1 min
“Follow your passion!” is an advice I hear in TED talks, motivational YouTube videos, books, and from every successful entrepreneur. These three words have become a de facto standard for a career advice.
I am turning forty this year. I have tried those prescription lists offered in self-help books, and I have watched many TED talk videos. And still cannot find my passion.
They all recommended digging deeper into my childhood and remembering things I loved. Things I dreamed to be when I was a child.
So, I did. I excavated my memory. I wanted to be a preacher. I wanted to be a guitar player. I wanted to be a programmer. And I tried them all. I spoke in churches. I took guitar lessons. And what happened? I became a skeptic. I couldn’t learn to play. And after four years of programming, I hate it.
But what I hated then was writing and I disliked reading.
Today, I enjoy writing and love reading.
I realized that passion is just a feeling. What I like today, I may hate tomorrow. What I enjoy today, it may bore me tomorrow. And what I love today, I may divorce tomorrow. Feelings change all the time. It is our human nature.
Our natural ability betrays us, and our feelings deceive us.
I stopped looking for my passion. I started looking for an opportunity to experience new things.
“Follow your passion!” is not only a bad advice but a great scam.
I decided to stop watching TED talks or reading any book or article that recommends this advice.
Oh!…One more thing. I will not read any article that cites the Silicon Valley saint or Imam Steve Jobs as an example anymore. If I started to read an article and came across Jobs name, I will stop reading the article.
P.S. Have you read this: “Living with the curse of wanting it all”
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Ninos Youkhana 
This article is better than all the inspiring books I read. You nailed it! “I stopped looking for my passion. I started looking for an opportunity to experience new things.” Me too 🙂
I love this blog and I totally agree that follow your passion advice is a scam to sell books. I think having passion has nothing to do with being successful and making money which is the central focus of all these self-help books. We all have passions and although the object of our desire may change from time to time, that yearning is always there. Having read almost all of your blogs, I think you do have a lot of passion as evident from the ways you articulate your thoughts and feelings that so many others can relate to!