Passion vs Being Practical

We often here told to follow our passion to be successful and now we have people propagating this advice everywhere.

Let us try to understand some of major problems with this advice

·       How many people know what they are passionate about? Almost all of us are not aware of what we are interested in or have so many things that we like that, we do not have a clue about what we are passionate about reality.

·       Our mind is so fickle that we keep changing our interests every-day. If we do something efficiently on a particular day, the happiness derived from this makes us to think that this work that will define our future and think this is the solution for my success, without realizing that being good at something and repeating the same work everyday with passion is two different things altogether

·       We may be good at something but may not be our passion, as you may not like to do it at all

·       Suppose we can find out what we are passionate about at some point of time. Will this fetch financial security for us? We often find people who are passionate about something in life, but they are unable to make it as a career out of it. Most of the time either we face financial and material distress because we are unable to give up our interests or become bitter that we had to give up our passion as it could not be sustained

·       Lucky are those people who have found their passion and are good at it and can make a career out of it. The trifecta combination of the above factors leads to more fulfilled life, which we read about books. But this does not happen to all, in-fact this happens rarely to people, and these are the people whom we see as most successful and well-rounded people in-terms of career and life

So how do we navigate this problem? Below points may help

·       Instead of searching for passion through out our life and wasting precious time, try to do the work with full focus and honestly that is put to our plate. When we have no idea on what we should do.

·       We should not hate the work that we are doing, but rather should perform the same job efficiently and derive happiness from the same (also love the work that we do). This is especially important to people who have no idea what they are passionate/goal in life about.

·       This way of looking at life will not make us to question our life on daily basis. We do not feel miserable every-day, as we are stuck with a problem of hating what we are doing now vs having no clue of what else can be done otherwise

·       Secondly by having this mindset, we will be happy with what we are doing currently, and also this attitude will help us eventually in finding the right path for us, as mental clarity will ascend when one is happy with what life has offered and it is at this stage, we are open to new possibilities in life as we are open to new things that comes to our way (When happy with what we have and love whatever work is given to us, we are open to the idea of trying new things yet maintain stability).

·       For people who know what they are interested/passionate about but are unable make career out of it or have no idea on how to monetize this passion. It is better to have a stable career first and develop their passion parallelly. As this would avoid financial hardship or leading to unfortunate stage of giving up their passion entirely. (If the passion is more of social in nature like helping people etc, it is more important that we have a stable source of income, as we cannot help others with our stomach being empty)

·       If one is financially secure and knows his passion, they have the means to pursue their interests without the worry financial implications for basic needs

·       Finally, if we have the trifecta quality of knowing what we like and are good at the same work and can make a career/business out of the same. Then we should follow our passion without any doubt

In summary, moderation between passion and being practical plays an important role in having a fulfilling life