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Mike Row has been touting this philosphy for quite some time now: Don't Pursue Your Passion. Chase Opportunity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KF0AN4H3U8 ht

Mike Row has been touting this philosphy for quite some time now: Don't Pursue Your Passion. Chase Opportunity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KF0AN4H3U8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KF0AN4H3U8

nine_k 4y ago
Doing only things that you otherwise despise but which advance you somehow is also a way to a major depression, or some other mental injury. OTOH diving head-first into your passion and ignoring everything else, including such things as the need to earn a subsistence, is also a recipe for disaster in all but very few exceptional cases. I'd say there is a middle way, of doing something of what the opportunity pushes at you, but selecting from it the bits that have a glint of what you enjoy doing. Sometimes you get better opportunities, sometimes worse, but you move in the general direction of your, well, "passion". Being good at making enough money and/or freeing enough time by doing something which typically is not 100% your passion, you eventually obtain resources to indulge in your passion directly in your free time.
- guntherhermann 4y ago
  > Doing only things that you otherwise despise but which advance you somehow is also a way to a major depression, or some other mental injury. > OTOH diving head-first into your passion and ignoring everything else, including such things as the need to earn a subsistence, is also a recipe for disaster in all but very few exceptional cases. I think this presents a false dichotomy and isn't really what I tend to see in my generation in my country. What I personally see is a generation of people who were brought up on "do what you love", "follow your passion", who then went on to study degrees in things they enjoyed (photographic art, english lit., contemporary dance, illustration, to name a few). After 4 years of racking up tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt they all now work in call centres, warehouses, office administration. I.E, dead-end jobs that provide no passion. A number of them are being medically treated for anxiety & depression. I think instead if of "Do / study / follow your passion" we taught the matra of "be practical, find a career that pays well, has room for learning new skills, challenges you in interesting ways but it might not be the thing you love dearest" would have lead my generation to study degrees or enter trades that provided a pathway for a rewarding career, both fiscally and mentally. I'm passionate about computer science, but my real passion isn't writing middleware services for B2B customers. I do it because there's still interesting challenges, it's an outlet for my skillset and it pays well.
psiops 4y ago
Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you. The last part is important.

Mike Row has been touting this philosphy for quite some time now: Don't Pursue Your Passion. Chase Opportunity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KF0AN4H3U8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KF0AN4H3U8

nine_k 4y ago

Doing only things that you otherwise despise but which advance you somehow is also a way to a major depression, or some other mental injury. OTOH diving head-first into your passion and ignoring everything else, including such things as the need to earn a subsistence, is also a recipe for disaster in all but very few exceptional cases. I'd say there is a middle way, of doing something of what the opportunity pushes at you, but selecting from it the bits that have a glint of what you enjoy doing. Sometimes you get better opportunities, sometimes worse, but you move in the general direction of your, well, "passion". Being good at making enough money and/or freeing enough time by doing something which typically is not 100% your passion, you eventually obtain resources to indulge in your passion directly in your free time.

guntherhermann 4y ago
> Doing only things that you otherwise despise but which advance you somehow is also a way to a major depression, or some other mental injury. > OTOH diving head-first into your passion and ignoring everything else, including such things as the need to earn a subsistence, is also a recipe for disaster in all but very few exceptional cases. I think this presents a false dichotomy and isn't really what I tend to see in my generation in my country. What I personally see is a generation of people who were brought up on "do what you love", "follow your passion", who then went on to study degrees in things they enjoyed (photographic art, english lit., contemporary dance, illustration, to name a few). After 4 years of racking up tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt they all now work in call centres, warehouses, office administration. I.E, dead-end jobs that provide no passion. A number of them are being medically treated for anxiety & depression. I think instead if of "Do / study / follow your passion" we taught the matra of "be practical, find a career that pays well, has room for learning new skills, challenges you in interesting ways but it might not be the thing you love dearest" would have lead my generation to study degrees or enter trades that provided a pathway for a rewarding career, both fiscally and mentally. I'm passionate about computer science, but my real passion isn't writing middleware services for B2B customers. I do it because there's still interesting challenges, it's an outlet for my skillset and it pays well.

psiops 4y ago

Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you. The last part is important.