"DO WHAT YOU LOVE" HAS BECOME A CAREER MANTRA, BUT IS IT A FORMULA FOR REAL SUCCESS?
"Follow your passion," might be the most common career guidance, but it is actually bad advice.
The theory that following your passion leads to success first surfaced in the '70s, and in the intervening decades it’s taken on the character of indisputable fact. The catch? Most people’s passions have little connection to work or education, meaning passionate skiers, dancers, and readers run into problems. In a culture that tells people to transform their passions into lucrative careers via will-driven alchemy, it’s no wonder so much of today’s workforce suffers from endless job swapping and professional discontent.
In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport exposes the Passion Trap and offers up advice about how not following your passions will ultimately lead to satisfaction. The following four tips will help you put yourself on the path to professional fulfillment.
DON’T DO WHAT YOU LOVE. LEARN TO LOVE WHAT YOU DO.
It seems that one of the most important factors in career contentment is simply experience. In a job satisfaction survey of college administrative assistants--work traditionally considered repetitive or “boring”--a third of respondents considered their position a “job,” merely a way to pay the bills. Another third deemed it a “career,” or a path towards something better. The final third, though--incidentally, also those who’d spent the most time doing this type of work--considered it their calling or an integral part of their life and identity.
The takeaway: Be patient. Passion comes with mastery and time.
ADOPT A CRAFTSMAN’S MINDSET.
People with the passion mindset ask “What do I really want?” which breeds an obsession with whether or not a job is “right” for them. They become minutely aware of everything they dislike about their work and their job satisfaction and happiness plummets. By contrast, the craftsman’s mindset acknowledges that no matter what field you’re in, success is always about quality. Once you’re focused on the quality of the work you’re doing now rather than whether or not it’s right for you, you won’t hesitate to do what is necessary to improve it.
The takeaway: Make the quality of what you do your primary focus.
PRACTICE HARD AND GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.
So, how do you become the craftsman? You practice.
A chess player must devote roughly 10,000 hours to becoming a master. Once that level has been reached, however, the real pros continue not just to practice, but to do it smarter. They study seriously and engage in what Newport terms deliberate practice. In the case of the chess player, deliberate practice might mean studying difficult theoretical chess problems well out of the established comfort zone.
The takeaway: Although deliberate practice is often strenuous and uncomfortable, it’s the only path to true mastery.
ACQUIRING RARE AND VALUABLE SKILLS.
The craftsman mindset drives you to acquire and refine special skills. People with rare skills are more likely to get great jobs in which they’re allowed creativity and control. Also known as career capital, they’re what help set you apart.
For example: A new app company hires two product designers. Ned’s a bit of a newbie to digital and has a background in illustration and print design; he was hired for his great eye. Dan, however, seriously studied app design and, realizing its importance a few years back, worked to become a whizkid at code. When the company hits a rough financial patch and someone needs to go, it’s Ned who gets let go. Why? Dan had the rare and valuable skill.
The takeaway: Improve the quality of whatever you do--and if that means acquiring a valuable compatible skill, do it. All the more career capital for you.
Though following your passion is today’s ideal, it often won’t get you anywhere but frustrated. Focus instead on acquiring unique skills and refining the quality of what you do with the focus of a devoted craftsman. You’ll be well on your way to cultivating not only a satisfying career, but a new, rarer kind of practical passion built on commitment, mastery, and pride.
[Image: Flickr user Zemlinki!]
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- This article is predicated on a fundamental error in logic. The vast majority of people do not have ENDURING passions when it comes to interests. In fact, you take any hobby that someone loves beyond reckoning and make them work at it for 8+ hours a day and it will be a short trip to hating Mondays again AND they will have lost their hobby to boot. The human brain is wired to stop producing dopamine once something is learned to the degree of being second nature. Your physiology will not release mood enhancing chemicals in response to stimuli that are extremely familiar. Human interaction, conversely, will continue to produce various neurotransmitters that create engagement, positive or negative. People who have done the same boring job for many years and consider it a calling have a) found a way to keep learning and finding NEW stimuli in that job, b) have a job that requires a lot of interpersonal contact, or c) they have below average intelligence. Novelty is engagement.
- Follow your passion is a very idealistic way of thinking especially in North America. The truth is that in life, the 80-10-10 rule applies. 80 percent of the time work is routine, 10 percent we hate, 10 percent we enjoy. we just need to amplify the 10 perfect we love.For instance, a "starving" artist will follow his passion but with out business acumen will likely live a horrible life.
- As someone who has taken the recommended path and reaped a lifetime of frequent career dissatisfaction, I couldn't disagree more with this article.Part of the problem is failure to differentiate between passion - which to me implies a personal sense of meaningfulness - and simple enjoyment. I may enjoy sleeping in on weekends and doing the Sunday crossword, but clearly nobody is going to get paid to do that. Superficial pleasures, of which we all have many, don't imply passion. The key is identifying what activities give your life a deeper sense of meaning or purpose, and then - no easy task, but necessary - figuring out in what environments consonant with your values you might be paid for engaging in these.That said, it's helpful to (at least attempt to) perform any task, regardless of how small or mundane, with a sense of mindfulness and awareness, and to do it as well as we can.
- It's True that "Be patient. Passion comes with mastery and time", but Which one you want to pursue. It has to be the one you love doing, or you care about.From my experience, forcing myself to grow passion from things i'm not into has lead to frustration, since has weak foundation. I believe there are may choices out there. So what I did, I reset my self, quit my job, learn new passion, grow it into skill, and create new business out of it.Many has underestimate passion since it's a bit overrated. I think Passion is the fundamental base of great works & creation.
- I disagree that you should learn to love what you do even if you don't find it your passion. I used to sell insurance and investments for 16 years. I tried every which way to love it, learn it, master it, but I could not make myself do it. I switched to training people in career transition and it was infinitely more enjoyable and used my natural gifts of public speaking and workshop facilitation. This latter work was much more aligned with my values, my skills and talents, and who I am a s a person. However, I do agree that mastery takes patience and continual development, but doing it in an area you love, is so much more enjoyable and therefore motivating!
- Joyce - you make a good point. There are some occupations that you simply will not and cannot be passionate about. For me the answer has been in shades of grey. At the high level (when deciding "what" to do for a job or career) I focus on broad areas that appeal to me, knowing none will be perfect. At a daily level (when deciding "how" to do my job) I focus on making the most out of it.Every job or career will have some aspect we don't like or would prefer to avoid. But that's life. And it's probably good for us. The key (for me, at least) has been to ensure my career and occupation align with my values and motivation while looking for opportunities every day to enjoy what I do and to contribute in a way that is meaningful to me.
- Wow I disagree with this article. Passion comes later?? So not true. You know what you are right for when you love it even if you aren't great at it in the beginning. From this perspective, anyone can love doing anything if they just work hard and master it. I'm an amazing video editor and have been paid a ton of money for it. But I found out I didn't have the passion for it so I left and have never been happier. I started following my passion and I can't wait to go to work in the morning. This is just a really silly idea.
- I do not think it is simply a choice between one or the other. To start with you must always put your heart and soul in to what you do; whether you are passionate about it or not, and do it to the best of your ability; always striving to improve.The key difference with following your passion is that you must decide what you are willing to give up pursuing it. Following your passion may involve less money, no perks and giving up many luxuries that a boring but salaried job could afford you. However, if you passion makes you happier, less stressed and allows you to spend more time with the people you want to then maybe the trade-offs are worth it.Ultimately, it is always a choice each of us need to make BUT with consequences that we must be willing to accept and live with. Or you will always be miserable no matter what you do...
- I think passion is often confused with motivation, which is a more useful term to apply to career. It refers to the general willingness or desire someone has to do a particular thing. In this article, the focus is put on a skill or craft. There is a certain innate pleasure in learning to perform a job well, to master a skill. And most people will settle for an extrinsic reward for applying that skill in a job. But, just because we do something well, doesn’t mean we enjoy doing it day in and day out, as several people have commented. A ‘can do’ skill is not the same thing as a natural talent that energizes rather than drains us. When are motivation is intrinsic, then we are more likely to persist with that career even in the face of significant challenges, or take less money, or put up with lousy job circumstances. Furthermore, our skill set is only one part of our motivational pattern. Understanding our pattern and how it correlates to jobfit increases job satisfaction.
- Without passion you don't have a true connection to what you are doing. You may excel at it, you may master the skills but without passion your rewards are monetary or other inward rewards.With passion even after working 16 hour days you go home and do more of it, research it, discuss it with friends, blog about it. In other words you own it to the core of your being and nothing can separate you from that passion. It's not just what you can get from it but what you can contribute to it.Not everyone needs to be a leader, a Mark Zuckerberg, the next pop star to feed their passions. If you think that then you have completely misunderstood what passion is all about.
- I am somewhat torn about how to feel about the article overall. I definitely agree that if you approach your career with an attitude of chronic dissatisfaction, then you are just going to be frustrated waiting for the "right" opportunity that never comes. I agree that we need to work hard, invest the time to gain mastery in a job and look for ways to provide a unique skill set to the job we do. However, I still think following your passion is important.I took a "break" from following my passion several years ago after a series of heartbreaking setbacks and learned a new trade. I worked hard and went into it 100% even though I knew it wasn't something that I wasn't passionate about at the start. And several years later, I still found the job largely unfulfilling. I have now gone back to my original course. I don't regret the detour and I learned a lot, but despite the mastery and time investment and unique skills, I never spontaneously developed a passion for it.
- Thanks for a thought-provoking piece! As a career coach whose worked with over 10,000 professional women and written a book (Breakdown Breakthrough) about the 12 hidden crises working women face today, I can say this without hesitation - doing the above is great, but it's far better when you have passion for the outcome -- when what you're doing is meaningful and purposeful to you. Sheer mastery and excellence at your work simply doesn't achieve that. I was masterful at my corporate work, but hated much of it. In other words, it's doing work that you care about deeply -- giving form to your life goals while being of service to others in ways that matter to you -- that's what gives you the staying power to gain mastery and excellence. I help thousands of folks each year do that, and make great money at work they love AND are masterful at. It's not a pipedream - it's a very real possibility. if you take the right steps. Thanks!
- Life is about living, success and happiness are two different words with their own meaning, haven't we seen even unsuccessful dancers and singers living the real life just because they love their things and nothing else matters to them.Also, now in this social world, i really doubt making your passion your career is difficult, haven't we heard of those singers who started from their home and youtube , and now known worldwide, and those aren't known, weren't either passionate enough, or passionate about their passion but not making them career which isn't bad too.I believe its a law of nature, when you love something, and are passionate about it, the whole world gets together with its positive vibes, to ensure you get it, only thing which we need is to differentiate passion and hobby. Living someone else's life, becoming someone else by doing something you aren't passionate abt, may make us successful, but only for others, would we perceive ourselves as successful, i won't.
- This is interesting because it's the age old dilemna of searching for meaning versus creating meaning for yourself. I come down on the latter and therefore enjoyed this article. I think if you are always searching / struggling to find your passion, you potentially miss out on the small things in life that bring you joy. And happiness is all about the small things, not the big things. Read Matthew Syed's Bounce and it talks all about the importance of hardwork, mastery and he's an ex world class ping pong player. Was he passionate about ping pong? Of course, but he worked at it and got the satisfaction from mastery and the success it brought down the line. Good article, thank you.
- I've read a lot of hate speech, maybe these people have a better idea. But I find this article great. It's true... you have to know your strengths first to know exactly your passion is. A good example might be like this: If your passion is singing and do not possess a great voice to begin with, you might consider tapping on your other talents.; probably music production. Master that skill and that's passion
- This article was frustrating to read because I disagree with so much of it. To 'follow your passion' may take a long time with unclear directions, but the goal is what keeps us going! Of course we should make the most of the journey by developing valuable skills, but that shouldn't be the goal in and of itself.The administrative assistants pointed out who consider their work a calling likely stayed in their jobs for the longest /because/ they're passionate about what they do, not the other way around.For people asking “What do I really want?”, the answer is often to keep trying and discovering different things, NOT staying at a boring job for years and forcing themselves to be 'practically passionate' about paperwork.
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