Mike Rowe says, "Don't follow your passion"

[Strandly]

I think what people mean by follow your passion is to not be afraid to give it a stab.  Sure, if you suck and fail then move on, but not even trying once is also unfortunate.

[krupa]

On 7/10/2016 at 4:26 PM, Strandly said:

I think what people mean by follow your passion is to not be afraid to give it a stab.  Sure, if you suck and fail then move on, but not even trying once is also unfortunate.

A lot of times the "follow your passion" advice is given at "inspirational" times, mostly graduation ceremonies.  It's a romantic ideal that is reinforced by movies and literature and implies that if you "follow your passion" you will be successful by virtue of having followed your passion whether you're good at it or not.  On the one hand, if you're not concerned with material goods and getting rich, following your passion may be the way to lead a fulfilling life.  If, on the other hand, you don't want to have worry about paying your bills, eating, or staying warm, a boring office job during the day filled with nights of bad poetry writing may be your thing.

What we really don't need, though, are commencement speakers who tell these kids that they can do anything!

 

[JxQx]

Following your passion is fine, the problem is people assuming their passion is going to make them middle to high amount of money which is definitely not always the case. The whole idea behind "following your passion" is that you love doing said thing which comes before the money/income accrued from it.

[GolfLug]

You can have your cake and eat it too. You just gotta be a bull dog in making it happen.

Following your passion is not or does not have to be 'all or nothing'. I want to say, if your passion is not paying the bills then put up with whatever $hi+ (for eg., boring, dead end job, etc.) and do whatever $hi+ is necessary to keep the 'passion' fairy fed. Actually, in reverse, if you feed the passion fairy sufficiently, you will find strength to put up with the 'other' stuff all day. 

Now if you think the only way to live your life is to be 24/7 about your 'passion' and it won't pay the bills, then......, well, I guess you are SOL.