When I was a kid, I didn’t really have any passions perhaps beyond hockey, and while I dreamed of it, I was never delusional enough to think I’d make the NHL. I didn’t have a single burning interest that guided my choices. I wasn’t a born doctor or dream chef. I stumbled into work the way most people do: by accident.
I started in the jewellery business as an extension of my part-time job in high school, got bored around age 22, and then went to tech school for the sole reason that my brother was already enrolled, and it seemed like an ok idea to move to Toronto and do that. There was no grand plan. No following of passion. My first job was equally opportunistic and lacking in any strategic justification.
And that’s precisely the point. We’ve been sold a fantasy that career success starts with passion. Find what you love, and the money will follow. I mean, can these people be wrong?
"Follow your passion. Do what you love, and the money will follow. Most people don't believe it, but it's true."
"In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love."
"Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally."
What they don’t mention is that only 2% of professional actors make a living from their craft without supplementary employment. Chasing success by following your passion is more likely to spoil it, turning it into a thing you do for (little) money, but no longer love.
The Great Passion Lie
“Follow your passion” is the feel-good lie of modern work culture. It sounds empowering, but as Scott Galloway says, it’s “advice from the already rich.”
The people telling you to follow your passion often made their fortune in unglamorous fields, then they turn around and tell others to chase their bliss. The irony is that most people, like yours truly at age 20+, can’t identify a single passion to follow. Research conducted in 2008 by Stanford psychologist William Damon found that only 20% of people under 26 can articulate one.
Even when people do have a passion, it’s usually something creative, such as acting, music, or design. These fields are brutally competitive and financially unforgiving.
Follow Your Talent, and Passion Will Follow
Talent is observable and testable. You can measure progress, earn feedback, and build momentum. When you get good at something, recognition and rewards follow, and you’re very likely to gain passion as a result of your success.
Very few people dream of being a high-value software salesperson, or the VP of Operations at an energy company, but when you get to the top of these domains, life is actually very good, fueling the passion in a positive feedback loop.
As Galloway says, “Mastery begets passion. Success creates enthusiasm. Economic security multiplies options.”
Mark Cuban Agrees
Cuban puts it bluntly, “No. Follow your effort. No one quits anything they’re good at. If I followed my passion, I’d still be trying to play professional basketball.” Cuban’s point is that passion follows excellence. When you invest consistent effort in something you do well, the resulting success and mastery ignite passion.
Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You, backs this up with research. He found no evidence that matching your job to a pre-existing passion makes people happier or more successful. What actually leads to satisfaction at work are three factors:
- Autonomy: Control over what you do and when
- Mastery: The pursuit of excellence
- Relationships: Working with people you respect
Notice that none of these depend on starting with passion. In fact, I’ve got a whole post on what makes for satisfied employees.
The Contrarian Nuance
Not everyone dismisses passion entirely. Some argue we’ve misunderstood it. The word comes from the Latin pati, meaning to suffer. Real passion isn’t just enthusiasm. It’s what you’re willing to endure hardship for. That kind of passion emerges from deep commitment, not from chasing excitement. Like what it takes to become a virtuoso or an elite athlete.
And for some, passion doesn’t have to come from their career at all. Your work might fund your passion. You don’t have to love the business if it gives you the life you love.
Passion Is Dangerous for Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, passion can be blinding. It gives false confidence and leads people to ignore fundamentals like margins, market demand, and scale.
If you love coffee, that doesn’t mean you should open a café. If you’re obsessed with fashion, that doesn’t mean a boutique is the right move. The graveyard of failed startups is littered with people who loved their idea more than their customers did. I read this 30 years ago in The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. Passion will cause you to think more about working in the business than on the business.
Instead of asking, “What am I passionate about?” ask:
- What am I good at that others value?
- Where can I achieve mastery faster than competitors?
- What problems can I solve profitably and repeatedly?
That’s where sustainable businesses live—in the overlap of skill, value, and demand.
A Better Way to Think About Passion
Here’s the paradox: passion does matter, but as a result, not a starting point. Once you achieve competence and confidence in a particular area, the work itself becomes rewarding. Passion is what mastery feels like on the inside.
In my own career, I’ve experienced seasons of boredom and burnout, but also flashes of deep engagement that only came after I became proficient in something. Teaching, consulting, and writing all grew out of skills I built first. The passion came later, as a byproduct of mastery.
Passion is a reward
“Follow your passion” sounds romantic, but it’s hollow. It lets you feel purposeful without making the hard choices. The people who build meaningful, prosperous careers do it by following talent, effort, and opportunity.
Get so good they can’t ignore you. Passion will show up right about the time the invoices start getting paid.
If you liked this, you might like this related post about trusting your gut in business.
