Whatever You Do, Don’t Follow Your Passion (Classic)

What's up, everyone. This is Alex Lieberman, co-founder, and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew. Welcome back to Founder’s Journal, my personal audio diary, where I give you, the business builder, the tools you need to think better in order to build better, whether that's building a business, a team, or a new product. Before we get started, I want to share a little update with you all. For the next little while, we are going to be republishing classic episodes of Founder’s Journal. Why? Well, one, I think these past episodes are really good, and with so many new listeners over the last few months, it's very possible you haven't actually heard some of these older episodes. And two, I am spending the month of May evolving Founder’s Journal so that we can make this show as good as humanly possible for the next generation of builders.

I would love your help as I dream up the future of this show, so once you've listened to the episode, shoot me an email to alex@morningbrew.com and tell me what you'd like to see for me. All right. That's the update. Now time for the episode. In today's classic episode, I break down why following your passion is bullshit and how thinking about the concept of passion differently can open you to greater freedom and success. Let's hop into it. 

Don’t ask yourself what you’re passionate about

How many times have you asked yourself: What am I passionate about? And how many times have you seen the cookie cutter advice of “follow your passion”? If I'm being honest, I've asked myself what I'm passionate about nearly every single day since leaving college six years ago. Although it's a well-intentioned question that many of us have and try to work through as we navigate our careers and lives, I don't think it's the right one to ask. And here's why. As we ask ourselves, what am I passionate about in an effort to find joy in what we do, the question creates a level of pressure, a level of weightiness that ironically makes it impossible to be passionate, no matter how much we enjoy what we're doing. It's like if you're deciding where to order dinner from, the more you repeat to yourself, “Do I want Italian, or do I want Greek? Do I want sushi, or do I want pizza?” The more you analyze, the more you ask yourself which cuisine you like more, the more it actually becomes hard to just make a choice that feels right. It's no different than asking yourself, “What am I passionate about?” This question, intellectualizes the experience. And when you overthink, you make it that much harder to go with your gut in an effort to use your brain. 

Passion is not a light switch

The other issue with following your passion is it assumes you have passion or you don't have passion, like a light switch. Just like a romantic relationship, passion isn't binary. It's something that builds over time and fluctuates as well. Imagine if you're looking to be in a relationship and only dated people you loved on day one. It'd be pretty damn tough for you to be in any relationship. Career and work is no different. At times you'll feel joy from the work you're doing and at other times you'll want to do anything but that thing you're doing. It is so important to understand this, because if you don't, you may deprive yourself of doing something that you could really love because you're not yet passionate about it. 

Example: Working on Morning Brew

Take Morning Brew for example. When we were starting Morning Brew, Austin and I weren't passionate about digital media or passionate about business news. All we knew was that we got energy from staying up with the news, making it digestible for people, and trying to get more people to read it.And as I kept doing those things and saw there was an opportunity for Morning Brew to grow beyond the nascent newsletter we had started with, this concept of learning about an industry and building something valuable for people gave me a ton of energy. But to say I was passionate about Morning Brew on day one would be a complete lie, which is why the question, “what am I passionate about?” is so incredibly dangerous because if I had asked myself that question in college before Morning Brew, I would have never started writing the newsletter in the first place. And along those same lines, if I had asked that question constantly, while building the business, I would have quit early on as well.

So am I passionate about Morning Brew? Yes. Did my passion for Morning Brew grow over time as I worked on the business? Absolutely. But that passion has fluctuated throughout. At times, I've loved what I'm doing and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. And at times I've dreaded the work I'm doing and would rather do anything else. And that's okay. That doesn't mean I would do anything else. 

A healthier way forward

So here's a healthier way that I encourage you to think about this far too weighty question surrounding passion. Instead of, “what am I passionate about?” I try to ask myself, what am I good at? What gives me good energy most of the time? And what can support my current lifestyle? Maybe it sounds less sexy or less ambitious than passion, but it's a far more realistic and approachable question to answer that ultimately can lead you to passion. One final thing to remember: Passion isn't a must in your career. You can be in a job that you're good at, that gives you good energy, and that supports your life, but still isn't a passion of yours, and that's totally fine. Other areas of life like family, travel, hobbies, philanthropy, community, can fill you with passion. Even if your work doesn't do that for you. 

I want to hear from you

So now let me put it to you. I don't care what you're passionate about. I want to know what you're good at, what gives you energy, and what supports your life. Send me your answer and I'll reply with mine. Send an email to alex@morningbrew.com or DM me on Twitter @businessbarista. Thanks so much for listening to Founder’s Journal, and if you enjoyed, please let others know who you think would enjoy the show as well. Thanks again, and I'll catch you next episode.