“Pursue Your Passion” is Terrible Career Advice

Here’s what to do instead

“Pursue your passion” is a modern, career advice mantra. From (person) to (person), the career advice that best exemplifies our modern culture is “pursue your passion”.

This advice is dumb and immoral.

“Pursue your passion” is dumb and immoral because of its natural consequences and some massive flaws in its assumptions.

There are, in general, two consequences that naturally follow from “pursue your passion”.

“Pursue your passion” is really the beginning of an if-then argument. If you pursue your passion, then you will be successful/happy/ultimately fulfilled. Most of the “pursue your passion” proponents are really talking about economic success not being a drag on your personal motivation. When you read between the lines of their self-help books and podcasts, you discover that they are recommending “pursue your passion” in order that the listener/reader is both economically and spiritually fulfilled simultaneously.

A second related consequence is then pretty clear: you should do WHATEVER it takes to be happy, therefore you should do whatever it takes to pursue your passion. Side gigs, 20-hour days, waiting tables, literally whatever you have to do in order to “make it work”.