In defense of not following your passion

I came across a Twitter user who said, “Do only the things you have passion for.” With all due respect to the late Steve Jobs and his legions of followers, most of us don’t have the luxury of doing just that. Jobs started (reinforced) a trend that judges people’s success solely based on the level of commitment to follow their passion. And, God forbid, you don’t have one, you are a loser.

The first question you are asked is, “What’s your passion?” No one asks you about your interests or curiosities. Only what your passion is. Singular. Because preachers of the passion gospel also say that you have to be laser-focused on that one passion and drop everything else.

I found that people who follow their interests (plural) rather than their passion (singular) are more interesting, creative, and productive. They are the ones who connect seemingly unrelated dots into unique new things. They are also the ones who find beauty in places no one is looking. And I am not talking only about artists. Businesspeople, scientists, and technologists too. These are the ones who manage to shift from left-brain activities to very creative, right-brain ones.

I also found these people don’t worry about having to find one passion. They don’t even entertain the idea of having one passion. They do worry about being pigeonholed in one specific area if they spend too much time on it. So, they keep changing areas of interests, jobs, and professions, keeping their curiosity alive. And if their day job requires specialization, they make sure they spend their free time doing something completely different.

What are your curiosities?