If you view anything through a judgemental pair of glasses, chances are, you’ll probably end up judging it incorrectly. Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening with how most of us view jobs today.
Right now, more young people think a job can’t be the ideal choice when it comes to making an ideal living because you compromise everything for minimal compensation. And that’s when you bump into these self-help Gurus from the internet who tell you to quit your job and follow your passion.
For me, the message is nothing more than a sales copy designed to help sell the self-help books of the self-help authors. Such books will enlighten you with nothing more than neverending examples of successful people and the discipline you should follow — that you already know. Trust me! I’ve read a few of those. And with research, you can compile a similar book too.
From my point of view, it’s better to choose a challenging life where you earn a little and learn a lot over a broke, stagnant life that has no future because you’re learning nothing at present to make use of in the future. But, on the other hand, life is not just about your present, it’s also about what you’ll be in the future. Therefore, there’s nothing wrong with following your passion.
Now let’s get back to challenge the poorly worded message, “Quit your job and follow your passion.”
Of all new generation professionals I have worked with, more than 80% love what they produce. They love their skills and work hard every day to upgrade and someday achieve a position they dream of achieving. The problem is, most hate their jobs. But on the contrary, their jobs are their passion since they had invested a significant amount of time learning those skills and landing a job.
So how do we resolve this tangled message that vilifies jobs and guarantees a better life for those who follow the passion? Let’s operate it.
Quitting a job and following passion aren’t mutually exclusive terms.
Most people I know have built their dreams while working hard part-time alongside their full-time jobs. Call it a side hustle or part-time gig — you know how it works. So if you think you can quit your job and start earning off your passion from the next day out of the blue, you have been deceived. But, of course, you won’t mind doing that if you’re financially sound and don’t need a job to look after your everyday needs.
People are deceived into thinking jobs don’t teach you anything.
As we all know, our mind is designed to focus on negative things more. Whether in our personal life or work life, one drawback overshadows ninety benefits. The same thing is happening with our perception of jobs right now.
There are many disadvantages of working for someone else. I get it. You will compromise your time, the management will not evaluate your efforts the right way, and you’ll probably have to worry more about office politics than your output and get a bad star for not performing well in a messed-up environment. At worst, you’ll be exploited. But it doesn’t mean you’ll learn nothing from a job.
In reality, the job you hate will provide you with some of the most significant insights you’ll ever have about people, the world, and yourself, apart from upgrading your skills. So it brings us to the next point.
You can’t always define a job as something you hate and passion as something you love
What if I tell you that your job gives you money and purpose while your passion is just a hobby that doesn’t produce anything worthwhile. Obviously, there’s something wrong with the definition of the message.
Most people don’t actually hate their jobs. Instead, they hate the people who work above or alongside them. They hate the environment and the fact that they are not appreciated the way they should. However, following your dream doesn’t guarantee you’ll be less stressed and rewarded better. It all depends on how you work it out.
Some people love their job. It’s their passion and the best way to make a living because they work in a better environment with better people. Therefore, a job can be your passion if it provides you with a dose of dopamine with every task you complete and every meaningful conversation you have. But sadly, most workspaces aren’t like that because regular humans beings run them. So, you know, you have to be someone very special to think you’re not better than everyone else.
It leads to my conclusion:
There’s nothing wrong with following your passion if you can make something out of it. In fact, there’s nothing better than dreaming something and working your way to achieving it. But just because you kind of hate your job doesn’t mean you should quit right away and jump out without a parachute.
If making a lot of money is your passion, you’ll probably never make it because you haven’t yet understood how finance works. So please watch some meaningful videos on YouTube and read some articles on the internet first to know what money is.
If your passion is getting something out of your skill or some particular skill that you want to hone, then you should do something about it. However, just having the proper skill set will never be enough to make a meaningful lifestyle out of your passion. You need discipline and a plan that sells. After all, you’ll only make money when someone pays you.
At the end of the day, it’s your life, and you’re free to choose if you want to take the path of high risk, high reward, or low risk, low reward. Choose carefully!
Michael Ghimire 