The Passion Paradox
Casey Chung, CPA, PCC
I help accountants build fulfilling careers and lives | Business + Career + Life Coaching for CPAs
Passion is so important. Without it, our lives can feel repetitive, boring, dissatisfying, and purposeless.
Passion fuels our motivation, drive, creativity, and desire to learn and grow.
It's easy to get sucked into the idea that we can just follow our passions, get famous on Tiktok/Instagram, get millions of followers, and make it. It's not easy to build such a following... it's not impossible either...
This deters people from following their passions. We may think..
"I don't know what my passions are."
"It's not worth it to follow my passion."
"I'm not going to be good enough."
"It's going to take time away from my career."
"I'll stop being passionate if it feels like work."
"I'm worried that if I follow my passion, I will sacrifice other parts of my life."
Following your passion is not about becoming the next big thing, nor does it have to have any economic benefit.
Follow your passions for YOU, not for social approval, recognition, or external validation.
It's an added bonus when you can find work that you are passionate about. For me, I found it with coaching.
Too many times, I have seen highly career motivated individuals forgo their passions as it simply felt like a "waste of time".
The Passion Paradox
On one end - the belief that following our passions will diminish our earning potential. And with diminished earnings leads to a decline in financial stability, standard of living, and overall life satisfaction.
On the other - the belief that following our passions will enhance our earning potential. It will increase our enthusiasm, excitement, earning potential, standard of living, and overall life satisfaction
The paradox exists under the assumption that earning potential is our only indicator of success. Of course, we all need to earn a living.
What about flexibility, balance, impact, purpose, and joy?
Why settle for a job or profession that zaps our energy and leaves us feeling unmotivated?
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The key is finding the necessary dose of passion in your life.
It doesn't hurt to do things that you enjoy. Treat yourself! Let go of justifying or finding reasons to follow it. Do what makes you happy!
I write this article this week because I have been feeling resistance to follow my passion for music composition.
The Paradox had me at a crossroads.
Do I spend my time to compose music or do I focus on work?
I had binary thinking. Limited thinking.
Why not do both? Why not create space for myself to do what I love, without strings attached.
In the last week I've created more music than the last 6 months! I realized that I have let my passion slip over the last few months as I was focused on other areas of my life. For me, connecting with music is essential. Without it, I lose a part of myself.
Here's one of the tracks... inspired my a Chayote we found at the market. Feel free to follow me on Spotify for more music!
Following our passions can light up our day and our mood. And no, you do not need to turn your passion into your job.
What passions do you have that you are not tending to?
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Want to chat about a motivation, a career change, leadership, a passion project, mental health and wellbeing, or just have a casual chat? You can find a time in my schedule here. Happy to connect!
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2 年Really needed this reminder today. Sometimes I get overwhelmed trying to balance all of my interests, but oftentimes just acting on those things provides insight on what activities we need more of.
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2 年Can you compose soft music intro for a video or pod cast for me