

Don't Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Effort - ricksta
http://blogmaverick.com/2012/03/18/#/dont-follow-your-passion-follow-your-effort

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gizzlon
" _1\. When you work hard at something you become good at it._ "

Yup

" _2\. When you become good at doing something, you will enjoy it more._ "

Hmm.. what now?

I'm good at a lot of things I hate. I've spent time doing them either because
I had to or because I enjoyed it at the time. For me, it often works the
opposite of what he says; when I get better at something, I often find it
boring.

~~~
ajuc
Regarding 2 I think it's sometimes true - for example people don't like math,
when they don't understand it. But when somehow they notice they're good at
some branch of math - most starts to love it, cause they can beat challange.
At least it worked that way for me for math and programming. Similiar story
for team sports - I love basketball cause I was higher than most people in
middle school so I was good at it.

Other thing is - when you need to do sth you love for living - it sometimes
become a chore instead of passion. External vs internal motivation etc.

~~~
gizzlon
I think you're right, but I can't remember this ever happening to _me_. Maybe
I just have to think harder.. Or maybe I enjoy learning so much that I don't
care that I'm new at something. Or maybe I just avoid things I don't like..

~~~
hm8
I don't advocate any philosophical comments or endorse one. People, often in a
blog, write stuff from their experience (or experiences of people around him)
which might or might not apply to all or even a single individual author but
worked well for the author (or around him). It's hard to generalize and hence,
shouting that you don't fit into the 'general' or the 'natural' defined by
somebody's premise is as baseless as generalizing it in the first place.

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blackhole
All this articles proves is that people are misusing the word "passion" to
mean some sort of hobby. If you haven't poured almost all your free time into
something, you aren't passionate about it.

~~~
Tichy
Isn't the point of the passion advice that people would wish to put more time
into their passion (and find what their passion is to begin with)? So your
comment boils down to "it isn't your passion unless it is your passion", which
is not very useful.

~~~
dwc
No, I think there's a valid point. The difference between a mild interest and
a passion is precisely how much attention and effort you devote to it.

When I was young, computers at home were quite rare. But once I was exposed to
them I was hooked. I rode my bicycle to the Radio Shack and stood at the
display model writing programs. I saved and bought a Sinclair ZX-80. Almost
all of my free time went into programming.

Then there are all the people I've known that say they want to learn to code.
People who grew up with a computer, and went to school were there were
programming classes, and work alongside programmers. They _think_ they'd like
to learn programming, but really they're not interested enough to bother.

~~~
Tichy
Yes, but you didn't need any advice to find your passion for computing.
Presumably people looking for self help advice are less "self aware" than you
are/were.

------
vetler

      1. When you work hard at something you become good at it.
      2. When you become good at doing something, you will enjoy it more.
    

Actually, it's quite possible to become good at something you don't enjoy,
speaking from personal experience. One does not follow the other, and I'm
surprised that the author states this as a fact.

~~~
ims
You're right, of course. But the point he's making seems to be based on the
idea that to experience mastery of a domain can be truly fulfilling even if
that domain is boring. That is, the feeling of power and self actualization
that comes from competence can happen even if you are doing something that is
not innately enjoyable.

I draw an intuitive connection in my mind to the study [1] suggesting that
people are happier with having a higher status compared to their close
associates than with a higher absolute status but lagging behind the peers to
whom they aspirationally compare themselves.

Would you rather be a mediocre newbie working in a dazzling, sexy field, or
the _best damn X_ in the Y field who knows all the tools and has confidence
about relative competence?

[1] <http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/4/471.short>

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ojbyrne
This seems so close to an article that appeared in the NYT a couple of weeks
ago that it almost feels like plagiarism:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/jobs/follow-a-career-
passi...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/jobs/follow-a-career-passion-let-
it-follow-you.html)

~~~
ims
Look at the date of Mark Cuban's post (March 18, 2012).

Cal Newport and Mark Cuban are both well known bloggers who have been making
this same case for some time. No plagiarism involved.

~~~
ojbyrne
I posted in the middle of the night, and didn't do enough fact checking, so I
apologize for the use of that word.

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trustfundbaby
Its not a very well written article, was a little annoying to find that in the
end he was just making a painfully semantic argument

~~~
fusiongyro
When most people tell you to pursue your passion or follow what you love,
don't you think they're really saying, "think real hard about what you like,
and go do that" rather than "notice you've already put a ton of effort into X,
realize that's what you are passionate about, and go do more X."? It's a
semantic argument if you interpret "Follow your dreams!" the latter way, but I
don't think most people do.

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pedalpete
Please update the title, the url is blogmaverick.com, which I think most
people on HN know is Mark Cuban's blog.

I feel like Cuban wrote this post just because he needed to write a post. In
the end he says "Don’t follow your passions, follow your effort. It will lead
you to your passions...", and the roundabout way he goes to get there doesn't
add any value. He himself says if you're passionate about something, you're
going to learn about it, and become better, etc. etc. Ignoring that that isn't
completely true, I've wasted too much time just writing this comment.

~~~
michaelkscott
I was just about to say the title is extremely sensationalist and
inappropriate for HN, but the mods beat me to editing it -- like a second
after I typed this up.

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Tichy
Maybe he is a very "clear" person. Lot's of normal people are confused and not
so well organized. Follow your passion is a guideline for getting started with
organizing your life.

I can only assume that the author was always organized enough to put his
effort where his passion is, but he doesn't seem to realize that.

A normal person will just put the effort where he/she is told to put it by
authorities: first parents, then school/high school, then the first random
shitty job they happen to land. Sure, it works, they'll probably eventually be
able to pay off their mortgage. But some people expect more from life.

------
helios410
Ken Robinson did a great talk about passion, that somewhat negates this blog
post...it takes a lot more than just being greatly skilled at something to be
passionate about it.

<https://vimeo.com/21195297>

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zsherman
Is it just me or does this logic not make sense? You put a lot of effort in ->
you get good at it -> you become passionate about it. How do you choose what
to put effort into? Answer: what you're passionate about.

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jaggederest
I think he's right. Too many people pick things that seem dreamy without
considering whether it's actually something worth doing.

I'd honestly rather be an excellent plumber than a fifth-rate rockstar.

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dageshi
I think perhaps "Passion" needs to be replaced with "Obsession".

~~~
GotAnyMegadeth
Can you be Obsessionate about something?

~~~
hollerith
You can be obsessive about it.

