Favour David-Bolade: Should We Really Follow Our Passion? 

In recent times, there’s one piece of advice that has been repeated when it comes to choosing a career or starting a business: follow your passion. I had a change of mindset when I read the book So Good You Can’t Be Ignored by Carl Newport. Everyone keeps talking about following your passion as though it would make things easier, or if you do follow this passion, everything will align the way you want them to. But following your passion, for me, is not particularly useful advice. 

Many times, our passion does not bring us that fulfilment, peace, happiness and satisfaction that we crave. Many people go all lengths trying to follow their passion but at the end, they feel empty and incomplete. That’s because passion isn’t the only thing we need in order to live a life of fulfilment. There are times we’d do something we love but eventually, we end up being the same people with the same worries and fears that we have always had. That’s why we need people to provide us with realistic and practical tips that’ll help us navigate our career or entrepreneurial life.  

Following your passion doesn’t necessarily mean you will be the most successful person – or even be successful at all. As we grow older, we begin to understand that our passion and the things we find interesting change. Passion isn’t something you find, it’s something you feel. You can’t find passion anywhere; it’s inside of you and not outside. Passion is energy – what we feel for something or towards what we are doing. It’s not about what we do, it’s about how and why we are doing what we do. It’s not about the thing we want, it’s about how we constantly pursue what we want and the energy that drives it. 

Most people that are happy with their jobs now weren’t passionate about it when they started; the passion grew as they progressed in the job. Finding your passion is hard because I believe there is no such thing as that. It’s just the energy we put into something. We can be passionate about anything, as long as we put our minds to it. It’s not about chasing or finding your passion, it’s about taking that energy everywhere you go and putting that energy into anything you find yourself doing in order to be fulfilled.

 

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