Forget Passion
What if it’s not all about passion?
What if we stop trying to figure out what our passions are, and just do things that we enjoy doing?
Maybe this is a hot take, maybe this is a controversial take, or maybe this just kind of makes sense, I have no idea, but I feel like when we start talking about trying to make money, trying to start a business, trying to find work that we want to do, too often the advice is “figure out what you’re passionate about, and the money will follow,” or “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life!”
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
I absolutely hate the idea of monetizing your passion.
I feel that monetizing your passion is the fastest way to burn out and to eventually hate your passion.
There are a lot of things I really, really enjoy doing, things I can get completely lost in, and time just doesn’t matter.
I also know that sometimes, passions fade. You may absolutely LOVE doing something one week, and a few weeks later, your interest just gradually fades. Nothing has happened, it just fades.
Think about the things you absolutely loved as a kid. Do you still love them? No? That’s normal. You grow and change over time.
Think about something you love to do right now. Maybe you absolutely love reading. What happens when you read? You get into the book, you’re vibing with it, loving it.
Now imagine you have to make money off reading the book. You have to think about the work you need to put in, the number of pages you have to read by the deadline, having to prove that you’ve read it.
Your boundaries start to blur.
Suddenly, it’s not as fun.
Suddenly, monetizing your joy doesn’t seem like such a good idea.
My first career was in sexual health education, HIV education and counseling. I absolutely loved it. I was in that profession for several years, and I loved it. However, one day, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was so tired and so burnt out, mentally just fried from putting in so much time and energy into it because I loved it so much. I’ve tried to go back to it a few times, and I just can’t do it.
I feel that it’s extremely important to enjoy whatever business you choose. But, I think you have to be able to step away from it, take a break from it, put it down at 5pm, and walk away until it’s time to work again.
I enjoy writing, but I’m not passionate about it. I’m good at it, I enjoy it – and I can stop when it’s time for the workday to be over, and spend time on other things.
And I’m perfectly happy to monetize my writing skills.