The weird thing about "just follow your passion" advice

I keep seeing people on here telling folks to just follow their passion when picking a career. But at a tech meetup in Austin last month, a guy who runs a machine shop said he loves his trade but he'd never recommend someone do it just because they like cars. He pointed out that passion changes over time, but having solid skills and a steady paycheck keeps you going when the excitement fades. Has anyone else noticed that the "passion" advice tends to come from people who already have financial safety nets?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica_dixon16d ago

I mean, that machine shop guy makes a lot of sense to me. I took a welding class for a few months because I thought I'd love working with metal, but after a while the repetitive stuff just wore me down even though I still thought it was cool. For me, what worked was picking a job that paid the bills and left me energy to do the fun creative stuff on the side, instead of banking everything on one passion.

jamiew8316d ago

200% agree with you honestly. I used to be one of those people who thought you had to love your job 24/7 or you were failing at life. Like I literally told my buddy once if you're not waking up excited to work you're doing it wrong. But after burning out on a side hustle I was obsessed with I totally flipped my view. Now I see it more like you said - have a job that's stable and decent and then go wild with your hobbies. That whole "do what you love" thing sounds nice but it doesn't always pay the bills or keep your sanity. Your way is way more realistic and honestly probably keeps the fun stuff fun for longer.