If working a job that you consider your passion is making you miserable, then obviously that is not your passion. I think better advice would be to envision a lifestyle that you would consider ideal, and find a job that would enjoy that would engender that lifestyle, whether it is traveling, big paychecks, or helping people. I think liking your job is good enough, you don’t have to love your job. Love your life, not your job. That’s why we save money for retirement, so one day we can stop working completely.

Here’s some practical advice:
Get a job. Find out what you enjoy most about it and are best at and then find a way to do more of that at your next job and the job after that and the job after that. Changing jobs doesn’t require changing employer.

Think about what you’re going to earn before spending $$$$$$ money on a college education. Don’t pay private school tuition for a degree that pays the same as one you can get at a state school. When you’re a teacher/nurse/salesman/whatever, no one cares where you went to school. Do anything you can to avoid graduating with debt. Work with people you like, doing work you like, for a company that pays fairly until you find what it is that you’re better at than anyone else. Then you’ve found your purpose.

This is so true!

I think, as that article states, that instead of looking at passions in a broad way, like “I love taking pictures-I’ll be a photographer” you might be more successful if you analyze what you like about taking pictures and figure out how your developed skills play into that.

Jennifer White talks about the disconnect between passionate work and profitable work in her book “Work Less, Make More.” That book helped me jettison my corporate life and find the parts of my job I LOVED to do and pair them with my marketable skills. I am very happy now–and so are my clients.

Lewis

Businesses can end for any number of reasons, but some commenters are saying people should pursue their passion “no matter what” and not giving up when the going gets tough. I’m not sure how realistic that is!

Any job, career, activity(purpose) can be done with passion: learn, practice, engage, share ideas, make connections, share your energy with the world. That’s passion.

You grow to love your job by doing it with passion.

No one ever talks about success/failure rates in PF blog posts about starting your own business or side gig. Obviously the posts are written by people who succeeded

The world needs all kinds of workers, but for some reason we think following one’s passion is the superior path. I’m more of a “love what you do” than “do what you love” type of person, and I think that’s made a big difference.

Some people recommend chasing the money. What job pays the most? But too many people who follow this path wind up with high paying jobs that they hate. This is not a situation that you want to be in.

I’d recommend trying to find a career that interests you in a field you’re reasonably good at and interested in.

I’d also recommend trying to keep your debts to a minimum. Without loans to pay back, you’ve got a lot more freedom to choose a career and to make some mistakes along the way.

Finding your passion, for most people, is a very circuitous route, with a lot of unexpected twists and turns along the way.

The reason people fail when following passion is becuase they ussually love things that they can not convert into a viable profitable business.

When I was a kid my mother said playing with computer codes was a waste of my time – but it is proven to be for some very lucrative.
My mother also told me playing video games was a waste of my time, but I read in time magazine a few years back of a yougn man who made $400,000 dollars a years playing video games [ testing, teaching and competions ]. Again i say – following his passion worked out for him.

It’s all about understanding and use. You love money so do you teach economics or invest in stocks? That is the trick with passion and making it work for you.