Passion

post: seven

James Kenichi
Aug 29, 2017 · 2 min read

I don’t remember the first time I heard someone tell me, “Follow your passion,” but I do know I have heard it thousands of times. Aside from being a professional (American) football player, I have never known what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” When I was 18, I weighed 150 lbs, so that dream went right out the window…

All those people telling me to just follow my passion made it sound so easy. They knew what they wanted. They were born to do what they were doing.

What was wrong with me?

The words “follow your passion” left me feeling confused and lost. I switched majors seven times in college in search for my “passion.” I jumped from retail to operations to finance and now to marketing, all in search of my “passion.”

“Follow your passion” is terrible advice. In fact, it’s dangerous advice. It assumes that everyone has a predisposed passion, and that’s just not true.

Passion is developed, you are not born with it. Passion is something you cultivate. Passion is something you earn after putting in time and effort to develop a skill.

Just see where it leads. Then invest time and effort in where ever that curiosity takes you. That investment will turn into a skill. Once it does, then you have earned the right to call it a passion, if you so choose. Or, if you decide not to, rinse and repeat.


This is post seven of my daily writing journey on 100 Naked Words. View my previous posts here: one, two, three, four, five, six

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You can follow me on Twitter at @iamjameskenichi.

100 Naked Words

Est. May 2016. 100 vulnerable words, one day at a time. Every day.

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James Kenichi

Written by

Husband. Father. Writer. Driven by insatiable curiosity and the joy of growth.

100 Naked Words

Est. May 2016. 100 vulnerable words, one day at a time. Every day.

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