Why Follow Your Passion Is Terrible Advice
Have you tried to marry your passion with a career but can’t figure out how? You are not alone.
The article is inspired by Cal Newport’s book — So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and my personal experience in tech. The book has unconventional advice on how we can find passion in our careers, which has changed how I think about work satisfaction.
Screw Finding Your Passion
It’s a dream sold to us by influencers (and top Medium authors). Do what you love. Just find your passion and figure out a way to make money from it. Steve Jobs gave a famous speech at Stanford where he highlighted the importance of finding your passion.
The truth is, Steve Jobs was never passionate about Computers growing up. He was a hippie who was into spirituality. Had he followed his passion, he would have left the material world and become a monk. But he realized that he saw the potential of personal computers when others did not, and he grabbed that opportunity.
Before you come at me with pitchforks, I am not dissing Steve Jobs. I am actually a fan. But the point is that many people start their careers trying to find something they are passionate about. But most of us just start hating our current jobs due to the unrealistic expectations it creates. 65% of Americans are unhappy at work today. And we thought social media is only affecting kids.
Most passions do not translate into careers. I am passionate about reading and watching movies. There isn’t really a career path for either. You might see travel influencers and feel miserable about your job. But it’s a pyramid scheme. There is a very tiny percentage of people on top who can make a living off that.
And even then, when your passion becomes work, it often stops being a passion anymore. Ed Sheeran is obviously passionate about making music. He has been doing it since he was a kid. But now that it is his career, he talks about how he has started looking for other hobbies that don’t feel like work.
So does this mean we should just accept that we hate our jobs and live on with it? No. There is a better, more attainable approach to finding happiness in work.
Build Career Capital
Instead of asking what my job can do for me, ask what value can I bring to my job. Career Capital is the unique and valuable skills that you bring to the table. This is what makes you irreplaceable.
When starting your career, focus on building career capital. This comes from deliberate practice. Make efforts to learn something new regularly, gain experience and expertise.
This is where passion fails and perseverance succeeds. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell proposes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve true expertise in any skill. This requires adopting a “Craftsman mindset” instead of a “Passion mindset”. Deliberate practice and stretching outside the comfort zone are often the opposite of enjoyable.
I still recommend a more nuanced approach than the book suggests. I took up Software Engineering because I was passionate about Computers ever since I was a kid. It definitely helps to pick something you like. But you cannot bank on passion alone.
When I was in high school and college, I would use my free time to build apps and do side projects. Now that it is my job, I look to weekends to do anything BUT programming. Hence this Medium blog. But it definitely helps that my job is built on an interest. I can’t imagine putting in the hours if it was Chemistry or Biology.
So try finding something you like, but don’t bank on passion to build a career.
Cash Career Capital for Good Work
Now comes the fun part. Cashing in the career capital you have earned to find work you love. First, let’s define good work.
Good Work has 3 fundamental qualities —
1. Autonomy — Do you have to grovel to take a day off? Do you need to run everything you do by a superior? Having some autonomy in the work you do is essential. Otherwise, your cubicle feels like a jail cell. Good work trusts you with freedom.
2. Creativity — People need to use their creative side to find work enjoyable. If your job does not require creative thinking, it can probably be done by a robot. This applies even to STEM careers which are not traditionally thought of as creative. As a software engineer, I love working on creative solutions to interesting problems.
3. Impact—Do you feel like you are making a difference? Does your work matter? It is impossible to find meaning in your work if you feel it is not adding much value. From Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, the purpose is necessary to finding happiness.
When your work has above 3 traits, passion comes easily. But these don’t come for free. They have to be earned through career capital. Most people have this backward. They expect good work without putting in the effort first and end up hating their career.
Closing Thoughts
If you have been following the news, you know that the tech party is coming to an end. Many companies are requiring employees to be back in the office after 2 years of working remotely. Many are having layoffs. Guess who is least bothered? The people at the top. They are too valuable to be let go or forced back into the office. And if their company has a problem, they can easily find a new one.
That’s when you know that you are so good they can’t ignore you. This is what career capital looks like. But it will not be handed to you on a platter. It needs to be earned. Once you have career capital, you can easily find good work you are passionate about.
