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The Neat Lifestyle Podcast
#21: Is Following Your Passion Really Bad Advice?
I was reading a few articles on the web stating that following your passion would be bad advice. With all due respect to those who advocate for this belief, I think differently, and I will tell you why. Let's analyze two opposing theories about following your passion together so you can draw your own conclusions. You won't want to miss that. Listen now!
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Credits:
Song: Green Lights
Performed By: DLP
Written by: Daniel Labate (BMI 100%)
Published by: Boss Soundstripe Productions (BMI 100%)
Song (Trailer): Epic Hybrid Trailer Music
Performed by: by 2CoolFire
Licensed by: Envato Market
Cover Photo: Angela Clifton Photography
Hair and Make-up: Casey J. Cheek
This is The Neat Lifestyle Podcast, episode number 21. In today's episode, I will answer the question: "Is following your passion really bad advice?" So, stay tuned.
Welcome to The Neat Lifestyle Podcast. My name is Katia Mesquita. I'm a life coach, an online business entrepreneur, and your host on this weekly variety show. I'm excited to bring you an extra dose of inspiration to get organized, find, and go after what you really want. My goal in this podcast is to help you achieve a more successful, harmonious, and meaningful life. I can't wait to connect with you today. Thank you so much for tuning in, and now let's begin. Hello and welcome to The New Lifestyle Podcast, now present in 42 countries worldwide. Oh my goodness, thank you so much for listening and sticking with me, and I want to warmly welcome those arriving for the first time, people who are not even used to listen to podcasts that much. They are now realizing that podcast is about making choices about what they want to hear. So many people are getting into their cars to drive and commute, and instead of listening to any random talk shows that sometimes don't add values or a lot of commercials, they are discovering podcasts as a way to choose what type of content they want to spend their time listening to. People who value their time and want to listen to enriching content, something insightful that can really make a difference in their lives, and this is exactly what I intended to do in this podcast, and I hope you'll get the most out of it.
I'm your host, Katia Mesquita, and is following your passion really bad advice? Hmm, let's think a little bit together about it. I was recently reading some stuff on the web when I suddenly was challenged by a statement that considered following your passion to be something outdated, an outdated concept, and supposedly a bad advice. And I was like, hmm, with all due respect to those who advocate for people search just for what they are good at, I think differently, and I will tell you why. But before I jump in, let me just make a little bit of a disclaimer. What I'm discussing here are general reflections based on books and articles I read and personal experiences and should not be taken as personal advice whatsoever, okay? With that said, let's get back to the episode.
I understand and agree that not everybody knows what they are passionate about, but until they discover their passion, they can still work with something related to what sparks their curiosity, something that is part of their interest. Some people, especially the young, need to experience different things to be able to find out what their passion is. It's absolutely normal, and if they need to work right away to pay their bills before knowing their passion, it's totally fine to get started with what sparkles their curiosity, or they believe they may enjoy or simply what they are willing to do until they find out. And there is nothing wrong about changing their job after they figure out what their passion is. I also understand and agree that we can change our passion over time as we evolve and develop different interests, but I believe it's not supposed to be a reason not to follow what we are passionate about.
The problem is when people talk about working with what they are passionate about, they just consider one of the three essential elements needed to have this fulfillment with work. They only think about passion or they only think about what they are good at, and this is not enough. They need to combine three essential elements to make it work. Passion is just one of these elements, and it's an important one. Finding fulfillment with work starts with passion but doesn't end with passion. So, the first element is passion, the second element is proficiency, and the third element is what people are willing to pay for. These three elements must come together. Passion: if you haven't found passion yet, at least you can find something that sparkles your curiosity or interests you to start with.
About the second element, proficiency, it's about finding what you are really good at among those things or activities you enjoy or you are passionate about, but proficient with the skills in a way that people can recognize that. You get people's recognition. It's not like your mother's or relatives' recognition, of course, or at least what they can develop proficiency. And they should also know that whatever they are passionate about and they are not proficient at, they can still do as a hobby. And there is another thing that I don't usually hear people saying is that, for instance, it's very common people love music, okay? But of course, not everybody is proficient with being a singer, but they can still work with something related to what they love if they are not proficient singing. They can find and develop proficiency in another activity related to singing or related to music in general because this is the industry related to their passion. So, sometimes they find passion teaching people, sometimes they find passion producing something. It's a matter of trying, testing, experiencing different things and, have fun, and have great experiences. The thing is that many people give up too soon because whatever they are passionate about, they usually put on a pedestal, and they believe is something so up high, difficult to reach, out of the reach, that they don't even proceed.
And about the third element, which is what people are willing to pay for, you are going to find out after the testing phase of your offering or proposal. One of the exercises I usually do with my coaching clients, whether they are entrepreneurs working independently or they want to find a job in the industry they are passionate about, is to draw a Venn diagram with three circles intersecting each other, creating a common spot in the middle. In the first circle, they put a list of industries and activities in those industries they enjoy or they are passionate about, and if they are not sure what they're passionate about, they list some activities that spark their curiosity and interest.
And in the second circle, which is the circle of proficiency, they choose one or two activities that besides being part of circle one, whatever they're passionate or interested about, they are really good at, or they are getting the skills and becoming very good at to the point of getting recognition for that, and they put in circle number two. And in the third circle, they will put what people are willing to pay for, which they will find out after the testing phase of their offering or proposals, but it's still related to what they put in circle two.
So, they are going to see whatever they are good at or whatever they are getting good at, and they are gonna create a couple of offers to test in the market before they stick with that passion. We run this testing phase with their offering or proposals within my workshop, I have a workshop called Work with Passion, and they get super excited to find out the combination of elements they need to make their project of working with passion, bring them money and fulfillment at the same time. And if they find another passion over time, as they evolve, it will still be okay because they already know how it works, and things keep getting even more exciting about the future.
But what does being passionate about certain activity mean? Some dictionaries define passion as, and I'm going to quote them here, some of them define as strong and barely controlled emotion. Others define as "intense emotion, compiling action or as strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. I partially agree, but my definition of passion when it comes to doing something, especially work, is a consistent, strong liking for, a desire or interest in something for an extended period of time. It's not something that you want to do today, and tomorrow, you wake up and don't want anymore. A passion is something that keeps intriguing you over time and something that gives you joy. It starts with curiosity and persists. It sparks in you the desire to spend more time doing that, exploring, learning about, and getting even more involved, getting better at it.
It gets your willingness to overcome challenges for it and so on. I don't usually stick with the definitions given by dictionaries. I like to take into consideration my experiences, and elaborate my own definitions and discuss with people who are thought leaders and have their own definitions of things. I love people who think by themselves and add value. I love it when my listeners tell me their definitions of things based on their areas of expertise. I love people who question things and who act as scientists. And by the way, speaking of scientists, I kind of disagree with some definitions I found for the word scientist. According to some dictionaries, scientist is "a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences." And then you go, okay, what if the person is studying or has expert knowledge of some phenomena or theories that are not limited to what they call natural or physical science?
What happened is that they just get the label of pseudo-scientists as if they were fake. And it simply makes no sense because it implies that for someone to be considered as scientist, the person needs to be limited only to certain areas, which means that a person who is studying something beyond, something still unknown to them or still unknown to the world or unexplored, don't get to be recognized as scientists. And the weird thing is that they are not even valued as theorists. And so what if a theory is still inaccurate? They can be enhanced, they can be repurposed for some other theory that can be more accurate. I believe that great thoughts can be built upon inaccurate theories after they are enhanced. So I don't usually disqualify theories of people. They are certainly valuable for me as they may pave the way for great theories. That's one of the reasons I value reading superseded theories. Anyway, I love to listen to those who are usually described as pseudo-scientists. I like to listen what they have to say.
Anyway, I don't want to deviate from the topic, but why am I coming up with all of this? It's because the solution proposed by those who believe following your passion would be bad advice is to work with just what you're good at, period. And I have been there, and it didn't work for me. I experienced that working 10 years as an attorney and being unhappy. And as many of you know, I also spent some time here in the US cleaning and organizing homes, which was not my passion as well, but I had to do it the best I could. I became very good at it. In the beginning, it was okay, and I was willing to do it because I was basically in survival mode. But after a while, it was unsustainable. I started to feel completely unhappy about it. And you know what happens when we start to work feeling unhappy, that thing we used to do very well, we start to not to do it so well anymore. Passion is also pretty much taken into consideration among highly successful CEOs like Michael Hyatt, Skylar Lewis, and so many other good ones. And that's why, to me, following your passion is not bad advice at all as long as we combine with the other two elements, which are proficiency and what people are willing to pay for, and, of course, as long as it's moral and legal.
Okay, that's all for today. And remember, this podcast was meant to give you insights to enhance your life in many different areas. So, you are invited to listen to previous episodes. They were built to remain up to date, so you can listen to them as your weekly dose of inspiration or just scroll through them and see which topics inspire you. I hope you received some value. If you did, please send me a DM on Instagram. Let me know how this episode spoke to you. Tell me about your experiences working with or without passion, your definition of passion. I can't wait to know. The link to my Instagram is in the show notes of this episode. I'm Katia Mesquita, and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye!
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you liked what you heard today, be sure to share it with those you care about so they can also benefit from it. If you aren't already following me on social media, do so by clicking on the link on the show notes or simply by visiting my website at neatlifestyle.com. I appreciate you so much. I hope you have an amazing day. I'll see you in the next episode of The Neat Lifestyle Podcast.