Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. That’s a piece of famous advice from Confucius and you’ve probably heard it before. The real problem, however, is finding that job you’ll love.
And when your stomach is hungry and the electric bill is due, you are usually left with no choice but to take that job which you don’t like at all – just to make ends meet.
Because after all, the need to survive is more important than the need to pursue your passion. Survival trumps self-fulfillment most, if not all of the time.
Why it’s hard to follow your passion
I asked a friend what his passion is. He answered comic books.
If he is to follow his passion, then he can put up his own comic book store, or probably apply for work in a comic book publishing company.
But if he does that, he’ll need to abandon his job as an insurance agent that earns him a six-digit income every month. Now that’s a hard decision to make, right?
When it’s not practical to follow your passion, then you’re doing it wrong
My friend has been “stuck” in his insurance job for around five years now. But a day never goes without him thinking about comic books.
It’s not practical to pursue his passion, he believes. So I told him that the reason is that he’s doing it wrong or more exactly because he has put a division between his work and his passion.
He has consciously decided that insurance and comic books are like oil and water, two things that you could never mix.
And that’s what he’s doing wrong – so I offered him this advice.
Find clients that love comic books. This way, he can talk about insurance AND comic books with the same person, thus merging both his work and his passion.
Work with an illustrator and create a comic book that explains insurance, which he can use for marketing. I’m sure this project will be very interesting to him.
And if he’s feeling creative, why not write short stories about a superhero whose alter ego is an insurance agent. He can later publish this into a comic book if he wants and maybe earn from it.
These are just some of the ways he can integrate his passion into his work. And I’m sure there are many others if he takes some time to think about it.
Your passions are not exclusive
Give a chess piece to a girl who loves dolls and she’ll play with it as if it’s a doll.
That chess piece is your “job” and playing with dolls is your “passion”; with enough creativity and imagination, you’ll discover that your passion can exist everywhere – even at work.
Don’t simply follow your passion, instead cultivate your passion in the work you do.
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Lovely post. Definitely a lot to think about
Boy, this sure is a good one. I’ve been a subscriber to your blog for some time now Mr. Fitz. You have found your passion, are doing well at it and helping people in the process. I am in this critical transition stage where my existing work eats my time to follow my real passions. But this article makes sense. I do wish of the time I can focus 100% on heritage research and interpretation and let go of this 20-year job. But until the. Lord says, it’s time, I guess, yours is the best advice to take.
“Don’t simply follow your passion, instead cultivate your passion in the work you do.” wow just wow!
Mr Fitz, you truly have a gift the way you turn around a situation! You said it so well in the closing paragraph, “with enough creativity and imagination.” Why accept normality when there may be solutions outside the box to find that passion!!!!!