The concept of following your passion was popularized in a bid to reduce the number of people that were unhappy at their jobs.
Instead of working at a job that you hated, you were supposed to go after that which your heart really wanted which should in turn make it pretty easy to love what you do.
We were, however, not taught the difference between passion and hobbies. Or maybe they tried but just couldn’t figure it out.
Many people mistake passion for hobbies and end up trying to make careers out of things no other person cares about.
It turns out that what should have been the solution to a problem became the source of a somewhat bigger problem.
It used to be that people were unhappy doing work but it at least earned them an income but now they are unhappy because they followed what they thought was their passion and can’t even make an income.
Then arose the camp teaching people to abandon ship completely and forget about following their passion but instead do the work that will earn them the most money.
In a world where survival is of utmost importance and very competitive, it is easy to see why many would choose to go for what they consider the lesser evil.
What I have come to notice is that there is a very thin line between all these things.
The difference between your hobby and your passion is so blurred that a few people have their hobbies as their passion.
In its simplest form, your hobby is what you enjoy doing in your spare time. It may not pay you or put food on your table but it’s something you like to do to relax or while away time.
Passion, however, is about doing something you love. Something you are proud of and enjoy doing. It is always on your mind and unlike your hobby, you really can’t wait till you spare time before you work on it.
What you are passionate about will always be on your mind even when you can’t immediately do anything about it.
The difficulty in figuring out the difference between your hobby and your passion makes me feel like there ought to be another approach.
Instead of attempting to receive this grand revelation of what your passion is, you could start by choosing to work on things you love and enjoy doing.
In the beginning, this may either seem like everything or nothing at all. It’s okay to not have it all figured out especially when you’re still in school.
Learning to love what you do or doing what you love might be more important than the debate surrounding the topic of passion. When you enjoy what you do, you’ll fare better and be more productive.
The key is to not have to grumble every time you remember that you have to get to work.
You might also want to focus on earning a good income early in your career to build a strong enough base for you to launch out to do other things later in life.
In your best interest, while searching for work that pays handsomely, do not forget to choose one that you will enjoy doing.
Money is important but beyond a certain amount, it’s about the satisfaction you derive from what you do. You don’t want to do work grudgingly just because it pays the bills.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs
All work is hard and working on your passion doesn’t make it any less stressful. If you are going to go through all that stress, then make sure it’s for something you enjoy doing!
Culled from my weekly newsletter.
