A Case Against Passion

My work gets me in contact with all sorts of people.  Some who are very successful financially and some who are not doing so great.  I have always wondered what is the link between life and financial success.  You always hear people say you have to be passionate about what you do and If you really love what you do, it shouldn't feel like work.  I completely disagree with these concepts and I will tell you why.

I have struggled with this concept for a while.  My problem has always been having too much passion about projects and Ideas.  I would think up these elaborate projects and Ideas and get so excited consequently all my energy would go into planning and execution.  After a while, a new concept or idea would become boring and old, or there would be so many hurdles that the results I expected would not come right away. 

What typically happened next is that I got burned out and left the project alone.  One unfinished thing turned to 2, then 3 and so on and so forth.  This trend manifests itself as unfinished projects in the workplace or hopping from career to career or do you have the one friend who is always selling you a new product or business opportunity every few months? So the problem still remains and we have to ask ourselves, how do you continue working on a project or Idea when you are no longer passionate?  The second question to address is, what do you do when work feels like a chore and feels exhausting or and not fun anymore?

Solutions

One thing I realized, when you start a project or a business or executing a great Idea, you will encounter challenges that you did not anticipate.  These challenges affect your productivity timeline and delays abound.  There is also a learning curve where mistakes can be made which affect the bottom line.

Learning curves and challenges zap your passion and all of a sudden self doubt creeps in and you start wondering whether you are doing the right thing or you start saying things to yourself like, “It shouldn’t be this hard or this is not fun anymore so it must not be right for me.” At this point is where most people quit.

Everyone has a story like this but the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful person is that a successful person pushes or are pulled through this negative self talk and get to the other side.  Challenges and learning curves are actually good because upon examination- you get to learn a lot about being increasing productivity and best practices.

The second question to address is what to do when you no longer have passion for work.

The first solution is to take all emotions about work away from the equation.  We all have to work whether we enjoy it or not to have a meaningful life.  Work is a gift, it occupies your time. It keeps you active both physically and mentally whether it’s paid in the case of a career, or unpaid in the case of stay at home moms and volunteers.

The Idea that if you love what you do, it shouldn't feel like work is ludicrous to me.  Work is work, it is not always fun but it’s still a worthwhile endeavor to pursue.  If work is no longer fun or challenging, try looking for a different position that will challenge you mentally and help you learn new skills.

Sometimes you have to suck up and endure a job you hate in order to make ends meet or provide for yourself and your family.  What good is passion if you can’t pay your bills?  Sacrificing your personal feelings for your family’s well being is heroic and special and it shows how unselfish love can be.

So to me, passion is not everything, passion is based on emotions and emotions can be fickle and temporary.  Important decisions should not be based on passion alone but based on hard facts, real data and careful consideration.

I would like to know what you think.  Please leave your comment below and best wishes.