“Follow your passion” has been said so many times in the past two decades, I’m a little suspicious of the very phrase. Something rings inauthentic or untrue to me.
When I hear this phrase, I get a bit leary that “follow your passion” is more coffee mug wisdom than a solid life strategy. When I hear this phrase you know what word automatically pops into my mind? “Broke.” I think of all the hard working men and women that came to this country, and worked three
jobs so their posterity could have a better life. I don’t exactly picture our forefathers, nor our recent immigrants as luxuriating in their bliss. I picture determination, hard work, and vision for a better life. Although that is a form of passion, the way it is thrown around today, it has lost the connotation of drive, ambition, or heart. It sounds more like, “I don’t want to work anymore, I want to move to Costa Rica and start a whale foundation.” (I did not make that up.)
So let’s list what’s flawed with the notion, and how the phrase “Follow Your Passion” can be calibrated to ring more true.
Flaw 1: It’s Passive
When we’re following, we’re not leading. “Follow your passion” has our passion out in front and we’re behind it, taking us where it leads. Even when pursuing a dream–to be a principal dancer in the NYC Ballet, we need a detailed plan of what steps are needed to get there. We’re not aimlessly chasing an ideal with no real clue of what the end result will be.
If following your passion is writing mystery novels, a good place to start is with a solid education that focuses your analytical and writing skills, or a community creative writing course, or at least reading a lot of mystery novels and writing in a journal or blog to hone your style and voice.
In other words, it may be best to take the lead by:
- Identifying your passion(s);
- Creating a goal that encompasses that passion;
- Developing a detailed plan to achieve your objective.
Flaw 2: Something You Enjoy, But Doesn’t Make Money
Money isn’t everything, but if you’re stressed out of your gord about how you’ll pay the utility bill, your passion may lose its savor. Hey, no one wants to be stuck on the bottom of Maslow’s Heirarchy: the big bottom of the triangle where we’re preoccupied with food and shelter. If your passion isn’t easily monetized, or you’re not strong in marketing and promoting yourself or your work, your dreams can quickly be doused with cold water.
Does that mean to give it up? No way! But you may need to consider some other options like:
- Finding a company in an industry similar to your passion that you can learn from and pay the bills in the interim;
- Looking for conjoining fields that do pay the bills and keeping a small side business;
- Keeping your passion a hobby and not worrying about monetizing it;
- Taking courses out of your comfort zone, like bookkeeping or marketing. that will fill in gaps in your education, or shore up your weaknesses;
- Getting advice from others in your industry that are making a living at it.
Again, it’s about executing a plan so that your passions can turn a profit. Profits are how you continue to bless the world with your blissful contribution.
Flaw 3: You’re not that Good at It
Yes, it’s true. We aren’t good at everything we love. We’ve all watched cringeworthy auditions on reality singing shows. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there. I took a voice class once in college and the first day we had to sing alone in front of a class of 6-8 people. The piano hit the first note and I started crying… tears-down-my-face fear. Singing isn’t my passion, but I did want to be better at it, rather than just “mouthing the words” every Sunday.
What is my passion is dance. And I had a natural talent for it. My plan was to major in dance and open my own studio. Until the power mom put the kabash on that dream, “I’m not paying for you to major in dance.” And the message was clear: pick a major that will earn money.
I have natural abilities toward math and science, but all my chemistry and microbiology classes made me cry over my textbooks. I was miserable. Eventually, on the advice of a friend I took an Intro to Humanities class, then changed my major to English, and my heart soared!
Then I went to law school and my heart closed. I started working and I perked up again because I liked corporate tech law and I took dance classes three nights a week. I was fully alive again and made plenty of money to do both, earn and pursue.
My takeaway:
- You might not be that good at your passion, and that’s okay. Either triple down on your effort and get there, or keep enjoying it on the side as a pet project or hobby.
- Be honest with yourself. Tell yourself good things and be kind, but really pray and ponder on whether this is your true calling–where your desire and abilities meet.
- Watch and train with the pros. Tennis players know this. They’re always seeking out their equal or superior to play with. They gain nothing by playing with amateurs just to feel good about themselves.
- Even if you’re not the best, dress the part and have confidence. The best of the pack aren’t always at the top. Sometimes tenacity and presentation turns your 7/10 to a 10/10. The best singers aren’t famous. Some pretty bad ones are.
- Find another way to offer service in the general field of interest. Maybe you’re not a great politician but you have an eye for molding and promoting other politicians and can have a huge influence behind the scenes.
Definately pursue an area that you have a connection to. A good hint of where your talents lie is what you’re interested in. Remember that for long term life planning, your pursuit has to include a plan. It’s like our annual Girls’ Trip with the college girlfriends. Someone is always in charge of writing up and distributing the agenda for the trip. We all know that it will change and we’ll go off course. But what never happens is that it’s 11:00 a.m., rolling out of bed and everyone looking at eachother saying, “What are we going to do today?
Nope, we stick to the agenda until we make a conscious choice to do something we’re more in the mood for. So don’t let your life look like an ill planned vacation. Don’t wake up at 32 and say, “What am I doing with my life?” The question should be, “I have this planned, but I want to take a different course.”
Explore, plan, reevaluate. It’s your life, you have permission to change directions. Pay the price and be wise. So, let’s pursue our passions with a plan and a commitment. We’re the leader of our life, and there are seen and unseen guides all around us if we’re deliberate, thoughtful and humble about the course we choose to take.
