I’ve been thinking recently about the dictum “Follow Your Passion”. But something about that sentiment seemed a little incomplete, and I looked around for some counter advice. Were there people who had good arguments against the famous dictum? And how do you follow your passion? So I stumbled upon a blog that led me to a video of Cal Newport doing just that. I listened carefully to what he was saying, and here’s what I think.
First of all, the title of the talk is “Follow Your Passion is bad advice.” A smart way to market his idea. Certainly grabbed my attention.
That’s not really an honest representation of what he was saying. What he’s really saying is ‘Only following your passion is bad advice, you also need to have skill.”