Ask the Readers: Is "Follow Your Passion" Good Advice?
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
Welcome to another Ask the Readers segment.
Today I'd love to hear from you in the comments whether you think "follow your passion" is good advice for either starting a business or choosing a career path.
Over the past few months I have been hearing a lot of discussion about whether or not this advice is flawed. Here are some of the stances I've seen people take.
- Chris Guillebeau talks about the importance of your passion having convergence with what people are willing to pay for in The $100 Startup.
- At WDS a couple weeks ago, Cal Newport gave a keynote talk on why "following your passion" is flawed advice from Steve Jobs' commencement speech.
- My friend Scott Dinsmore runs a course teaching people how to "Live Off Their Passion" that I have heard grand praise for.
- Pat Flynn recently discussed the difference between passion and interest and whether or not you need passion to profit online.
Share your thoughts in the comments below this post.
Last Time on "Ask the Readers"
In our most recent ask the readers discussion I asked, "when is the right time to spend thousands on your business?" My favorite answer came from Sunny:
"I think it’s smart to invest in yourself and your business/passion … as long as you’re committed to it and are willing to put in the effort to make it pay off...
There are a lot of people that will throw money at anything that they think will help motivate them, but don’t realize how much work you actually have to put into building a business. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ll throw at a problem if you’re not willing to back it up with work."
If you're wondering, my wife and I did go ahead and make a large investment on camera gear. :)
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Alright, back to today's question:
I'd love to hear: is "follow your passion" good career/business advice?
If not, what should you be doing instead?
P.S. If you are reading this in an email or RSS, you can comment here.