I explore passion because I think there are things more "economical" to be passionate about.<p>I am now a software developer.
When I was in high-school I didn't get the point of computers beyond playing pc games all summer long.
I just heard once in a while "if you pick cumputers major you will have a descent job".
I was a painter in high-school. I wanted to create amazing and realistic paintings to wow everyone. And I wowed everyone.
The passion to wow people was beyond school grades, parties and sleeping hours.
After high school I lost my art passion immediately (art is not practical) and explored my passions again.
I want to solve real problems and finally got the "purpose" of computers in the world.<p>I found that I enjoy almost everything I do if stress free. I love working, cleaning, cooking, shopping, fixing, gardening, eating slowly, as long I am not rushing.
Cleaning and gardening are great "exercise" you activate a lot of muscles with a reward at the end. Clean house and nice garden.
When I do it I try to forget about time which turns it to an ecstasy almost.<p>There is one thing that is obviously worthy to be passionate about which I am struggeling to crack for years (although improving much).<p>Passion for people. Many tasks that involve people are often a pain for me. I love people but its hard to "just call someone". Just "invite someone to hang out".
Maybe is because "just hangout with someone" is not clearly defined. What is the point? what do we want to talk about?
I don't socialize a lot outside of work. Why people prefer video games over socializing? I find this topic facinating...
For those that are interested in this concept, Cal Newport wrote a fantastic book about this concept of developing a passion rather than "finding" it in his book "So Good They Can't Ignore You". Very highly recommend.
Good article but for much more detailed argument I like Cal Newport’s books like Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You better.<p>I had a summer job programming in 1970 and really didn’t like it, but I was making something like $5/hour and learned FORTRAN. When I graduated with a BS in Physics and wanted a job I took a scientific programming job. I thought, ‘yuck, oh well.’ Funny thing was, after about 6 months I realized how good I was and that made it fun. I even gave up all free time for 2 years to take undergraduate and graduate CS classes at a local university.<p>Yes, the better you get at something, the more fun it sometimes is.
I've found that usually when people say they're "passionate" about something, what they're really saying is that they have a deep yearning for the high social status they would attain if they were great at or well-known for that thing.<p>Also, that they believe their status is higher because they're passionate about that thing, and they wanted to remind you of that.<p>Half the time it's something they don't even devote very much time to, and aren't even that good at.<p>That might be why these "follow your passion" speeches are so effective. Everyone in the audience can have a different high-status activity in mind, and the word "passion" is like a global variable that maps straight to whatever every individual believes is the best way to achieve high social status. So you get the whole audience, and everyone can start daydreaming in unison.
It makes for a nice aspirational graduation speech, but as many PhDs will attest passion doesn’t matter much if society doesn’t value your passion and you need to put food on the table.
"Follow your passion" is the answer to a specific outlier problem; when people find themselves in a place that doesn't resonate with their passions at all (<i>or to large degree</i>), with dire effects on their psyche and well-being.<p>It doesn't apply to everyone, most eventually find a reasonable balance in my experience, but some people need that impetus ("follow your passion") to leave a for them toxic situation.
What I'm finding instead is that, in some sub-fields, psychology isn't developed enough to give life advice that's not going to be contradicted later, no matter if it's Stanford scholars or not.
A similar sentiment: <a href="http://blogmaverick.com/2012/03/18/dont-follow-your-passion-follow-your-effort/" rel="nofollow">http://blogmaverick.com/2012/03/18/dont-follow-your-passion-...</a>
<i>"Being narrowly focused on one area could prevent individuals from developing knowledge in other areas that could be important to their field at a later time"</i><p>When I try something new I alwayd remember this.<p>Sometimes doing things you like can feel like a waste of time because we always hear we need to be productive.
> And the idea that passions are found fully formed implies that the number of interests a person has is limited.<p>Never met someone whose passion was "found fully formed" though...<p>Either way if you want to make a living out of your interest you need to develop your passion/talent. Passion alone will get you nowhere without (years of) training. Use common sense.
I think finding your passion is as much as finding what you are not passionate about. Its the reason why I like trying out so many things - I want to find what I truly don't enjoy.<p>When I was in school, I did 2 years of research. Some of it was photovoltaics research (solar cells) and I also did some shape memory alloys research used in space-grade actuators.<p>I found myself not enjoying it at all.<p>On my metallurgical project, I would go to the lab, have to handle the most monotonous task just to test one sample. One sample took 100 hours to prepare and had very little tolerance for error. The equipment I used was kind of outdated as well. I spent several hours everyday grinding a titanium billet the size of a miniature 1/2" knife so I could check its hardness and elasticity before I loaded it into the scanning electron microscope. I lost my samples quite a few times so I had to start over by creating a new billet in the arc furnace. In the end, the data I got had too much noise and basically didn't equate to enough to publish a paper. I still defended my thesis anyhow though. I did learn alot along the way spending hours reading graduate level papers. The research might have helped understand actuation failure for space grade components. But really I felt like I was crawling at a snails pacing with the work I did. I enjoy doing things for myself first and foremost.<p>I find what I am most passionate about really boils down to things I did as a kid. I used to make my own modded starcraft maps in elementary school. I would download a popular map, throw it in the editor, add new logic, so I could make a game either (1) more interesting or (2) add cheats and exploits for myself. It was fun. I also built my own computer as a kid too - debugging hardware was always painful, but the moment it clicked it felt so satisfying.<p>Other ways I find things I am and am not passionate about. I subscribe to about 800 things on youtube that I find fascinating. Most of it is related to a combination of math, computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering. Personally I have a serious deficit knowledge on all 4 of them, but I am always learning new things everyday. I still suck at math though and I can't seem to understand how to do mathmatical induction and/or proofs though.<p>I spent a lot of my freetime programming because this is the easiest subject to pick up of the ones mentioned above. Its also profitable. I think its okay to be passionate about more than one thing so long as it falls under the same umbrella of things you want to do - building cool stuff. And that its okay to not spend as much time workong on them due to time constraints. I also am pretty good at welding (200+ hours) and 3D modeling as well, among other things.<p>Ultimately my dream is to become a 10x engineer. Someone who is so good at building anything with their mind and hands that I could create new works of art. I take inspiration from a variety of leaders in those industries - from all age groups.