The popular idea is to follow your passion and money will come. But when starting out, this is impractical. People hire you for skills, not passion. Instead of finding passionate work, build career capital. Once you have capital, use it to gain control and do meaningful work. That's the smart path to a fulfilling career. Don't seek work you love. Be so good they can't ignore you. Conventional wisdom to follow passion is flawed. For many it causes job shifting and angst when reality falls short. Working right beats finding right work. It frees you from catchphrases like "follow your passion" that cause confusion. It provides a realistic path to engagement. Focus on excelling so opportunities come to you. That beats chasing elusive dream jobs. With skills, you can eventually do more fulfilling work. But first build leverage by becoming invaluable. That's the pragmatic road to an enjoyable and meaningful career.
The common advice to find happiness in your career by matching your job to your preexisting passions is flawed for most people. This "passion hypothesis" sets unrealistic expectations that lead to disappointment. In his famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Steve Jobs told graduates, "You've got to find what you love." He urged them to keep looking until they find fulfilling work aligned with their passions. This speech has been viewed over 3.5 million times on YouTube, cementing the passion hypothesis in popular culture. The problem is that when you examine how passionate people like Steve Jobs really built their careers, the story is much more complicated. Jobs never planned to start a technology company or change the world. He and Steve Wozniak started selling circuit boards to make money so Jobs could pay his tuition at the Los Altos Zen Center. When a local shop owner offered to buy fully assembled computers instead of plain boards, Jobs and Wozniak jumped at the chance. Apple Computer was born from this lucky break, not preexisting passion. If Jobs had followed his own advice to only pursue work he loved, he likely would have become a popular teacher at the Zen Center. Passion is quite rare in reality. Most careers unfold in ambiguous, messy ways rather than following grand plans. People often stumble into their specialty by accident, then find they have an aptitude. Research on the passion hypothesis reveals: In a study of Canadian college students, less than 4 percent had passions linked to specific careers. This low percentage seems accurate for the general population. A Yale study found the most passionate workers were those who had stuck around long enough to become highly skilled. Passion often emerges over time rather than being a prerequisite. A 40-year study on human motivation called Self-Determination Theory found competence leads to passion. If you become exceptionally good at something through practice, you gain autonomy and feel your work is meaningful. Telling young graduates to "follow their passion" sets them up for disappointment. When passion fails to emerge, they end up aimless and full of self-doubt. Happiness is a byproduct of other factors, not a goal in itself. Focusing too hard on forcing passion can prevent it from developing naturally. While a lucky few have careers aligned with preexisting passions, this is exceedingly rare. Out of America's professional athletes, perhaps 5,000 fall into this category. But for most people, following your passion is impractical advice. If your passion doesn't align with skills valued by employers, building a sustainable career around it will be very difficult. Conventional wisdom promotes unrealistic expectations about finding happiness through passion. A better approach recognizes that fulfillment usually emerges slowly through competence and contribution. With hard work over time, you can find satisfaction and meaning in your career, even if you don't have a preexisting passion for the field. Rather than obsess over finding the perfect job, focus on getting better at helping people through your work. Fulfillment will follow.
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