You’re Never Going to Find Your Passion — Develop It Instead
Find what you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life — that’s what they tell you when you’re taking your first few steps into the real world. The idea of finding your passion has been packaged and sold to young people for ages. It’s what business gurus swear you’ll find if you just follow their 57-step program, and what colleges and universities promise in return for the low-low price of your soul.
Have you found it yet?
My guess is that if you’re reading this now, the answer is no. And you probably never will.
Hear me out.
Finding your passion is a romanticized concept that our capitalistic society feeds off of. It’s the pretty pink bow they slap onto the box to make work seem like it’s more than just earning a paycheck. But like most things that have been romanticized in our society, the concept of finding your passion is wildly misleading and detrimental to young people.
Passion isn’t something you find. It’s something you develop.
When I started college as an electrical engineering major, I wasn’t passionate about it. I didn’t even know what an engineer was or what the job entailed. Truthfully, I was just doing what my dad told me to (a separate issue). If it were my choice, I would’ve studied something related to writing or literature — something I’d enjoyed my entire life.
But if I’d gone tunnel vision on writing, I would’ve given up at the first sign of trouble.
In 2018, a Stanford study explored the “hidden implications of the advice to ‘find your passion.’” The well-intentioned advice suggests that people who follow this advice believe that once an interest sticks, the rest will come easily.
“But, the research found that when people encounter inevitable challenges, that mindset makes it more likely people will surrender their newfound interest.”
Everyone who has been to college has seen this firsthand. Students who had a lifelong interest in their chosen field were suddenly switching majors because of the unrealistic expectation that things would just flow easily. Others, like myself, were academically and mentally struggling because of the underlying belief that the work is only difficult if you’re not passionate about it.
It took me three years to realize that passion isn’t something you find. It’s not sitting in a treasure chest, waiting to be discovered and make all of your dreams come true.
Rather, passion is developed. It starts with a seed of interest, and with the right amount of water and sunlight, it can grow into something beautiful over time.
Passion requires an honest effort.
Though I didn’t initially want to study electrical engineering, I lucked out when aspects of it piqued my interest. It started when my friend and I lit up a few LEDs as part of a lab experiment, and we were the only ones in the room screaming about it. From there, my fascination for the electrical components embedded in our everyday devices only grew.
But it took a lot of time and effort.
When something sparks an interest in you, you owe it to yourself to fully explore that interest. That means not just taking an introductory course and watching YouTube videos, but putting in the work to overcome some of the more challenging parts.
This isn’t to say that you should continue pursuing something that is way too difficult to handle, or is something you can’t see yourself doing. Sometimes the cons of furthering an interest largely outweigh the pros. But before you give up and move on to something else, ask yourself:
Did I put in enough work to really understand what this path is all about?
Or was the information just too overwhelming and I didn’t feel like wading through it all?
Answer honestly.
Passion will not always be pretty.
Finding that seed of interest is just the start of your path, and growing it into a passion will be challenging.
There’s going to be days when you forget to water it or open the shades for some sun. Some days you might give it too much water and sunlight, neglecting other aspects of your life. Other days are too rainy and cloudy to make any progress. And, once in a while, a parasite will chomp away on the leaves you’ve worked so hard to grow, pushing you to give up and let it die.
We tend to think of passion as something we pour our heart and soul into, something that is greater than ourselves. It’s a beautiful process, but it’s also painful and lonely at times. Others won’t always understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. You might not understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.
During college, there were a lot of times I just wanted to give up on electrical engineering. The problem sets were crazy long, and some of the exams were impossible for even the teaching assistants to solve. My grades were basically begging me to choose a different path, and I had to regularly convince myself to keep trying.
I’m still nowhere near the end of my journey, and I can’t say I’m 100% passionate about electrical engineering. There’s some aspects of it that I actually hate. But overall, I like it a hell of a lot more than when I first started, and I don’t regret my choices one bit.
Passion might not be permanent. Stay curious.
A lot of people have a change in career at some point in their life. It might be because they never loved their career path in the first place, or that love simply withered. Humans are dynamic beings, and it’s only natural that we make some changes along the way.
That said, it’s good to keep an open mind about other interests. Staying curious about the world outside of your interests can help make a career change easier and allow you to make the most of it.
I used to think that pursuing a career in electrical engineering meant that I had to give up writing altogether. There’s this misguided belief in our society that you should commit to your passion 100%, or else you won’t be successful. Not to mention engineering is a demanding field that requires lifelong learning.
But looking ahead, I know there’s going to come a time when working a 9–5 won’t be as appealing or even possible to do. Putting the time and effort into developing my writing makes me more confident for the future when life will eventually throw a few curveballs.
The days of finding your passion are long gone. It’s this misguided advice that has led young people to believe that once they find it, the rest should all come easily. That’s not at all how the world works — there will always be challenges to overcome and problems to solve, no matter what path you choose. Putting in the work is a more realistic approach that yields greater rewards.
Developing your passion might be a long and arduous journey, but like they say, anything that’s worth doing is going to be hard. Do it anyway.
