I heard a very interesting talk by Carl Newport* about how the mantra of “Find your passion, make a living doing it & success will follow” is fundamentally flawed. He gave the example of Steve Jobs. Newport said if you look through Steve Jobs’ life computers wasn’t his first choice as a career & certainly wasn’t a passion. By good fortune he stumbled into it & saw an opportunity to make money.
A lot of people get stuck in this “finding their passion” phase in life & end up feeling lost constantly echoing the words “I don’t know what I want in life”. They end up drifting from job to job or spend many hours strategically picking the perfect job that will pay well but not provide true happiness or fulfilment.
Some people know what they want early in life & some don’t. The ones that do are celebrated & seen as focused whereas the latter are made to feel like slackers or that there’s something wrong with them. They’re told to grow up & that life isn’t about being happy, it’s about the car, the house, the holidays, the family & once you’ve achieved all that, leaving gracefully.
This now cliché phrase of sending people off to go find their passion can be no more than sending someone on a wild goose chase & is particularly hard on those who do not find it in a “reasonable” time frame. Frequently offered up as sage advice to everyone as a solution to what they should do in life has left many feeling lost & disappointed in themselves because they don’t have a “passion” for something.
I have a selection of my favourite sayings on my promotional postcards that I give out at speaking engagements & events. One card says. ‘Self is not something one finds. It is something one creates’ – Thomas Szasz 1920. I believe the same can be said of passion.
There’s a whole world of infinite people to meet, destinations to explore & possibilities to experience & from all that the clock is ticking for you to pick your career, that one thing you are destined to do for the rest of your life …. No pressure then.
How do you know you have a passion for scuba diving or making jewellery from tree bark if you, chance & opportunity didn’t all meet in the same place at a destined moment in time? ….the short answer is….. you don’t! Every day by the way we live each day & approach life we are creating bits of ourselves. From each new experience we are creating passions or discovering things we dislike. It’s only by trying new things can we expose ou
rselves to finding more passions or THE passion. Your passion could be right under your nose or way out in the great blue yonder. It’s only when your passion has come into being from your experiences can you find it. Purposely looking for it or forcing yourself to find it can leave you like a dog chasing its own tail.
Carl Newport’s talk focused on finding something about the job you’re doing now (or choose as your career) & owning it. How one should strive to be the “go to” guy at their job or as he puts it “Be so good they can’t ignore you” as the way to success not trying to find your passion. I take his advice as the perfect backup plan.
In this modern world with so much choice it can be very overwhelming to be told pick one profession by next Thursday & love it for the rest of your life or else you’re a failure.
Many of us fall victim to this & are unfortunate enough to be in jobs we don’t like but cannot put caution to the wind & just quit. Turning not knowing what your passion in life is into a burden you wearily carry around with you or use as an excuse for inaction is not the only alternative to having a passion in life.
Carl Newport’s advice can be used as a steady & reliable map to follow if your are still on that noble quest of finding your passion (AKA finding what truly makes you happy). Carl Newport’s advice can also be a route away from the deep anxiety people who say they have no passion in life sometimes feel. Sometimes it’s better to focus on what you can control than to keep getting depressed over what you can’t. Who knows your passion could be in the place where you least expect it, the very job you’re doing now if your gave it more of a chance and like Carl Newport says in his talk a passion may develop
If you’re not doing the things you’re passionate about making a pilgrimage to go find it may not be the right solution, but at the same time I would never recommend a life devoid of passion just because it paid well. The main point I disagree with Carl Newport’s talk is his acceptance of a career (which could span a lifetime) without passion & that somehow the harder you ignore being unfulfilled & focus on upgrading your skills & the chances of success then a passion will follow, not surprisingly as a life coach I believe to be wrong.
Success can be measured many ways, the road to monetary riches & wealth is what many people long for but unfortunately it’s not a prerequisite for developing passions or even or being truly happy. Imagine a lifelong career without passion or a love for what you’re doing or achieving in life – doesn’t sound good but I suspect is how many people now live their lives without even realising it as they buy more & more consumables confused as to why they’re not happy.
I have no proven facts on this so don’t as for the statistics, but I really believe there are more people who have walked away from the high paying job & corporate rat race because of lack of passion than have stayed. Some have followed their passion & made fortunes while others have lost fortunes but still wouldn’t give up the joy of a passion for life no matter how much you offered.
Passion like most human emotions does not belong in the box marked one size fits all which can sometimes make it really hard to come by. In a consumer lead society such as ours where money equal status & is worshipped and anything that cannot be brought or acquired easily is marginalised as non essential or too much effort passion might seem worthless, but to purposely condition ourselves for a life without a unique passion that truly makes us feel alive for the sake of finding a career quickly, convenience & keeping up with the Jones is not a life truly lived. Passion is such a special part of life, it enriches the journey from cradle to grave & makes life worth living.
Doing the 9 to 5 waiting for your passion.
You must still participate in life to the full.
My advice on finding your passion, like Carl Newport is not to waste time looking for it, but unlike Mr Newport I suggest you live life to the full & go for things that will give you as many experiences as possible. Concentrate more on living a life that makes you smile & always try to follow your heart when it comes to new things not the money. You’ll find its form these experiences that passions are formed & not from doubling down on upgrading skills. If passion is not in the job you are doing now follow Carl Newport’s plan, but not because you can force a passion to show up with determination & hard work but because you should still put effort into your life. A period of not knowing your passion is common for many people but should not let it make you drift in life until you unable to function properly as you wait for it to show up.
Never settle because passion hasn’t shown up yet & don’t live your life in the slow lane waiting for it. You only have one life, don’t let decades of it pass you by.
As for Steve Jobs, I believe somewhere between taking advantage of an opportunity & making money he found his passion, a passion he used to innovate a whole industry. That was Steve Jobs’ route to his passion & not a blueprint for others finding theirs.
So don’t get hung up on finding your passion. Experience life to the full & follow your heart & your passion will, no doubt, find you.
* ‘follow your passion’ is wrong Cal Newport speaks at World Domination Summit 2012
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Saine Grandison 