Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Terrible Advice
Many life coaches preach the wisdom of quitting your job and just doing what you love.
It's important to remember that "doing what you love" doesn't necessarily guarantee financial stability or success… In fact, it’s likely to be a disaster.
Pursuing a passion or hobby as a career can often lead to dissatisfaction and resentment. This is because the reality of any business (however interesting you find it) often involves long hours, hard work, and dealing with the less glamorous aspects like managing staff, admin, and finances – as well as putting yourself out there and making sales.
Additionally, most passions (e.g. mine – creative writing, cooking, tennis, scuba diving, power boating) are widely shared and the market for them is likely to be saturated, making it difficult to rise above the clutter, differentiate yourself and make a decent living.
Furthermore, many people find that their passion or hobby is not something they want to do for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
It will often lose its shine and become monotonous if you ‘have?to’?do it to earn money. This can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction with your passion.
Another point to consider is that many people's passions and hobbies are not designed to be monetized.
It may be difficult to turn something you love doing into a profitable business. For example, 87 million people play tennis around the world.?But less than 1000 people make a living as professional tennis players.
This can lead to disappointment and frustration, as the dream of turning a passion into a successful career may not be achievable. If you are happy being a coach and teaching others that’s great – but it’s not quite the same thing as playing!
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So, it's important to remember that just because you love doing something, it doesn't mean it's the best choice for a career. You need to consider the practicality, market demand, and potential for profitability before quitting your job to pursue what you love doing.
It's important to have a well-thought-out plan and to be realistic about the potential outcome before taking the leap.
The good news is if you start a business and do it right, so it becomes successful, that success is a reward in itself - and it begets passion. You start to love what you do because it brings you recognition and provides you with the things you want in life.
In conclusion, while it may sound appealing to quit your job and do what you love, it's important to consider the practicalities and potential outcomes before making a decision.
Unless there is a proven need for what you love doing and you are exceptionally good at it, it's probably a better idea to find an opportunity to create a business that will deliver the income you want on auto-pilot – a Freedom Business as I call it.
Once you have the money and the free time you desire, you can spend your time doing what you love, without worrying about earning money from it.
If you want to escape the Rat Race and build an extraordinary life of wealth, power and freedom, why not join my online community of like-minded Freedom Lovers for education, advice, support and mentoring??
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1 年Turning your hobby into a business does work for some people, but I doubt it does for most.
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1 年This made for an interesting and thought-provoking read.
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1 年This sounds like good, practical advice.
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1 年I suspect you need to be truly dedicated to turn your passion into a business.
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1 年It would be a real shame to end up hating your passion, so I can see the sense in this. Though those who do manage to turn their passion into profit are to be admired.