There are some advantages to following your passion, if you unambiguously have one. And often there are disadvantages. But pretending to have one is not a reasonable strategy.<p>As a first approximation, I'm a fan of Cal Newport's thinking on the subject. He claims that passion _follows_ mastery, and that therefore passions are not discovered, but rather constructed, and that deliberate practice can lead you there. My own opinion is that this summary only captures one side of passion, but I think in many ways it's the most powerful side, and also the side that's the most actionable (and thus relevant when someone is asking for advice).<p><a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/11/24/are-passions-serendipitously-discovered-or-painstakingly-constructed/" rel="nofollow">http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/11/24/are-passions-serendipi...</a><p><a href="http://calnewport.com/blog/category/features-rethinking-passion/" rel="nofollow">http://calnewport.com/blog/category/features-rethinking-pass...</a><p>It does occur to me, though, that I may be being persuaded by well-polished rhetoric that appeals to my biases, so if anyone has evidence or arguments that he's a slick-talking demagogue, I'd like to hear about it. =]