Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.
Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker
You have exactly one life to live to do everything you ever wanted.
Stop wasting it caught up in things that don’t matter.
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I recently read an article on the Huffington Post called, “Why ‘Follow Your Passion’ Is Bad Career Advice“.
And while I do agree that “Follow your passion” may be considered “bad career advice” if one chooses to follow it without any bit of common sense — or to follow it without any regard to all the other factors necessary to make a career “successful” — being successful in one’s life can mean any number of different things to different people.
Some people consider their careers successful when they make X amount of money per year. Others measure their success by how many people they are in charge of, or how broad a territory they cover, or how many stores they own. Others aim to leave a legacy behind.
And then there are others still, who consider themselves successful if they are simply able to pursue what they are most passionate about in life while making just enough money to meet their basic needs to afford them the luxury of doing more of what they love.
And as Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Alan Watts poses the question (in this video), “What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?” because to do anything other than that sets you up to, “Spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.”
I think he makes a very good point. The alternative to not pursuing your passion is to spend a life following a vicious cycle of doing things you don’t want to do to make a living doing things you don’t want to do.
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” — Seth Godin
In his commencement speech at Kenyon College in May 1990, Calvin & Hobbes creator, Bill Watterson, had this to say about careers:
“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.
To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.” – Bill Watterson
As such, I don’t think “Follow your passion” is bad career advice at all. And if one is simply looking for a problem with it, as the Huffington Post appears to be, then I would say that problem — if you can call it that — is simply this:
It isn’t complete career advice. It’s only a single step in a larger process.
Step 1, of course, is to discover what it is you are passionate about.
This isn’t necessarily as simple as it sounds. There may be many things you like to do, but nothing that you are particularly passionate about. There is a big difference between simply enjoying something and being so into it at times that doing anything else feels like a distraction. Eating, sleeping, bathing? They can wait!
While a rare few know exactly what they want to do from a very early age, most don’t discover the things we are truly passionate about until they stumble upon them. And then, whatever it may be, the process of doing it becomes enthralling.
“Many people fail to find their passion because they either fail to search methodically or search persistently. Some will simply not commit the time and energy to a search that can often be frustrating. In fact, they want their “destiny” to find them; they do not want to find it themselves. You cannot find your passion idly staring into space, hoping for it to appear as a revelation, from one book, article, blog posting or casual conversation.” — Larry Smith
Discovering what you are truly passionate about is important is because people who truly love what they do tend to want to do it to the best of their ability and continually find ways to improve — all the while enjoying the process.
“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
See also: How will you recognize your passion when you encounter it?
Step 2, after discovering your passion is to pursue that passion and hone your skills. All the while keeping the third step of this process in mind:
Step 3, is to use your passion and skills to create something that others desire and will pay for.
Because unless your passion fulfills a need, you can work night and day and never do enough to generates a sustainable income, let alone a viable career.
“A sustainable career is built upon the ability to show that you can fill a need that someone is willing to pay for.” – Monique Valcour
This is why it can be to your benefit to not quit your day job (as I did, for example) while you are still in the process of discovering how your passion will generate income.
See also: You might have to look for more than one passion
“Doing what you love is as important as ever, but if you’re going to make a living at it, it helps to find a niche where money flows as a regular consequence of the success of your idea. Loving what you do is almost as important as doing what you love, especially if you need to make a living at it. Go find a job you can commit to, a career or a business you can fall in love with.” — Seth Godin
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Neil Gaiman Describe Vision & Brilliance
“If everyone had the luxury to pursue a life of exactly what they love, we would all be ranked as visionary and brilliant. … If you got to spend every day of your life doing what you love, you can’t help but be the best in the world at that. And you get to smile every day for doing so. And you’ll be working at it almost to the exclusion of personal hygiene, and your friends are knocking on your door, saying, “Don’t you need a vacation?!,” and you don’t even know what the word “vacation” means because what you’re doing is what you want to do and a vacation from that is anything but a vacation — that’s the state of mind of somebody who’s doing what others might call visionary and brilliant.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson
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“You have to be burning with “an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right.” If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” — Steve Jobs
Remember all that awesome stuff you were going to do?
Make time for it.
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It’s not too late to make a conscious decision to improve your health, body, and mind.
You — and you alone — have a tremendous amount of power over positive changes you can make to your physical and mental well-being. All it takes is a conscious decision to make a change and the determined effort to make it happen.
You want to be healthier, look better, feel better, think more clearly?
Don’t just think about it.
Make it happen.
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We, as a society, are addicted to the word “can’t.”
“I can’t [change something I want to change about myself] for the better.”
“I can’t quit [this habit].”
“I tried, I just can’t.”
“I can’t. It’s just not in my nature.”
“I can’t — I’m just not good enough.”
But there is a big difference between “I can’t” and “It just isn’t a high priority”.
When a person says, “I can’t”, it means they are incapable of doing something.
It does not mean, “I don’t want to.”
It does not mean, “I just don’t have time.”
It does not mean, “I don’t want to work to accomplish something.”
What many people actually mean when they use the word “can’t” is “it just isn’t a high priority.”
Before you say, “I can’t” or resolve to tell yourself, “I tried, I just couldn’t” — consider the following…
Sometimes all we need to achieve our goals is a bit more information about whatever it is we want to achieve.
Consider this: If someone tasked you with climbing a cliff — and you knew nothing about rock climbing — how could you possibly expect to smoothly accomplish your goal by learning from as-you-go experience alone?
Sometimes we have all the information we need to achieve our goal, but we fail to take the steps necessary to acquire the resources necessary to do so.
Consider this: This is like having the information necessary to climb a cliff, but failing to acquire the equipment (climbing gear) necessary to make your task easier.
Without proper motivation, even the simplest tasks can feel like a burden. We tend to lower the priority of those things which we feel less motivated to do — and raise the priority of those things we want to do.
When seeking to accomplish a goal, it is important to have the motivation necessary to see you through to the end of that goal. Always be aware of the benefits of achieving your goal and the downsides if you don’t.
Consider this: If your life — or the life of a loved one — depended on you climbing a cliff, your motivation to climb the cliff would be much stronger knowing a life was in the balance than if you saw no reward or benefit for climbing a cliff. Motivation matters!
It is a fact that writing down your goals enhances goal achievement. The question is, if it’s so easy to do and has been shown to have a dramatic positive effect on goal achievement, why would you not write down your goal?
If your goal isn’t measurable, then it is too abstract to be called a goal. Anything you expect to accomplish must be able to be broken down into measurable tasks.
It is a fact that those who break down their goals into achievable tasks — and then track their progress towards reaching their goals are more likely to accomplish those goals than those who don’t. So the question again is, why wouldn’t you?
This is self-explanatory. Making a single attempt at accomplishing a goal and then giving up, would be like telling your friends that your child will never walk because they tried once and failed.
Depending on the nature of your goal, there are times that having a support system in place can greatly enhance the likelihood of you achieving your goal. Not only does this help provide motivation, but it can also make you accountable for the things you say you are going to do.
In summary:
If you didn’t put much effort into these things before you declared, “I can’t”, it’s NOT that you can’t — it’s that you didn’t want to.
Your life is a reflection of your priorities. There is a big difference, “I can’t” and “It just isn’t a high priority.”
Did you really make an effort to achieve your goal? Can you answer yes to most of the following statements?
The breaking the “I can’t” excuse addiction checklist:
If you can’t say “yes” — with confidence and brutal honesty — to the majority of the items on this list, then you are likely using “I can’t” as an excuse.
“If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If it isn’t, you’ll find an excuse.“
See also: What I’ve learned about achieving personal goals
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It appears that “being awesome” is all the rage these days. Social networks are full of “just be awesome” related posts.
This is great — except that no one seems to really draw attention to what “being awesome” actually means. As if the simple act of existing is “being awesome”.
It isn’t.
The people who leave fast food trash in the parking lot next to their car are not being awesome. People who put others in danger by texting and driving? Not being awesome.
Rudeness? Arrogance? Selfishness? Judging people? Not awesome.
The majority of Youtube comments? Not awesome.
Being “awesome” doesn’t mean simply existing.
Being awesome involves acting in a way that contributes something of value to the people, places, and things that you connect with throughout your day.
Unless your mission is to be so annoying that people will feel relieved when you are not around, if your presence doesn’t add value, your absence won’t make a difference. And if you’re not making some kind of positive difference, that’s not “being awesome”. That’s not putting in any amount of effort. That’s simply existing.
So if you truly want to be awesome, always strive to contribute in such a way that you’re adding something of value wherever you may be and to whoever you come in contact with by doing more of what you’d like to see in the world.
This can be as simple as going out of your way to be kind to people.
It is in this way of adding value wherever you go that you will not only make a positive difference in the world at large, but also in your relationships, your work affairs, and any systems in which you play a role.
And that is awesome.
As Henry David Thoreau said, “Be not simply good; be good for something.”
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If one is to fulfill their potential in life, it’s important to realize that nearly all new and original ideas, products, and causes face rejection, criticism, and even ridicule before they’re accepted.
In short, even the best, brightest, and most beneficial ideas, products, and causes have critics.
“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be someone who hates peaches.” – Dita Von Tease
A study by Cornell University even confirms this. Researchers concluded that that people are actually biased against creative ideas (Why great ideas get rejected (99u article) — based on the Cornell Study : PDF).
Nearly every great accomplishment in life requires a person to act boldly and take action on the ideas that one believes in order to not yield the power of one’s potential to the fear of rejection.
When acting on your creative ideas, always keep in mind that you’re not doing what you’re doing for the critics. And regardless of how good your idea is, there will nearly always be someone in the world who hates it.
Don’t hesitate to do something simply because you are afraid of how it will be received. Just do it. Don’t worry if everyone doesn’t like it — or even understand it at first.
You don’t have to wait for acceptance or permission to do great things.
If you truly want to make a positive difference in the world, start now — and correct your course as you go.
“If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference.” – Abraham Lincoln
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“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
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“They disparage one who remains silent, they disparage one who talks a lot, they disparage one who talks in moderation.” — Buddha quoting a saying (from Dhammapada)
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Everything you do today influences what you’ll do tomorrow — and over time, your entire life.
Use your free time wisely.
What you do in your free time determines what you’ll be doing when you don’t have a choice.
If you’re not using your free time to direct your life where you want it to go, don’t expect to arrive at your desired destination when the rest of your time is spent being told what to do by other people.
You can’t just wish for what you want to happen — you have to work for it. And that means taking action when you have the time.
“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.” — Kevin Ngo
Balance in life is important — and taking time to simply relax and enjoy life is vital to maintaining that balance — so this is not to glorify “work”. This is only a reminder that it is important to be mindful of where you want to go in life and to take consistent steps forward if you want to have the pleasure of getting there.
Working towards your goals on a daily basis can be as simple as just reaffirming those goals (both short and long-term).
Since what you do today influences what you do tomorrow anyway, you might as well use the opportunity to influence your tomorrow in as positive & productive way as possible.
Go on, do something today that your future self will thank you for.
“If you don’t build your own dream someone else will hire you to help build theirs.” — Tony Gaskins Jr.
Follow-up:
G+ comment: What do you mean when you don’t have a choice?
Zero:
Obviously we all have a choice to do or not do something at any time (although “results/consequences may vary”).
But I mean, we all have things we WANT to do. And we all have things we feel we HAVE to do.
If these two things are not one and the same, then what we do in our “free” time (when we feel we have a CHOICE) can have a drastic impact on those things that take on the “have to do” portions of our lives (those things we feel we don’t have a choice in).
“I have to make money to survive.”
Here’s a real world example:
Teenagers who spend all their free time smoking pot and playing video games will likely find themselves in a much different set of life circumstances (of things they “have to do”) than teenagers who spend their free time being proactive in various areas of their lives (educating themselves, learning new skills…).
Another example:
If someone loves photography, and would love to have a career in photography, but spends all their free time watching TV, then that will have an impact those things in life that they feel they have to do.
If someone loves photography and spends their free time honing their photography skills, then that will lead to a much greater likelihood that what they end up “having” to do is also something they WANT to do.
If you “have” to have a career, then it certainly makes sense to make it something you enjoy doing.
By being proactive and directing your life where you want it to go, you are presented with far more opportunities than if you simply go where life directs you.
Regardless of what society “says”, as independently thinking and acting individuals, we make choices every day that can either fall in line with what society suggests, or fall in line with what we truly want (if the two are not the same).
“Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming.” — Alice Walker
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“Yeah, I know that,” you say.
But what you know isn’t doing you any good if it hasn’t changed how you live.
Knowing something doesn’t get you results until you apply it.
Knowledge is only potential power. It doesn’t become true power until it is applied.
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Stop wishing for more time.
Anyone who ever accomplished anything great in life had exactly the same number of hours in their day as you do.
Today we have more ways to solve more problems and get more done in a single day than have ever existed before in the whole span of history.
Your “lack of time” is not a time problem, it’s a priorities issue. One thing you can do to better manage your time is to stop doing so many of the things that bring little value to your life and start focusing on the things and people that do.
That’s all anyone who has ever gone on to accomplish great things has done. You don’t get more time by wishing for it. You get more time by making better use of the time you already have.
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