The Passion Paradox

It's very common to hear advice like "follow your passion" - I've given that advice to people myself. But there are a couple of things to be wary of before taking that advice. Following your passion is fine IF

- you already have a passion

- you can ensure a stable income from it and

- it meets your other needs such as connection and growth.

In addition, you might want to consider whether or not you'd like your passion to become your job - some people find that when they do their passion as a job, they slowly fall out of love with it. Therefore, if you know what your passion is and you can generate a stable income from it, you simply need a plan to implement that.

Some people will say they'd like to follow their passion, but they don't know what it is. Well, how can you be passionate about something if you don't know what it is? In response, they might say, 'yeah but I'd like to become passionate about something and then do it as a job', which is fine but I believe that sequence is mixed up. In my opinion, I believe that you have to discover your interest in an area, then practice until you decide you like it, before dedicating yourself to it completely. I believe if you follow those steps, you can develop a passion.

Interest • Practice • Dedication = Passion

Also, I think it makes sense that the longer you dedicate yourself to something (once it meets your needs and values), the higher the chances are of you finding satisfaction there.