech founder looking to grow your agency to $5M (without working overtime), keep reading.