Why Doing What You Love Is Destructive Career Advice
Thesis: “Do what you love” / “Follow your passion” is dangerous and destructive career advice.
We tend to hear it from highly successful people who have become successful doing what they love. The problem is that we do NOT hear from people who have failed to become successful by doing what they love. It’s a particularly pernicious problem in tournament-style fields with a few big winners and lots of losers: media, athletics, startups.
Better career advice may be “Do what contributes” — focus on the beneficial value created for other people versus just one’s own ego. People who contribute the most are often the most satisfied with what they do and in fields with high renumeration, make the most money.
Perhaps difficult advice since it requires focus on others versus oneself. Perhaps a bad fit with endemic narcissism in modern culture? It requires delayed gratification and may toil for many years to get the payoff of contributing value to the world, versus short-term happiness.
@pmarca This is a definitional issue: Kierkegaard distinguished between fleeting and lasting joy. Giving and building brings deeper passion.
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David Aron Levine (@davealevine) May 27, 2014@pmarca So true. Four years of below minimum wage getting our startup working. But it really can change the world. The mission is everything
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Mark McAndrew (@markmcan) May 27, 2014@pmarca Said differently: deep happiness requires work. This is true in love and in your career.
"Happiness" is too broad and misunderstood.
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David Aron Levine (@davealevine) May 27, 2014@pmarca it us possible to actually enjoy the journey to the moon and contribute at same time, but only if you are passionate about the goal.
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darius vasefi (@dariusvasefi) May 27, 2014
@pmarca Says 