Don't Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Effort
blogmaverick.com
blogmaverick.com
Yup
"2. When you become good at doing something, you will enjoy it more."
Hmm.. what now?
I'm good at a lot of things I hate. I've spent time doing them either because I had to or because I enjoyed it at the time. For me, it often works the opposite of what he says; when I get better at something, I often find it boring.
Other thing is - when you need to do sth you love for living - it sometimes become a chore instead of passion. External vs internal motivation etc.
When I was young, computers at home were quite rare. But once I was exposed to them I was hooked. I rode my bicycle to the Radio Shack and stood at the display model writing programs. I saved and bought a Sinclair ZX-80. Almost all of my free time went into programming.
Then there are all the people I've known that say they want to learn to code. People who grew up with a computer, and went to school were there were programming classes, and work alongside programmers. They think they'd like to learn programming, but really they're not interested enough to bother.
1. When you work hard at something you become good at it.
2. When you become good at doing something, you will enjoy it more.
More important than passion and effort is long-term goals. I believe to be successful you must project yourself in the future. Look what you will be if you continue to walk the current path or what you will be if you change your path. The key is to choose the path that will bring you to a brighter future and stay in that path in turbulent times.
Choosing the right path is not as easy as speaking but an everyday exercice.
I draw an intuitive connection in my mind to the study [1] suggesting that people are happier with having a higher status compared to their close associates than with a higher absolute status but lagging behind the peers to whom they aspirationally compare themselves.
Would you rather be a mediocre newbie working in a dazzling, sexy field, or the best damn X in the Y field who knows all the tools and has confidence about relative competence?
Cal Newport and Mark Cuban are both well known bloggers who have been making this same case for some time. No plagiarism involved.
I feel like Cuban wrote this post just because he needed to write a post. In the end he says "Don’t follow your passions, follow your effort. It will lead you to your passions...", and the roundabout way he goes to get there doesn't add any value. He himself says if you're passionate about something, you're going to learn about it, and become better, etc. etc. Ignoring that that isn't completely true, I've wasted too much time just writing this comment.
I can only assume that the author was always organized enough to put his effort where his passion is, but he doesn't seem to realize that.
A normal person will just put the effort where he/she is told to put it by authorities: first parents, then school/high school, then the first random shitty job they happen to land. Sure, it works, they'll probably eventually be able to pay off their mortgage. But some people expect more from life.
I'd honestly rather be an excellent plumber than a fifth-rate rockstar.