Passion is overrated!

Steve Jobs famously addressed the Stanford class of 2005 and said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs was implying that passion is the secret to great work, to great success.

Passion has always been the one catch word as the secret to success. Successful people say that you must be passionate about what you do and you will be successful. But it cannot be the only or main ingredient to success.

For one, when things get tough, your passion really gets tested. Are you ready to grit it out? Is enthusiasm enough for you to get past the challenges? Don’t you need to have skills and strategies to counter the challenges life brings you?

Perhaps the benefit of having passion for something is that you will do everything in power to overcome the challenges you will encounter. This means you will look for solutions, learn things and find people that can help you. However this can be time consuming when it’s better to be good at something already and then passion follows.

Another common motivational line is, “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

What if you loved bottle flipping? Will the money follow then? Maybe you love bottle flipping and you flip quite decently but it’s not enough to join the world elite in bottle flipping which gives you the opportunity to join competitions with high cash prizes.

It’s clear that we must be able to distinguish between things we enjoy just for fun but is not enough to make money for us.

We must direct our passion on things that we’re good at and that the world is willing to pay for our creations.

The best way to success is therefore this formula:

PASSION + SKILLS + MARKET VIABILITY

How do you find your passion?

One thing you can do is to make an inventory of things you like. What are the activities that you enjoy doing? These activities are things you do and time seems to pass very quickly.

You can also look back and remember the compliments people gave you. What are the things that you are apparently good at? What recognition or awards did you get? That might be where your skills are evident.

You should also trust your instincts and feelings. Intuitively, you already know what you’re good at. Don’t let others say otherwise. Trust that little voice inside you and go for it.

Then try to distinguish those that are mainly just for fun and those that can make serious money for you. What are the things that you have gotten paid for? Those are the things that you should pursue.

It’s also true that what you’re good at can become your passion. This is because we all love doing things that we’re good at. But the missing question is whether the world will pay you for it.

For example, if you are quite good at writing and you enjoy it, try to see if there is a market for your writing skills. If yes, you’ve hit a jackpot. First, it’s something that you like and so you won’t get bored doing it. Second, you’re good at it so you won’t find things too difficult when you do it. Finally, it’s something you can monetize.

Scott Adam’s Success Paradigm

Scott Adams believe passion is overrated.

According to Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, success needs energy, a good strategy, hard work and a lot of luck. He says that success creates passion. He says that if your projects start making money for you, you’d likely be passionate about it.

Using this paradigm is more useful that just focusing on passion solely. For starters you need to have lots of energy.

How do you have consistent energy? Passion can only push you so far but you will falter when you do not take care of yourself. Get enough sleep, exercise regularly and eat well. That’s the basics if you want to have good energy daily.

Healthy people are more productive and good health puts you in a good position to work hard and craft good strategies for your business and life.

As for hard work, it’s a mental attitude. Be willing to grit it out and not just rely on “feelings” of enthusiasm. You have to mentally block out things that distract you from achieving your goals.

Really love what you are doing, especially doing the dirty work and the not so glamorous side of your project. Invoicing? Yes, you have to do that. Selling? Yes, you have to sell. You can’t just sit in your office and wait for money to roll in.

As for luck, you probably will get lucky if you exert hard work and you have a good strategy.

The 80/20 Pareto Rule

Passion is overrated when you’re not focusing on the right things.

Another secret to success is following the Pareto rule. This rule states that 80% of your success comes from 20% of the things that you do.

Therefore we should focus on those things that create the most value for us.

What are those activities that yield the most revenue for your business?

By understanding our activities and focusing on those that gives us the best value, we will be more efficient with the limited time we have on earth.

Yes, there are other things that are necessary to do but it doesn’t give much value to your life. So try to outsource them and delegate if possible.

Habits create the foundation for success

Passion is overrated if you don’t develop the right habits.

Some people think that success comes because of one single act. You wrote a book and it became a bestseller and so you credit your success to making that book.

But the truth is that it was your habits that led to the success. Successful people have routines, or habits of excellence.

For example, runners would run or jog daily. Writers would spend half of their days writing. Athletes would train, practicing the same drills over and over until they mastered it.

So the point is that you should develop winning habits. These winning habits will form your system of success. Then when it’s time, these habits will create success for you.

What are examples of winning habits that you can develop?

Planning for the next day, following week and next month in advance

Making health a priority

Avoid comparing themselves with others

Winners don’t complain; instead they are solution oriented

They don’t blame and take responsibility

take responsibility They choose the company and friends they hang out with

Winners don’t procrastinate

Being a life-long learner

Frugality

Minimalism

They are able to do delayed gratification

Invest in self-growth and development

Be action oriented. Actions yield results.

Passion is overrated because it does not guarantee entrepreneurial success

When you build your own startup, if you focus on just your passion and not what the market or your target customers wants, your business will fail. Focus on serving others and your business will have a good chance. If your passion is serving others through your business, then that’s a winning strategy.

Let curiosity guide you to success

Elizabeth Gilbert believes passion is overrated.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the blockbuster Eat, Pray & love, and recently she wrote Big Magic. She said, “Passion burns hot and fast, which it means it can come and go.” She instead advises us to follow our curiosity.

Gilbert argues that passion is not sustainable and thus not reliable. She believes that being curious will allow us to find things that we should explore and eventually monetize once we get good at it.

The problem with passion is the pressure it applies to us so early in our lives. People pressure us to know our passion at high school. Few people know what they are supposed to do with their lives at a young age. As such, Gilbert’s advice makes sense.

An exploratory mindset will allow us to be adventurous and try out different things before we eventually find the niche that we are meant to specialize in and monetize.

Here are some techniques to help you hone your curiosity:

Keep an open mind. Be open to learn, unlearn and relearn.

Don’t take things for granted. Dig deeper. Try to unravel the science and life around you.

Ask questions relentlessly. Be curious of things, events and of people.

See the world as something fascinating. Don’t label things as boring.

Enjoy learning. Be a life-long learner.

More ideas to hone your curiosity

Read different things. Don’t just focus on one niche or kind of writing. Explore different worlds in books.

Look for the positive in everything. It’s difficult to be curious when mired in negative thinking.

Try different things. You never know what you truly like until you try it. Give everything a fair chance before closing your doors on it.

Conquer fear. Don’t let fear prevent you from trying different things. Focus on the success and the good things that can come out from an experience.

Focus and be present. Avoid multitasking as you can’t immerse yourself in the activity and curiosity won’t be able to unleash its power.

Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” Being curious means you don’t know everything and that you are willing to learn and explore ideas.

Finally, ask good questions that show curiosity. What am I missing? Who can I talk to that can give me a fresh take on this matter? What am I not seeing? Am I ignoring some important matters? The reason for this is that passion can be too focused, too myopic. When we are too focused on something, we miss out on what’s around us which can help us or enrich our lives.

Passion is overrated: It’s possible you have multiple passions

Passion is overrated when you have many passions. How can you be successful if you attempt to monetize so many things? You have to prioritize these passions. Thus this can be a difficult task. So this is another problem in relying on passion. Many of those things that you might be passionate in are not your strengths. The world only rewards the best, those that focus on their strengths.

It’s therefore better to try other success paradigms.

Create your passion instead

Passion is overrated especially when you try to find it instead of creating it.

Instead of discovering your passion, maybe the most logical thing is to create it. Once you find something that you like and are quite good at, then it’s time to buckle up and focus on becoming really good at it so that the world is willing to pay for that skill.

So don’t go through life wondering what your passion in. You can literally manufacture passion. Be so good in something that you are able to monetize it and thus making you passionate about it.

Being successful in something literally creates your passion. Focus on doing the work. Grit it out day and night to get good at something. Be world-class.

Cal Newport, author of So good they can’t ignore you, says, “The traits that define great work are rare and valuable. Supply and demand says that if you want these traits you need rare and valuable skills to offer in return. Think of these rare and valuable skills you can offer as your career capital. The craftsman mindset, with its relentless focus on becoming “so good they can’t ignore you,” is a strategy well suited for acquiring career capital. That is why it trumps the passion mindset if your goal is to create work you love.

Signs that you are truly passionate about something:

You have discipline

S howing up every day, no ifs and no buts

You have relentless focus on getting better

You try, experiment, fail and then make the necessary adjustments

F ocusing on execution.

One great paradigm to use is therefore PASSION + DISCIPLINE

Passion is overrated. You need discipline along with it.

So how do you build discipline in your life? Here are some ideas:

Be committed. Tell people about your plans. That will help you become committed. Make a contract with yourself. Write down your plans and work on it. That is commitment. Schedule in your calendar the priorities of your life.

Stay focused. Review your goals regularly. Focus and plan out your life systematically. Take control of your day. Do the most important things at the start of the day so you can complete them quickly and effectively. Practice visualization. See yourself becoming the best version of yourself. Imagine the feelings of success after doing the work necessary to bring you closer to success.

Master the skill of prioritization. Work on the big and stressful tasks first while you have the most energy and then move on to the easier tasks.

Get enough rest. Energy drives passion and productivity. If you don’t have enough rest, you can’t accomplish much. So create a rest inducing bedtime routine. Write down on paper the things that are stressing you out so that you can rest better without them lingering in your mind. Let go of the problems of the day.

Eat food with loads of energy and nutrition. Get a high protein breakfast and have drink enough water. Avoid too much sugar and caffeine. Another great strategy is to have little snacks like almonds throughout the day so that you have consistent energy to do great work.

More ideas to become more disciplined

Do the little things with great consistency. If you can do well in small things, then you’re bound to do bigger things well too. So make up your bed, take out the garbage and clean your room before you depart for work. Consistency in little things yields confidence and success necessary for the bigger things.

Follow through on your decisions. Once you have decided on something, just do it. Don’t second guess yourself. For example, if you decided you will exercise first before going to work, then get your exercise clothes ready the night before and rest early so you can wake up and exercise early. Nike says it best, “Just do it!” Your mind is often your biggest enemy when it comes to being consistent. So make sure you have enough resolve and determination to beat your mind when it tries to convince you to be lazy instead.

Reward yourself for you little successes and effort. Be happy of your effort and be proud of yourself. Treat yourself even in a little way, a chocolate cake or getting to watch a TV show would be a nice treat. When you reward yourself, you see that your discipline is paying off and that will reinforce in your mind to continue becoming disciplined because it is rewarding. The brain loves rewards and you can master your mind by giving it treats so that it will always seek to be disciplined because there are rewards that await upon success.

Passion is overrated: the self-centeredness of Passion

Passion is overrated because it is self-centered. It’s all about you, you and you. We should focus instead on what we can contribute to the world. Life on earth should be based on what we can give others, how we can serve others. Businesses are profit oriented, but only if they give value or serve the market they choose to make a difference in.

So have a check whether your passion is just about you, or is it about meeting a need in the world and unleashing your passion in line with that need.

Seek purpose instead. You making a dent in the universe should be about others. So reflect and determine your meaning. Purpose connects us to something bigger in life.

Devote yourself to mastery instead

Passion is overrated if you don’t become really good at something.

Become really good at something. The thing with passion is that it can be fleeting. Because it’s a feeling, it can change regularly depending on your life’s circumstances.

Mastery is different. You are working on becoming world class. You’re building a skill that people will benefit from. You’re not just passionate about the skill, but you’re also really good at it.

You might love basketball, and are amazing in pick-up games. But until you practice like crazy and go pro and get paid for it, basketball will just be a hobby.

Get in touch with reality through planning

The problem with passion is that it’s such a big idea. It’s dominating the world and making a difference. But the big question is how? Sometimes we are so driven to achieve a goal but we fail to sit down and flesh out the details. How exactly are we going to do it?

So one of the skills to develop alongside passion is really planning.

If you are going to build a business, sit down and craft a business plan.

If you’re going to be a world-class runner, create a training plan. Sit through with a running coach to develop a feasible plan. You can’t become a world class runner by just thinking positive and feeling that you will be a champion runner in the future just because you believe so.

Jason Stone, founder of Millionaire Mentor said, “Passion can only take you so far. After that, if you don’t have the skills, the tools, the resources, the knowledge, and the track-record to move forward, take risks, and expand. Otherwise, you won’t be able to position yourself as an authority. Positioning is key to make sure you are ready when opportunity strikes!”

Learn to execute your plans

Passion is overrated if it just remains just a plan.

Success is really all about execution. Goals are just ideas. Until you execute your plan, goals will just be ideas on in your notebook.

So learn to focus on taking action. As Tony Robbins said, success is all about taking massive action.

Final thoughts

If passion is going to be useful in our lives, then it should develop our persistence. Passion should be all about persistence, unrelenting persistence in our quest to be great.

That is what real passion is about: passing through hell but feeling that it was a great experience.

If you can persist and be really good in the process, this is real passion that can really transform you and your target market for your skills or business.

Passion is important but it is not enough for success. Passion is overrated because you need skills, resources, plans, and a whole load of luck.