"Follow Your Passion" Is Rotten Advice

What a lot of people ask themselves when they reach college or graduate is “What am I going to do now?” Most of them give the same answer: “Follow your passion.” I grew up believing that chasing mine would put me on the path to the life that was written for me.

ROTTEN ADVICE

There are 4 elements to consider before you share this wrong phrase with your kids or friends:

Interests & Passions are not fixed
Passion is different from Talent
It does not take the market into account
It limits your options and opportunities

1- Interests and Passions are not fixed

Human beings grow. Over a lifetime you will get passionate about many things: arts, sports, science, money, public relations… it depends on each person. Now if we look at the most popular fantasies such as singing, painting, acting, becoming a YouTuber/influencer, how many people actually make it? And how many people still have that same interest from age 18 to 35? Over the years people do not stick with the same dream. What looks like the right path at 18 changes with life experience. One of my clients decided to become a doctor after studying acting because he could not save a person’s life in a car crash while waiting for the ambulance. Nothing stays fixed over time.

2- Passion ≠ Talent

For many years I played basketball. Almost every teammate’s dream was to go pro and play in the NBA as adults. The problem was that even after training 20 hours a week they never reached that level. A few became professionals in Europe, but they represent 1% (at best) of everyone who dreamed of going pro. Your talent does not necessarily match your passion. I am very passionate about music, theater, and traditional arts in general. But I cannot paint, I cannot sing, I cannot play instruments. My talent lies in human relationships, analyzing projects and situations, reading people, numbers, and conversation. I never would have imagined ending up where I am now if someone had told me 15 years ago, yet here I am. I found what I am good at, practiced it, improved it, and I keep growing on this path that lets me help far more people than if I had stayed on a hopeless track like basketball.

3- It does not take the market into account

Many people think their passion is the center of the universe. Because it matters to them, they assume everyone else thinks the same way. The reality is that there are still people passionate about 80s/90s technology, still people passionate about 70s disco, still people passionate about many fads that disappeared. And when those fads disappeared, the market where money could be made in those times disappeared too.

In the same way, some trends are very special niches that reach or interest very few people. Take Kodak as an example. A company that existed from 1888 to 2012 was an empire for many years. But the market niche slowly shrank with the arrival of digital cameras, the disappearance of printed photos, and so on. The company no longer held the interest of the global population because people moved to something more convenient. The market let Kodak die after more than 120 years in operation.

4- It limits your options and opportunities

The same thing happened to me for many years. When I was focused on building a sports career, I did not want to hear anything from anyone. My parents wanted to open my eyes to opportunities that came up such as working in science, computing, business… I never cared until I tore a knee and they told me I would never play again.

In the end it was a blessing. As soon as that door closed, dozens opened and gave me the chance to choose something to do without limiting myself. I studied economics, business, accounting, and computing at the same time without knowing what I wanted to do. And it was during a study internship at a company that I discovered what I really wanted to do: help companies. Do not lock onto your passion without trying and failing at other windows of opportunity. It is important to give any opportunity a chance so you can truly discover 1) what you are good at, 2) what you feel comfortable doing. Then a passion will develop with experience.

It is important to understand that your passion today will not be tomorrow’s. And especially: if your passion came from admiring someone who is passionate about a certain activity, you should not imitate them. A passion develops within yourself. It is not found in others. When you follow someone else, the passion will gradually fade without you being able to control it. It is something unique to each human being.

A passion develops within yourself. It is not found in others.
— D. Soitout