Following Your Passion (Blowing It Scenario #128).

The Sage Advice Of The The Mediocre, The Entitled, And The Very Rare Lucky Few.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to make a living traveling the world, eating amazing food, relaxing on beaches, celebrating the good life with my friends all along the way. That would be doing what I love. Sure there are ways to obtain such a lifestyle and when I get to that point I’ll be sure to look back on my assension and tell you to just follow your passion but I assure you it will be a false claim.

In order to get anywhere in life we have to put in work. And unless hard work in whatever endeavor is truly your passion. You are going to have to do things you don’t outright love to do in order better yourself and your station in life. That will be the cost. Paid for in blood sweat and tears and your incredibly valuable time. If you want to build a business or gain muscle you don’t simply follow your passion of binge watching Netflix. You work your ass off for it. Some may love the gym and others may love building businesses and every little thing that goes into it. The marketing, the accounting, the long hours, the human resources, the management of others, the web design, the sales, the product development, and all the other things that go into starting and running a business. If you’re passionate about each and every minute detail, congratulations you’re a rare breed. But for most, I guarantee you will find one or two things you absolutely despise to do. You will just have to do them in order to get ahead.

Steve Jobs once said follow your passion in a commencement speech to recent college grads. This man, who by all accounts was one of the most tenaciously competitive business people on the planet. Do you think someone like that wants hungry college grads eager to make a name for themselves, to challenge his supremacy? That’s a message to lull you into this complacent fantasy that you may never break free from. This idea of do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life is the best way to hurt the thing you love. Here’s the true advice, feel free to follow your passion but be willing to sacrifice other things you might love or be passionate about along the way. Sometimes you can develop passion through hard work. And sometimes when you’re truly passionate about something you’ll put in the hard work. More often than not though life is about not always doing things you love. That sugar coated message has brought about a whole generation of flaky entitled individuals. I know because I once believed this to be the path. You can easily go through life on an endless passion hunt. When one of your “passions” stops being something you “love.” It’s on to the next shiny object you fancy, that you can fixate upon until your next passion strikes you. And the cycle continues. Just do the work, passion can be a control point that you construct your dream around but don’t allow it to be the basis of all that you do. Something’s will be a struggle, learn to grow a passion for that struggle. Don’t simply follow your passion, guide it.



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