"Follow your passion” is bad advice

From the Happiness PhD Project with Jackson Kerchis

Cal Newport’s research suggests that “follow your passion” is bad advice…

You’d think Steve Jobs was passionate about technology and innovation.

But his early life suggests this was not the case… He studied dance and history at a liberal arts college and bummed around studying Eastern mysticism. In the end he tried to make a couple thousand bucks flipping switchboards as a side hustle. Thus he stumbled upon the opportunity to start a company based on the idea that computers would become household appliances.

Cal’s research into what passionate people do for a living suggests this is more common.

One begins seeking and learning by doing (as opposed to identifying one’s passion in abstract) and eventually develops a valuable skill. This skill is then used as leverage to create ideal circumstances.

The problem with passion is illustrated in a study of 500 Canadian college students. Many didn’t have a clear “passion” and only 4% of them had a passion that related to a career field. The number one passion in the group was hockey.

Planning to become an NHL player is not a great career plan.

The most valid construct of job satisfaction is self-determination theory (SDT). SDT is about autonomy, competency, and relatedness. This means having flexibility and control over your work, the capacity to get results and master your craft, and feeling connection to your coworkers.

So Cal suggests the best route is to pursue specialization. You can explore different opportunities but that exploration should be relatively narrow in scope. You might work in SEO, social media ads, and content marketing but those are all under the marketing umbrella. This specialization is valuable and can thus be traded for circumstances that correspond to SDT.

Don’t follow your passion. Become “so good they can’t ignore you” and use that “career capital” to create a work life that you become passionate about.

Your happiness nerd,

Jackson

PS — This is Cal’s perspective which he shared in So Good They Can’t Ignore You it’s certainly open to debate.