There are fewer hotly debated mantras amongst creators than: "Do what you love, and the money will follow." It's catchy, and it's persuasive, particularly for the guy who is passionate about his art, his business, or his craft. And it's an attractive concept for the guy who desperately wants, more than anything, to make money doing what he's passionate about. But, as far as I can tell, there are two main hurdles to the "doing what you love and the money will follow" approach. The first: what you "love" or are "passionate about," is emotionally based, and thus can change. Take it from the guy whose explored many different career avenues in life, including software, insurance, law, and real estate. When it comes to making money, consistency is key. And I'm not saying it's all about the money, but if you're broke and hungry it'll be hard to find any passion other than filling your growling stomach. And if your interests change as frequently as the mood of your latina woman, you'll never get any momentum going to make any real money. And I'm speaking from experience. The second hurdle to your passion making you rich: people must love, need, or want what you're cookin' up. A "market" won't reward you just because you're passionate. Your passion must also scratch someone else's proverbial itch. So is passion important? I think you absolutely must have passion in life; I could think of nothing worse than living a passionless existence. But, in my humble learnings about life thus far, I think there's something more important than passion you can tap into, and it certainly has brought me more success in life. And that is: committing yourself - decidedly, firmly, unwaveringly - to working on a skill that is useful and helpful to others. That's it. No passion required, just a firmly committed decision about the work you're going to focus on in the limited hours you have today. Now, of course you need interest and enjoyment in the skill you choose to work on. But some days the resistance will build up and you're not going to feel like doing it. You're doing it for the 987th day, and today, you just don't feel passionate about it. That's when the firmly committed decision kicks in, to force you to get moving. And the result will likely be that the feeling of passion will follow, it will be revived. As Cal Newport says in his book So Good They Can't Ignore You, passion must be "cultivated" as opposed to "discovered." It's a slight semantical nuance, but an important one: passion follows action; it's not something that pops out at you surprisingly during a 3-week yoga retreat on a remote island. Passion is the result of hard work, and then, it becomes a facilitator of it. The more you do something, the better you get. And as you begin to master your skill, people will want to pay you more and more money for it. But you don't have to be a boring ass curmudgeon either, soldiering on like a machine all the time. You can still (you must!) stay rabidly curious. But never underestimate the amazing power of doubling down on a single skill that helps you rise above the rest. Paul Denni P.S. Recommended reading: Mastery, by Robert Greene. P.P.S. If you're already killing it in your skill and your business and need an affordable attorney to support your business, consider my monthly subscription service. You'll have to sign up to be on my email list first though, which you can do here:
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