

Paid to Eat Pancakes: The Truth about “Passions” - JonathanFields
http://nerdgap.com/paid-to-eat-pancakes-the-truth-about-passions/

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kaib
I think it's sometimes easy for (passionate) programmers to forget that they
happen to be obsessed with something that is also a highly marketable skill.
From our little group of elementary school computer enthusiasts only one other
guy and I were into programming. It's only the two of us who still make a
living working with our passion, the "traders" and "swappers" did not turn out
to have hobbies that extended into multi-decade long careers.

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baggachipz
Beyond the retro-definition of the word "passion", I agree that "doing what
you love" is a pretty naive view of the work world. When I get asked "What
would you want to do all day," I answer "drink, play video games, and look at
naked girls." Nobody wants to pay me to do that, trust me. I do, on the other
hand enjoy programming. I also get sick of it.

tl;dr: A career is ruining an activity you enjoy in the name of money.

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IDisposableHero
Yep, it's easier to be "passionate" about something when you don't do it 40+
hours per week.

Also, I enjoy programming, I have a programming job. I wish my job had more
actual programming in it. When it's a job you can't just get to do the fun
parts.

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jonnathanson
A lot of great points raised, but there's still something to be said for
working in a field you enjoy. Forget the semantic dance around the meaning of
the word "passion" for a minute.

Let's take the author's hypothetical example of the person who's really into
composting. Maybe this person isn't "passionate" about composting to the point
of stark-raving obsession, but pretty much anywhere just shy of that mark is
feasible. This person is probably better served working in the gardening
industry -- maybe as a landscape designer, or an executive at a home & garden
brand, or starting up a community or zine or product line around gardening,
etc. -- than in, say, the auto industry.

What determines whether or not this person should _actually_ pursue his
"passion" for composting in the professional arena? The degree of love for the
subject, certainly, but also risk tolerance and perseverence. Those are the
two critical, but oft-overlooked factors that the "follow your passion!" self-
help gurus gloss over.

The hard truth is that not everyone's cut out for following his or her
passion. Some have the drive, the obsession, the work ethic, the aptitude, and
the right mix of circumstances to make it happen. Some don't. The real trick
isn't testing how strong your passion is; it's testing how strong _you_ are.

~~~
ahoyhere
There's a huge difference about being "into" composting... and enjoying
talking about composting, teaching composting, selling people on composting
equipment/techniques, writing about composting, etc.

This is an important distinction. If you're "into" composting but those other
things above disinterest you, it's easy to try to get yourself stuck in a
situation that you hate. Where you eventually even stop enjoying composting.

I wrote about this exact scenario: <http://unicornfree.com/2011/dont-follow-
your-passion/>

~~~
jonnathanson
I don't deny that it's an extremely important distinction, and perhaps I
should have gone to greater lengths to clarify as much.

At the same time, I feel that the article set up a bit of a false dichotomy by
focusing too heavily on the extreme end of the "passion" spectrum. It's not a
black-and-white choice between "mildly interested in" and "slaveringly
obsessed with." There is a pretty broad spectrum in between those points.
"Into" was probably a casually bad word choice on my part, but again, I'd
really suggest that we stay away from a semantics debate here.

To re-clarify: I agree, more or less, with a great deal of the article and its
broad analysis. At times, however, the author gets too bogged down in a
dissection of the semantics and usage of the word "passion," leading him
astray.

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erikstarck
Worth noting: the word "amateur" means "lover of" or "love doing".

Someone who is "professional", on the other hand, is a person who gets
consistently the same result from doing the same work. This is generally what
people pay for.

Now would you rather want to be someone who loves what they're doing or
someone who's basically a working machine?

Going from passionate amateur to passionate professional is extremely
difficult.

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scotch_drinker
I think there's a difference between making a living and making a life. I bet,
if I was passionate enough about eating pancakes, I could find some way to
make a living. That living might be substandard and only provide cheap room
and board plus bad nutritional intake from consuming nothing but pancakes.
However, I bet I could do it. I could not make a life, e.g. one where I could
provide for my family, buy a new car, travel to France, learn to scuba dive,
etc, etc.

If you're truly passionate enough about something, you can make a living at
it. It just may not be a very good one.

~~~
khafra
Relevantly, I have a friend who makes a living drinking Scotch.

Quite literally; his job title is "Master of Whiskey," and that's what he
does.

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IsaacL
I once heard a good definition of "passion" that fits this context - it's when
something gets you up in the morning and keeps you up at night.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
But this guy calls that an enthusiasm. That was his point, that passion
requires out-of-control emotion.

~~~
k00k
I think in this day and age, that's just splitting hairs though. Most people
would love to have something that makes them spring out of bed in the morning
and keeps them so engaged that they can't sleep at night. Well, they'd love it
until they hate it. And of course there are some people who are wired in such
a way that they could never feel that way about anything and to them, the
grass is always greener on the other side. That's ok. In the immortal words of
Ted Knight, "The world needs ditch diggers too."

~~~
inkedmn
(Author of the post being discussed here - hi there, how you ya doin').

My point in writing that post was to give the reality-based side of the story
because, as I mentioned, there is a frickton of people out there who would
have you believe that you can make a whole lot of dough doing, almost
literally, anything if you really love it enough. Naturally, this is true of
some people (like programmers and writers), but the problem I have is that the
message being sent by these people is that absolutely anybody can have this
particular part of your life unearthed if you just pay them $297 for a couple
of hours on the phone. They'll tell you to start a blog about [thing], then
write and sell an ebook about [thing] or offer coaching on [thing] - rinse and
repeat until you have time to pick out your yacht. It's horseshit.

Ahem.

~~~
rhizome
You've pretty much summarized 130 pages of Gary Vaynerchuk's "Crush It" in
three sentences!

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inkedmn
In that case, that'll be $18.95 ;)

~~~
rhizome
you're not getting my money _again_ mister!

