Is “do what you love” really a good advice?
Everyone knows the famous quote by Steve Jobs:
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
Everywhere you look on the internet you find this advice in its many forms:
“Follow your dream”
“Do what you are passionate about”
You hear it from entrepreneurs in their interviews, you hear it from life coaches in their talks. If you do what you love, the money will follow. But is this actually true?
As a teenager, I liked playing basketball. I loved it. Every day after school I and my friends met at the courtyard and played for hours. I was a good player but not exceptional. Should I have neglected my education and just followed my dream of becoming a professional basketball player? HELL NO!
You have to look at it this way. If you want to do what you love you HAVE to be one of the best in the field to make a living out of it. And it is a very crowded space believe me. Just look at how many people line up for the various singing competition shows on TV.
Sure, there are a few who will make it. You read in the tabloids about how much money they make and forget that for every Brad Pitt there are thousands of others who barely make a living from acting. When supply goes up, prices go down, it’s as simple as that.
But you must have a passion for what you do so that you don’t quit at the first rough patch you encounter, most advocates will say. That is only partially true. Passion is a good thing but for an end goal. This is the key here. If you set yourself goals in life you want to achieve, you will feel motivated to keep going, even if it means sacrificing things.
If you really want that big house on the seaside with the 4 bedrooms and you set your mind to it you will be pulling these all-nighters that are necessary to succeed. If you really want to prove them wrong and that you are not a loser you will work on weekends, when everybody is having a good time, to get your business off the ground.
You don’t have to be exceptional to provide value to others. You just have to be observant and find pain points that people have. If you can eliminate them you will get paid. The more people’s lives you can touch the more successful you will be.
When you have achieved financial freedom, then you can do what you love all day long and you don’t have to get paid for it. You don’t even have to be good at it. No pressure, just enjoy it!
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