The key is in the āCā word and not the āPāĀ word.
Do what your passionate about is not good advice.
Most of the folks whoāve given me this advice are either a) unsatisfied with their own job, or b) sell digital products on how to make money online.
Even in the business world, passion is highly overrated.
But coming from the world of science, I learned thatāāācuriosity is the predecessor to passion.
I came to the US to pursue my Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Was I passionate about wastewater biodegradation?
Hell no!
But I was curious enough about it to dedicate the next 5 years of my life in graduate school to do meaningful research and eventually shipped my Masterās thesis with new learnings that could potentially help the biodegradation community to create more advanced innovations.
In fact, look at kids for example. When they start out in this world, theyāre not passionate about anything.
Kids keep doing things because theyāre curious about the world.
But theyāre the most curious beings on the planet.
Most of them continue to try out painting, ballet, singing, violin, tuba, football, wrestling, etc even though they suck at it, not because theyāre passionate about it.
But something weird happens as we become adults and we stop being curious.
We hear the word āPassionā so much that it clouds our thinking. We stop being curious.
Let me give you another example.
When I first came to the US, I was never passionate about traveling.
But I was curious enough about the culture, the food, the landscape across this magnificent country.
I combined that curiosity with my passion for heavy metal music that gave me the courage to venture out in unchartered territories on a shoestring budget.
After hundreds of memorable experiences across 47 US States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, now I can say that Iām fuckin passionate about traveling. Because it has helped me to become a better person.
At the Metallica Orion Fest 2013 in Detroit,Ā MI
Hereās an example of a professional context.
So I work as a Sales Development Rep at Vaadin. I sell an open-source Java based UI framework.
Iāll be BSing if I said I was passionate about it from the get-go during the interview.
What I was passionate about was a) tech sales and b) being a part of a winning team.
But when it came to the product and the business model, I was insanely curious about how the heck did the company made money by giving things away for free?
I was curious to learn what did the customers think of the product?
That helped me to make a better-informed decision while choosing between the two offers I had on the table. And now Iām glad I did that.
Becuase now I know a thing or two about the product from a technical angle and Iām passionate about the open-source ecosystem.
On the other hand, one time I started a fitness coaching business. Ask any of my friends and theyāll tell you how obsessed Iām with health & fitness.
But the coaching business sucked. I stopped having fun even though I was doing what I was passionate about.
Thatās when I learned when it comes to entrepreneurship, curiosity is the key to sustained actions.
Iām not ignoring passion at all. Thereās got to be a healthy balance between curiosity and passion.
But donāt discount curiosityāāāwhether youāre on the job hunt or looking for a business idea.
In fact, if youāre an aspiring entrepreneur, donāt ask yourselfāāāwhat ideas or areas Iām passionate about?
Instead, a better question to ask isāāāWhat am I curious about that also solves a problem or peopleās needs?ā
From my experiences of working at a liquor store, construction sites, cleaning, and painting jobs, car repair gigs; Iāve sold tapestry, home-cooked meals, done Wordpress web-design work, and now that Iāve been selling an open-source framework for a while, hereās what Iāve discovered -
Once you get better at your craft/work, and people value you for what you do, and the money starts coming ināāāpassion will come and hug you fromĀ behind.
To find and do work that you love perpetually, make curiosity your compass, fulfillment your #1 KPI, and passion a derivative.
Today Iām curious about Progressive Web Apps, Dollar Cost Averaging in Crypto Assets, Scaling Open-Source Business Models, Mastering the Enterprise B2B Sales Process, and 17 other topics.
Iām not saying this to impress you. Iām saying this to inspire you that once you start looking at your job and your life through the lens of curiosity, itās a whole another world. The fund kind of.
So what are you currently curious about? Please share below in comments.
PS: So Good They Canāt Ignore You by Cal Newport and Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius by Erik Wahl are two great books on the topic of how curiosity can be more powerful than passion.
PPS: Still reading this? I think youāll like my Sunday weekly newsletter Dispatches where I share tactical strategies for achieving peak performance and creating abundance in life. Read all about it here ā
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on February 5, 2018.