Why Following Your Passion Is A Dangerous Choice

We’ve all had these conversations. Why am I here? What was I born to do? What’s my life’s purpose?

The typical answer is to follow your passion.

But, the idea of chasing passion is dangerous. It can lead to living a life that never feels fulfilled. You can paralyze yourself from action if you constantly stop and ask if what you’re doing is part of your life’s purpose.

For those of you in this position, I challenge you to put aside the purpose question for the time being.

Instead, focus on results. Get proactive and put some consistent effort into your job, your relationships, and your mental and physical states.

Effort is the exertion of mental or physical power. Now, exertion, to me, sounds like hard work. So if you are putting hard work into something, you will start getting good results over time. You’ll develop a knack for it. You will master the skills to achieve a desired result.

The ability to achieve results creates value. Feeling valuable brings happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of belonging. A pleasant side effect is that the world will pay those who add value.

Why not become passionate about creating value?

If you are at a crappy job, be serious about making improvements. Get fanatical about planning and executing ideas to make the company a better place for everyone. What is execution? Simply put, it’s identifying and implementing the next idea.

If you’re in a marriage that is getting stale, spend some time organizing some date nights or plan an adventurous vacation. Use your creativity. Go all in on making your partner feel worthwhile. Be the valuable person she needs.

If you are having a hard time finding a career, donate your time to a charity and get serious about helping their cause. Become a valued member of their organization.

So perhaps the answer to the questions regarding your life’s purpose isn’t to follow your passion. It’s doing things passionately.

@jamesashcroft